Gadgetory

google has given LG the task of creating the latest and greatest Nexus device yet but does LG live up to the Nexus name age Joshua regard from Android authority what's going on everybody and this is the Google Nexus 4 by LG the Nexus One the Nexus S the Galaxy Nexus as you see here and now the Nexus 4 not only is it the fourth iteration of Google's Nexus it also supports a 4.7 inch screen what a coincidence ok jokes aside LG has spared no expense in making their top-tier devices for this year you probably saw the lg optimus G already and now you have that Google Nexus 4 it has been difficult to get our hands on one as they have been and are still sold out at the time of this taping but we finally got our copy and I've spent some time with it the first thing you notice is that the Nexus 4 it looks very very familiar it looks a lot like its predecessor the Galaxy Nexus some might call this blatant copying but I had a second glance it is obvious that LG has thrown in its own vision of the Nexus I have to say though I mistook the Nexus 4 for my own Galaxy Nexus on more than a few occasions the button layout is as expected the power button is on the right opposite the volume rockers you see here next to the volume buttons is a slot to insert a micro SIM card which is accessible with an included tool the tool pops out a tray for your SIM card and it becomes a semi-permanent part of your phone once installed the headphone jack is on the top this time and the microUSB charging port on the bottom is flanked by wah has become LG's device motif two Torx screws like on the optimus G this is a nice addition to the overall look but these Torx screws also mean that this phone isn't supposed to be opened as such the battery is built in and not replaceable and in an increasing trend with smartphones the Nexus 4 comes with no memory expansion Nexus is across the back with the 8 megapixel camera just above the end the back panel is covered in Corning Gorilla Glass which is an aesthetically welcome change from the plastic backs of previous devices underneath the back panel is LG's other unique infusion a crystal reflection design that shows a block design at certain angles though you should try not to drop your phone anyway you might want to take extra care of the Nexus 4 being primarily made of glass means accent chatters are definitely possible even with gorilla glass a number of users have reported that a good drop can still break these panels coming around to the front another change from the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the screen instead of it being curved LG has put their true IPS display behind a flat panel because it is flat the entire phone feels like a well-constructed block with curves around the corners in the hand the phone is easy to grip and handle the true IPS display from the lg optimus G makes a return in the Nexus 4 coupled with the Adreno 320 graphics processor which makes the colors vivid the text crisp and the overall viewing experience an absolute joy capable of 1280 by 768 resolution at 320 PPI LG has put one of the best displays found on any current phone on the Nexus 4 the zero gap technology seems to do the trick here not just with display but also with touch as content slides right with my finger and navigation is a breeze now there have been some reports of some delay and primarily the pinch to zoom function as apparently the Nexus 4 sometimes doesn't render multi-touch perfectly while I did find this to be the case in Chrome I didn't quite have the same experience in the gallery supposedly this is a software issue and updates will fix this SN Civet e so zero gap and the screen are not solely at fault honestly general touch and swipe worked wonderfully for me and if pinching to zoom ever had a bit of lag it was just a matter of time before I was used to it and it became an afterthought far from a deal-breaker in my opinion performance is top-notch the same quad-core Snapdragon s4 pro processor found in the Optimus G is in this Google device and brings with it the same awesome power to gigabytes of RAM allow for great multitasking and apps log quickly and smoothly you can notice the difference with my Samsung Galaxy Nexus as this game loaded up on the Nexus 4 well before it did the animations and transitions of the newly updated jellybean are rendered beautifully in the Nexus 4 and make the Android experience feel seamless benchmark tests put the Nexus 4 at the top of the rankings thankfully a high capacity battery on the Nexus 4 is capable of going through a typical day without running out of juice a dedicated battery drain clocked in at about 7 hours with general usage though you should be able to get through a full day without having to worry about plugging it in connectivity in the Nexus 4 has been a hot topic as Google's latest device does not fully support LTE while it is possible to enable 4G LTE deep within the settings the results have been mixed and have certainly brought little to no success in the United States instead the Nexus 4 uses HSPA+ networks which are slower than LTE after testing connectivity to the t-mobile network I did find HSPA+ to be indeed slow but still adequate for most tasks however at full reception strength on the Nexus 4 I felt that t-mobile's mobile network did well to keep up with my Verizon LTE running on my Galaxy Nexus which was only at half reception strength but that was just my experience and to be honest having adequate speeds is way better than not having mobile internet at all one thing I did find nice about the Nexus 4 is that its beam still works with previous devices it's good to know that some sort of continuity and backwards compatibility exists with the Nexus line as you can see here NFC Beam works both ways with my Galaxy Nexus simply touch the two backs of the two phones together and when you are prompted touch the screen of one of the phones in order to beam on the other side on the other phone you should see that the beam is complete and that whatever you're transferring has gone straight through the camera of the nexus 4 is an improvement from before bringing a few more megapixels for a total of 8 more importantly the interface has been overhauled replacing the traditional menus with touch and swipe settings this is a great way of controlling the camera that works well for touchscreen devices the quality of the pictures is quite good even slightly beating out the 13 megapixel Beast of the lg optimus G colors are rendered quite well and this camera should be adequate for general shots photosphere is included in this iteration of the Android camera which allows for the device to capture 360 degrees shots much like those found in Street View a blue dot makes it easy to find where to position the camera around the grid but you do have to be a little careful and take things a little slow or else the resulting image will have some jagged transitions the camera may not be an extraordinary performer but it is most definitely an improvement in just one part of an otherwise exemplary package as this is a Nexus device it is important to remember that this phone comes with the latest and greatest that Android has to offer just as important is the promise that these Nexus devices will receive updated operating systems before all others and this is a big deal new features bring new experiences an updated notification drop-down has been introduced in jelly bean 4.2 that allows easy access to your most used settings this drop-down can be accessed by using that button at the top right of the drop down or by using a two finger swipe down an updated keyboard brings gesture typing to Android a feature usually found in replacement keyboard swipe it is a useful addition that may or may not make you forget about your replacement keyboard I do like how it shows you the word right above your finger though the lockscreen is improved as well widgets are now part of the lockscreen and are displayed as separate pages you have widgets to open up the camera to see calendar entries and even look at text messages or emails these help make your important data easily accessible without having to unlock your phone Google now has also been updated with some new cards to bring you even more information at your fingertips it remains as a useful and very pretty auto populating hub that should continue to get better and finally I will mention the new daydream feature which displays a clock some photos or even just some colors on the screen while your phone is docked or charging it really is a nice way to utilize your phone when it's just sitting on the desk or on your nightstand aside from all that some new design updates are included in the nexus force updated jelly bean 4.2 there are plenty of new things to discover throughout the operating system and all in all it is a worthwhile update that further increases the appeal of Google's newest official device and so there you have it by staying true to the Nexus roots while bringing new ideas to the table LG has solidified its comeback story with their take on the Nexus a quad-core processor a beautiful screen and a search giant's backing make this phone the one to beat while not reportedly without its few flaws the sum of its parts makes the Nexus 4 one of the prettiest most powerful and most important current devices the specs should help the phone hold up for quite some time while the software updates will keep it on the cutting edge the Nexus 4 is out now for $2.99 at 8 gigabytes and 349 for the 16 gigabyte model unlocked t-mobile also has the phone on contract for $199 so for my full written review head on over to android authority comm your source for all things Android