Google has lowered the price of the Nexus 4 by $100 • Hacker News Board

Re: Google has lowered the price of the Nexus 4 by $100

#151

Post by ddeck » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 5:59 AM UTC

linuxhansl wrote: post #138

fragsworth wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only does it slide off everything, mine has broken twice after falling - once from sliding off of my wallet on a countertop, and once from me fumbling it out of my pocket. They made me pay for the repairs ($150 each time).

The Nexus S on the other hand was indestructible. I dropped it multiple times even of hard services. Once I was climbing on some rocks, tried to send a text (yeah, I realize that was dumb), lost balance and ended up slamming the phone screen first on the rock supporting my weight with it. There is a 1/4 sandgrain width dent in the middle of the screen, barely noticeable unless you're looking for it in just the right…

I had the same experience with the Galaxy Nexus. I literally threw it onto the road....twice. Both events happened while running with the phone in my hand. The first time I threw it downwards at speed, the second time I launched it about 10 feet in front of me. The back and corners took some dents and chips, but no significant damage.

I've not been particularly fond of LG hardware since a friend had an LG device spontaneously catch fire.

Re: Google has lowered the price of the Nexus 4 by $100

#152

Post by kgabis » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 6:00 AM UTC

  Sorry! Devices on Google Play is not available in your   country yet.
  We're working to bring devices to more countries as quickly as possible.
  Please check back again soon.

It would be better if they finally released it outside US. I can't even see the site.

Re: Google has lowered the price of the Nexus 4 by $100

#153

Post by lhl » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 6:02 AM UTC

light3 wrote: post #62

eliben wrote: post #30

Oh wow, the N4 was already the best value on the market - very powerful device for a very low price. Now the price is ridiculous... I have my N4 since the beginning of the year and I love it.

If you want value go for something more recently released, like the Lenovo A820: http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/814529232/2013_Newest_andr...

I sincerely hope that no one follows your advice.

The phone you point to might be a few bucks cheaper, but it has 1/2 the RAM, 1/2-1/4 internal storage, and while the MTK6589 performs surprisingly well for a Mediatek chip, it still performs below the Nexus 4's S4Pros both for CPU and GPU. The screen is also much lower res and 245ppi vs 320ppi. It doesn't have any support for LTE (Nexus 4 is flashable to Band 4) and doesn't appear to support NFC, or, probably more importantly, BT4/BTLE. There's also no front camera or a flash (!) on the back camera.

Of course, the worst thing is that it's already running an outdated (4.1.2) version of Android and is unlikely to be updated. There's a small community working on ROMs but it's sketchy (no dedicated forum on XDA, no CM port, much less an official build).

If you buy the A820, and almost all the other Shanzai'd devices, you effectively get a dead product, while w/ the Nexus 4 you'll get better hardware and both official and community support for years.

Seems like a no-brainer for a $50-100 difference.

Re: Google has lowered the price of the Nexus 4 by $100

#154

Post by coolnow » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 6:03 AM UTC

marcamillion wrote: post #71

This would OBVIOUSLY happen 1 week after I bought the S4 Mini. I was seriously considering the Nexus 4, but couldn't justify the $350 price range when compared to the Mini for only $400. Go figure, I couldn't wait any longer and Google couldn't do this any sooner. Just my luck!

I'm curious, just why did you go with the S4 mini instead of the Nexus in the first place, especially when (if i'm understanding correctly), it was cheaper? The SD card?

Re: Google has lowered the price of the Nexus 4 by $100

#155

Post by ddeck » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 6:04 AM UTC

AsymetricCom wrote: post #146

fragsworth wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only does it slide off everything, mine has broken twice after falling - once from sliding off of my wallet on a countertop, and once from me fumbling it out of my pocket. They made me pay for the repairs ($150 each time).

Am I crazy to think that maybe Google designed it this way?

Yes. It's extremely unlikely that the margin on repairs would offset the loss of sales from an easily breakable phone, not to mention the impact of a poor reputation on sales of future versions.

