Nexus 4

billbillw

http://www.google.com/nexus/4/

http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/02/nexus-4-review/

Well, after weeks/months of anticipation, the Google Nexus 4 was released for sale through the Google Play store yesterday. Pretty much sold out in less than 30 minutes. I wasn't really surprised because you can't find a new, unlocked, no contract phone like this for anywhere near the price that Google is asking for these. $300-$350 for a latest gen Android smartphone! Most of the competitors are asking $600-$750 for a comparable phone in a no-commitment purchase. I love what Google is doing here and I hope that it starts to change the game. Unfortunately, Google found their servers swamped and the checkout process was flawed, which is an embarrassment for such a large company. Hopefully once things settle down from this initial release, they will have things under control.

I wasn't planning on buying one, but I got swept up in the thrill and ordered one. Kinda thrilled about having a quad-core device that fits in the palm of my hand. I've also wanted to move past Gingerbread. My current Atrix 4G was supposed to get the ICS updated this fall, but Motorola backed out (due to the meddling of ATT). So, I'm done with Moto, and I'm planning on dumping ATT when my contract is up soon and going to pre-paid. It should save me $50/month.

Like I said, I hope that Google starts to change the game. Lets have realistic, unsubsidized prices on these phones, and end these ridiculous 2-year contracts.

Anyone else order the Nexus 4 yesterday?

exalted512

I plan on it, pending reviews once the device is out to the masses to see if there's any fatal flaws.

I very disappointed there's no removable storage. Very. I'm on t-mobile, so the lack of LTE doesn't bother me. But I'm still stuck on the lack of removable storage. It won't prevent me from buying it, but I'll sure as hell complain about it...lol.

If all signs point that all is well, I'll pick up the 16gb when it becomes available again.
-Cody

zingo

Nice phone! My contract is up at the beginning of the year, and I was going to get the Galaxy Note II, but this phone looks great also except no LTE...

billbillw

LTE doesn't work on the prepaid plans like Straight Talk anyway. LTE is carrier specific and doesn't fit into the mold of an unlocked GSM world phone. I'm pretty happy with 7-10mbps on HSPA+. The only time LTE really helps is if you are streaming video which I don't do unless I'm on WiFi.

The Galaxy Note II is one huge phone. More like a Phablet.

I don't care much about removable storage. My Atrix has a microSD slot, but I've never used it. It has 16GB internal and that has been more than enough. It seems that more and more phones are dropping the microSD, same with removable batteries.

badchad

I'd have to handle it to see how large the device is. I tend to shy away from enormous phones, although its getting harder and harder nowadays.

Admittedly, I had a horrible experience with the Nexus S, so I'd wait to see the reviews before purchase.

Conradicles

We bought the Nexus 7 and 10 and can tell you Google has fantastic Customer Service. Another great company to deal with. The phone may be next...

billbillw

badchad wrote: »

I'd have to handle it to see how large the device is. I tend to shy away from enormous phones, although its getting harder and harder nowadays.

Admittedly, I had a horrible experience with the Nexus S, so I'd wait to see the reviews before purchase.

What was the problem with your Nexus S experience? It was supposed to be a good phone at the time. BTW, I don't think this Nexus 4 would qualify as an enormous phone. It is slightly smaller than the Galaxy S3. Seems to be the average size these days.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I really like what they're doing with the pricing, but no LTE is a deal breaker for me. Granted, I've lived without LTE for a long time, but I picked it up with the current phone in September and am totally spoiled now!

Also, I'd want at least a 32GB option, 8 or 16 won't be nearly enough. Being in the Apple ecosystem obviously I'm ok with no external storage, but if you're not going to offer that then you need to give me the option of buying more storage in the phone. Having NO option for 32GB or more storage is a deal breaker for me.

And people don't seem to be too thrilled with the battery life. The display looks to be superb though, and with a quad core processor it should be very fast.

