Android Phones
Why I decided to purchase the LG Nexus 4
February 16, 2013 | by Natesh Sood
Android Phones, Carriers, Featured post, LG, T-Mobile
The intent of the following article is help readers who may be on-the-fence about purchasing Google’s latest Nexus smartphone known as the Nexus 4. In addition, it is also a post to organize my thoughts in a rational manner to discuss why I decided to take the $350 plunge and purchase the latest smartphone when my previous smartphone was still chugging along.
To preface, there is some important background information that should be disclosed before delving into the Nexus 4 purchase. I originally owned an LG G2X on T-Mobile (which makes the Nexus 4 my third consecutive LG phone) through its Classic family plan. As a result, I received a subsidized G2X for free (since I purchased it several months after its initial launch) on a Classic family plan.
T-Mobile has two main postpaid plans: Classic and Value. The idea behind the Classic plan is you pay a higher fee per month over two years but receive subsidized equipment. Under the Value plan, customers pay less per month, but forgo subsidized equipment. In any case, my family plan is eligible to switch to a Value plan by the end of the month, which means our fee per month will decrease significantly. Since I made the decision to switch to a Value plan, I would not receive any future upgrades for another subsidized device, so it made sense to purchase the Nexus 4 from a contract/plan standpoint.
Now, the G2x was a solid smartphone when it was first announced since it was the world’s first dual-core smartphone. However, after a year and a half of usage and a few custom ROMs later, it was obvious that processing power and battery life decreased significantly. I am a firm believer in getting the full value of out a device before tossing it aside, but the temptation of the latest hardware coupled with a very cheap price point was too strong. It also helped that I was able to lend my G2x to my brother who previously used a feature phone, but now had a decent smartphone running stable CM7. This is the second point for buying the Nexus 4; I was able to give my G2x to my brother and I really desired something with style, prowess, and speed.
My only regret with purchasing the Nexus 4 has been not ordering it when it first became available. I decided to wait until after the first wave of production before finalizing the contract situation, and consequentially, I had to wait until the end of January when it became available again. Without going into a full review of the device, I am completely satisfied with my decision in buying the Nexus 4. One underwhelming factor is its battery life, but it is still leaps and bounds what I was accustomed to with my G2x. Another is the fact that onboard storage is fixed at 16GB, but that is something I will learn to manage. However, I have been very impressed with its quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, 4.7 inch HD display, and Jelly Bean.
The moral of the story here is T-Mobile’s Value plans are very attractive, especially on a family plan. I personally do not have a problem with T-Mobile’s network service. Granted, it is not as ubiquitous nor powerful as Verizon’s network, but it gets the job done in my opinion. If you are considering purchasing the Nexus 4 on T-Mobile or AT&T, I would recommend taking a close look at your contract and making sure it makes sense from a financial standpoint. Hopefully, I can muster two-three years of solid usage from my Nexus 4, something I couldn’t imagine doing with my previous smartphone.
As a bit of a teaser, I will have a review article covering two Diztronic cases for the Nexus 4 in the next several days.
I had to return mine as it was running hot even when not being used. Also, if I used the native email app, the phone would start to lag specially when in drawer. If I rebooted the phone, it would work fine but start showing the same behavior again unless I removed the email account, reboot and it work normally. WIFI was a hit or miss too. It is now returned awaiting my refund after 14 business days..ugh
I had that same “hot” issue. I returned it and they sent me a replacement. The difference has been night and day to say the least. There seemed to be some bad apples in the bunch, but my current Nexus 4 is performing great.
Battery life is bad due to system bug issue 41855. This is supposedly fixed in 4.2.2 and is rolling out now. Once updated it should be on par with the optimus G.
I was impatient (Not really, Google was taking forever to restock the 4) and got a HTC 1X+ and a regular 1X for my girl. I loved the style and feel of them and I quickly found that having 64GB of was flat awesome! I had filled up 35 gigs with my favorite media and high end apps, no more downloading and removing apps for space. Meanwhile my girl was happy with 16GB since she doesn’t really download any apps. Within a week her phone was constantly saying it had no SIM card, would cut people off mid call and mine did the same. On top of that, they would both reboot or completely freeze up. It was annoying to say the least, especially during a phone call. Got replacements, and those were glitchy as well. Was about to just root them and replace them with a stock looking ROM, but just said forget it, might as well get the real thing. Coming from a almost problem free Galaxy Nexus that we sold, well I actually gave mine to my son and he wouldn’t give it back for nothing except a Nexus 4, we quickly remembered why we switched to pure Google in the first place, they just worked. We had some problems with previous skinned out phones. I’ve personally went through some type of really annoying issue with just about every high end Android since Doughnut on few different carriers and rooting was always the only fix. Was hoping things changed, but now I see we can never go back to a skinned phone ever again. We both have a Nexus 4 now and no problems really at all. Best decision. Battery life is actually fine for us and has Qualcomm’s quick charge technology. Wish I had those 64GB though, oh well.
My Nexus 4 has worked perfectly since the day I got it. No heat problems, no short battery life, incredibly fast performance and always the latest pure Google Android.
Natesh, I got my Nexus 4 in December. Love the phone, but am already suffering from covetivitis and drooling as I read about the upcoming Motorola X Phone
It’s funny that you mention the X Phone, Ambarish. I actually had a hard time deciding whether to wait until Google I/O to see if the Motorola X Phone was going to be announced or buy the Nexus 4 when it came back in stock in late January. Obviously I purchased the Nexus 4, but I had to spend some time contemplating whether it was the right decision or not.
The nexus 4 is My 3rd phone. Started with the LGP500 then a Samsung S2. The P500 is still running in top form after 2 years. The LG battery in the P500 remains excellent which proves LG makes decent hardware comparable to Sammie or surpassing it. The N4 is awesome, no issues and 4.2.2 makes a great phone even better.
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