Re: Google has lowered the price of the Nexus 4 by $100

#156

Post by lhl » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 6:09 AM UTC

vidarh wrote: post #88

randlet wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. I upgraded to a Nexus 4 from a Nexus S recently and the Nexus 4 is a much nicer device and the Android experience is great: fast, smooth & pretty. It has to be hands down the best value smartphone on the market at this price (it was already great value at $100 more).

Best value of well known brands perhaps. You get various Chinese brand ~5" phones with 1920x1080 resolution, 16GB ROM for that price or less now. And those are typicall dual sim, and take 32GB SD-cards too. Build quality for most of them are probably not as quite high as the Nexus 4, but the one I have at least is very well built.

Just curious, but what version of Android does your phone run? Have there been updates/is there an ETA for 4.3?

Re: Google has lowered the price of the Nexus 4 by $100

#157

Post by brokenparser » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 6:10 AM UTC

Andrenid wrote: post #99

h4pless wrote: post #90

If you buy this phone, get a case for it. The thing slides off of pretty much anything, including apparently flat counter tops. Screen replacements are $130 and take 2 weeks. You won't get the awesome feel of the beveled edges, or the nice solid feeling of a thin but reasonably weighted piece of equipment, but definitely get a case lest you watch in horror as your shiny new phone crashes onto your hard tile bathroom…

The phones ability to slide across the flattest of surfaces, combined with the super effective "silent mode" (aka putting your phone on any flat surface, blocking the speaker completely), has dumbfounded me since I got the phone at launch. How do these things get missed in testing? Did no one throughout the entire testing process receive a call while their phone was on their desk? Did they not notice the phone runnin…

Old HTC models had a distinct chin, so you could just lay it somewhere face-down and it wouldn't damage the screen at all. Of course this conveniently also exposed the speaker.

Re: Google has lowered the price of the Nexus 4 by $100

#158

Post by mahyarm » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 6:11 AM UTC

vidarh wrote: post #88

randlet wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. I upgraded to a Nexus 4 from a Nexus S recently and the Nexus 4 is a much nicer device and the Android experience is great: fast, smooth & pretty. It has to be hands down the best value smartphone on the market at this price (it was already great value at $100 more).

Best value of well known brands perhaps. You get various Chinese brand ~5" phones with 1920x1080 resolution, 16GB ROM for that price or less now. And those are typicall dual sim, and take 32GB SD-cards too. Build quality for most of them are probably not as quite high as the Nexus 4, but the one I have at least is very well built.

How is updatability? Will you be able to update it in a few years from now?

Re: Google has lowered the price of the Nexus 4 by $100

#159

Post by memsom » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 6:11 AM UTC

fein wrote: post #68

dobbsbob wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn I just bought one at regular price lol. Nexus 4, if you build your own o/s is amazing fast. Runs SEAndroid like a charm too, you can lockout audio, camera and mic whenever not in use

There's a buyer protection plan if you purchased after august 12th. $100 refund by the looks of it. You'll have to wade through the support prompts, but start at: https://support.google.com/nexus/4/ and click 'Contact Us' to get to the form. Edit: you'll need the order number and the device IMEI

I'm a little irked. I ordered mine on the 7th, so miss out by 5 days. But it's a great phone so it's not all bad. But no one likes paying over the asking price, and had I waited a week, I'd be £80 richer.

Re: Google has lowered the price of the Nexus 4 by $100

#160

Post by x0x0 » Wed, Aug 28, 2013, 6:13 AM UTC

h4pless wrote: post #90

If you buy this phone, get a case for it. The thing slides off of pretty much anything, including apparently flat counter tops. Screen replacements are $130 and take 2 weeks. You won't get the awesome feel of the beveled edges, or the nice solid feeling of a thin but reasonably weighted piece of equipment, but definitely get a case lest you watch in horror as your shiny new phone crashes onto your hard tile bathroom…

is there anything like AppleCare+ -- 2 replacements for $49/ea?