Overall for most people I'd say the price and features outweigh the cons, but the cons that are there are certainly going to be deal breakers for some.

billbillw

There is speculation that Google will release a 32GB model in about 6-8 months and after that, they will drop the 8GB model. I'll give you that battery life is not stellar, but it is about average when tested vs competing phones setup with the same type of signal reception. Certainly better than most of the earlier Android phones.

If you are hung on LTE, that also means that you are planning on staying with Verizon or ATT. If you are doing that, might as well take the subsidized price phones and the contract. I'm planning on ditching them, so LTE is the sacrifice I'm willing to make to save a few hundred dollars a year.

gmjungbluth

I'll be picking up this phone when the itch gets to painful not to scratch. No LTE is not a huge deal-breaker for me - my T-Mobile HSPA+ is already enough for streaming Netflix video (keeps my son quiet in restaurants) and reading newspapers and the like. And T-Mobile's value plans are just too cheap to pass up - my wife and I both have unlimited talk and web for something like $70/mo.

exalted512

They'll have more in stock today. Battery life isn't as good as I'd like, but the reviews are mostly positive. I think I'll pick up the 16gb version today.
-Cody

codyc1ark

Hmmm.... You're telling me I can order this phone and ONLY pay $45/month? That's what I pay for my dumb-phone right now. Very interesting, I've begun to get frustrated with Verizon's customer service, three years ago it was great but I feel like it's gone down hill.

exalted512

I pay $54/month w/ t-mobile. 500ish minutes and unlimited data. No text, I use google voice.
-Cody

billbillw

Funny, I ended up cancelling my order for the Nexus 4 because it was supposedly backordered for 3 weeks.

My wife needed a phone right then, and I was doing some more math. My ATT bill was less than I thought and it was only about $35/month savings going to Straight Talk. I finally figured it was about a wash to buy a pair of nexus 4 ($650-$750 depending if 8GB/16GB) and go to Straight Talk ($45x2/month) vs getting free upgrades from ATT and paying $125/month. So, I got a free pair of HTC One X and I've been happy with them. LTE speeds as well. Now, if we loose/break one of these in the next year, it will definitely be a Nexus replacement. They are still, by far, the best deal on a cutting edge non-contract phone.

exalted512

This is frustrating. After re-freshing for 9 minutes, it finally goes from sold out to available. Now that I have it in my cart, it either says "Oops, we had trouble processing your request. We're working on fixing the issue. Please try again later." or "Due to high demand, your order could not be processed. Please try again later."

I reloaded my cart to see if that would help and it disappeared and says it's sold out again.

I must say, it's pretty frustrating. How does the biggest search engine in the world not have a server that can handle the traffic?

It's still randomly being put in stock - then sold out...:(
-Cody

AsSiMiLaTeD

The htc is a great phone and IMO they still have the best display available on an android phone. I know people love the displays on the Samsung galaxy 3, but I hate pentile displays and the oversaturated colors on the Samsung phones. The htc has a much better display than the galaxy imo.

exalted512

Guess I won't be ordering one today. Despite having one in my cart 5 different times (after they mysteriously disappear), it would never let me proceed to check out. They've been going in and out of stock for the last 50 minutes according to their website, but seems stuck on sold out as of right now.

I must say, I'm not very pleased with Google today. It seems they should have had a much better idea of the demand (since it was sold out when it was released and people were having the exact same issues at check out) and would have fixed the 'play store' where if there was one in your cart, you would be able to check out. It's very frustrating. If a Windows phone comes out at a similar price structure, I'm at the point where I would give them a try because of Google's seemingly lack of sympathy for the people that had this happen once - since they let it happen again having a much better idea of what would happen.

I still have my cart open (with a 16gb in it) in hopes of clicking Proceed and it going through. I really wish I didn't need a new phone right now - as I would love not to buy this phone at this point.
-Cody

billbillw

Yeah, today's sale was pretty much a joke. They didn't really have it in stock. The best anyone saw was ships in 1-2 weeks. I think there are still some folks who are waiting for their Nov 13th orders. I think they just sold out their next shipment, which probably still had many of the Nov 13th orders eating that shipment up. Maybe in a few months, they will have good stock, but right now, it is ridiculously understocked.


