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Google Nexus 4 Review

anandtech.com

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Re: Google Nexus 4 Review

#61

Post by k2xl »

MojoJolo wrote: post #27
k2xl wrote: post #20

So I've been looking at reviews of Nexus 4 all week. I have had IPhone for the past few years (3g then 4). I want to switch, but I don't know if Nexus 4 is the one to switch to... I don't quite understand the differences between Android versions of S3 and Note 2, but apparently this has a vanilla android version. What is the best choice? S3? Note 2? Nexus 4? What advantages do each one have over the other?

I think you might want to choose Nexus 4 because it's the cheapest. As I read, they have specs as close to each other. But if you think without having an LTE is a deal breaker, Nexus 4 is not a good phone for you.

question: is the lack of LTE really that big of a deal? how much slower is this other thing nexus 4 uses?

Re: Google Nexus 4 Review

#62

Post by MojoJolo »

apendleton wrote: post #58
MojoJolo wrote: post #29

Are there other ways of buying Nexus 4 rather than online in Google Play Store?

Yes; TMobile will sell them. The pricing will be much worse than the Play Store pricing, though (I think around $200 on contract and $600 off), so probably not actually a good idea.

So the "no contract" or "no carrier" version is only available in the Google Play?

Re: Google Nexus 4 Review

#63

Post by cryptoz »

kenjackson wrote: post #59
lawdawg wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll take a lighter device + $100 over 16GB + LTE at least until LTE is widely available in my city (which is probably 2-3 years away). But again, ignoring OS which is generally not a good idea when making a phone purchase.

Ignoring OS is the only way to make a fair comparison, since OS preference probably trumps the feature and price delta ( whether you prefer WP or Android).

The only way to fairly compare devices is to ignore the single most important aspect? No, I don't think so.

Re: Google Nexus 4 Review

#64

Post by tonfa »

genkaos wrote: post #25
fierarul wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's actually illegal in the EU to sell products bellow cost. We call it dumping but it seems Amazon and Google are able to do it just fine in the US. So that might be one reason.

In Spain Google is advertising the Nexus 4 for 299€ / 349€. So I don't really know what is going on in Sweden. Maybe is because they don't use the euro as its currency?

Resellers don't sell it at the same price as the play store does.

Re: Google Nexus 4 Review

#65

Post by antman »

mjs wrote: post #37
nl wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes - all those things. But the real reason it is there is that it speeds up getting an initial GPS fix. It provides a quick way to guess altitude, which lets it calculate where satellites should be better.

How does knowing the altitude help figure out which satellite to look for? (Are GPS receivers "directional", anyway??) GPS satellites orbit at ~20,000km; for the initial acquisition I'm surprised that receivers would care if they're 0km or 1.5km from sea level.

The GPS location is faster when you have a good initial guess. So in cold boots it should lock into position faster.

Re: Google Nexus 4 Review

#66

Post by lukeschlather »

arjunnarayan wrote: post #53
mjs wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does knowing the altitude help figure out which satellite to look for? (Are GPS receivers "directional", anyway??) GPS satellites orbit at ~20,000km; for the initial acquisition I'm surprised that receivers would care if they're 0km or 1.5km from sea level.

GPS positions you using very accurate clocks. GPS satellites are continuously broadcasting messages, where each message contains: 1) their position when the message was sent 2) the exact time when the message was sent. With enough satellite signals (4, given that you're locating in 4 dimensions --- 3 spacial and 1 time. Note that if the GPS receiver had a very expensive clock you could locate with 3 satellites, or if…

The time is effectively the time to find 4 signals.

> 4, given that you're locating in 4 dimensions --- 3 spacial and 1 time.

I think your understanding is a little flawed. The time is necessary to determine the precise distance, since both you and the satellite are in motion. After the correction for that, the problem becomes locating a body in 3 dimensions based on its distance from N points. A single point gives you a sphere, and you may be located anywhere on that sphere. Two points gives you two spheres. You might be located anywhere at the intersection of those spheres (a circle.) Three points gives you three spheres. I haven't studied the geometry extensively, but Wikipedia says three spheres usually narrows it down to two points you might be at. Knowing your altitude allows you to rule out one of those two points.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS#Basic_concept_of_GPS

Re: Google Nexus 4 Review

#67

Post by antman »

It does not have a removable battery? I consider this as an important feature me that I spend lots of hours outside the office. Also ejecting some mass when the phone drops is always a good thing. Two broken Iphones on my drawer say so.

Re: Google Nexus 4 Review

#68

Post by mtgx »

martythemaniak wrote: post #4

I'm glad to see Anand focus so much on the price in the conclusion. A lot of the other reviews talked at length about lack of LTE etc, but that misses the point of this phone. While it may disappoint many people who just want the best at any price, you can't ignore the fact that the N4 is half the price of other phones in its class. The price really is the killer feature of this phone. I suspect there is lots of dema…

I was actually surprised I didn't see more of Anand's jabs at Android or maybe too many comparisons with his conclusions with devices from other companies...and then I saw the article was actually written by Brian Klug. So good job Brian on this one.

Re: Google Nexus 4 Review

#69

Post by bryanlarsen »

antman wrote: post #67

It does not have a removable battery? I consider this as an important feature me that I spend lots of hours outside the office. Also ejecting some mass when the phone drops is always a good thing. Two broken Iphones on my drawer say so.

It's not a "removable" batter, but it is easy to replace with the correct Torx screwdriver. That doesn't help in your two scenarios, but it will be useful if you want to keep your phone significantly longer than the 3 year half-life of lithium batteries.

Re: Google Nexus 4 Review

#70

Post by eloisant »

colin_jack wrote: post #17
dagw wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you can't ignore the fact that the N4 is half the price of other phones in its class. I wonder why the phone is so much cheaper (both in absolute and relative terms) in the US than it is here in Sweden. Here it's exactly the same price as the SGS3 and the iPhone 4S and quite a bit more than the HTC One X.

I liked the fact they took it into account too. I did find this review of the IPad Mini particularly amusing: "Lining those pluses and minuses up against those for the Nexus 7 – which garnered four stars – there's no doubt that this is indeed a five-star device. The 70% difference in comparative price is more than made up by the difference in build quality and software selection" ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/technolog…

Because they get all the devices for free?
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