Danny, Yes, I love the HTC One X display. I also don't like the AMOLED pentile display. Great blacks but unrealistic colors and small text is blurry. For the most part the OneX is just as fast as the Galaxy S3. I just hope the non-removable battery doesn't become an issue. With my old Atrix, there were times when the only way I could get out of a hard freeze was to remove the battery. So far, no freezes with the One X.

exalted512

It actually came back in stock after that post, but the same results. Like I said, if I really didn't need a new phone right now, I wouldn't be worried about it...buy my Nexus 1 is starting to show its age. Mainly just the lack of internal memory. I have very few apps - considering - but I cant even upgrade some of them because I dont have the memory. I've noticed when I'm low on memory, my service suffers as well. Not sure of the connection, but they definitely go hand in hand.
-Cody

exalted512

I tried from my mobile as well in hopes it would be put on a different server...haha. I was either wrong or the mobile server is screwed too.
-Cody

exalted512

Wow...a message from Google.

"Google Play is currently experiencing very high traffic. Nexus 4 is not sold out and will still be available for purchase. Please try again shortly. Thank you for your patience."
-Cody

billbillw

exalted512 wrote: »

Wow...a message from Google.

"Google Play is currently experiencing very high traffic. Nexus 4 is not sold out and will still be available for purchase. Please try again shortly. Thank you for your patience."
-Cody

Yeah, but even if/when you can get an order to go through, you will probably be looking at a few weeks or longer to actually see it ship.

exalted512

It says ships in 1-2 weeks. I just can't 'Proceed'
-Cody

billbillw

exalted512 wrote: »

It says ships in 1-2 weeks. I just can't 'Proceed'
-Cody

From what I remember, you just keep clicking it and it will go through eventually. Be careful, some people ended up with multiple orders last time.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Bill did you look at the One X+ or the regular One X, or is the + even out yet? The + get a good speed bump and is equal to or better than the GS3 in almost every way.

I'm just glad I'm not the only one who can't stand those displays...

codyc1ark

I just ordered one. :cheesygrin:

exalted512

Should have procrastinated I guess. I just 'ordered' one - which is nothing more than a pre-order, but that's fine with me.

I left my cart open on my work computer when I went to my second job. After I got off there, I got excited because I had it open on my phone and it went through after I hit proceed. But I noticed the ship date said 2-3 weeks. Dang! So I drove back to work #1 and I hit proceed with the cart and only a 1-2 week wait...it started going through...score!!! But wait - it says I have 2 (when it clearly says 1 in my cart). Dammit. So I refreshed my cart since I couldn't edit the quantity in that screen. 2-3 week wait...booooo!!!

BUT! It's ordered and I can wait 2-3 weeks. Going to finally say goodbye to my trusty ol' nexus one.
-Cody

billbillw

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

Bill did you look at the One X+ or the regular One X, or is the + even out yet? The + get a good speed bump and is equal to or better than the GS3 in almost every way.

I'm just glad I'm not the only one who can't stand those displays...

I saw the OneX+, but it is brand new and not one of the free ones. I just have the original OneX for ATT. Actually, the X+ is equivalent to international version of the OneX. It has the quad core tegra CPU. It supposedly flies under jelly bean.

codyc1ark

Cody,

Any shipping updates? Rumor has it that some people are finally getting notifications that had a 4-8 week delivery. I haven't.

exalted512

Nope. When I ordered mine on the second round of being in stock, it said 2-3 weeks. I was looking around on a forum and found a link that someone had posted that you could put in your order number and email google asking what the estimated ship date would be. I did that and they replied back that it should ship on the evening of the 19th. 3 weeks from my order date.

No idea where that link is, but maybe you can email support at the google play store and they can email you back.

Maybe try emailing: googleplay-support@google.com That's the email that I got when they replied.
-Cody

nguyendot

I want to try one...but after the LG G2X I'm afraid of LG's quality control...
No removable storage or LTE kind of makes me leery.

It looks nice, and is quad core....

I have an S3 and Note2 (way better than Note1) so I'll have something good to compare it to.