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Public area => The Pub => Off-topic => Topic started by: Dragooon on November 5th, 2012, 07:42 PM

Title: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dragooon on November 5th, 2012, 07:42 PM
So...Google recently announced the LG Nexus 4 and it's looking to be a pretty good phone. I'm probably getting it myself. Who else is looking out for this?
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Nao on November 5th, 2012, 08:10 PM
Bit too wide for me.

Plus it doesn't have a Microsd slot.

I'm still looking for the perfect phone around 64mm wide. :( whatever the price at this point.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dismal Shadow on November 5th, 2012, 08:44 PM
I liked the phone actually but...

http://www.readability.com/articles/ysypxzat
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dragooon on November 5th, 2012, 08:49 PM
Quote from Nathan Sparrow on November 5th, 2012, 08:44 PM
I liked the phone actually but...

http://www.readability.com/articles/ysypxzat
Thankfully that doesn't affect me :D
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dismal Shadow on November 5th, 2012, 09:00 PM
Quote from Dragooon on November 5th, 2012, 08:49 PM
Quote from Nathan Sparrow on November 5th, 2012, 08:44 PM
I liked the phone actually but...

http://www.readability.com/articles/ysypxzat
Thankfully that doesn't affect me :D
I could buy if it was LTE..., notification LED (RBG) is also a must for me. :P
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dragooon on November 5th, 2012, 09:05 PM
It does have a modification LED
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Nao on November 6th, 2012, 11:13 PM
Quote from Nao on November 5th, 2012, 08:10 PM
I'm still looking for the perfect phone around 64mm wide. :( whatever the price at this point.
Went to various shops today... Fell in love with the Galaxy Note II but it's way too big for phone use. As a tablet it'd be perfect, but what the heck.
The S3 is definitely too wide for me. Had a Razr i in my hand (a fake one, not a real one unfortunately), I loved it. But obviously couldn't play with the OS itself... Also played with a 'real' Razr HD, nice but a bit too wide once again. Tried the HTC One X, it's possibly the least annoying 'wide screen' to me, but still too wide.

I'm torn between choices, once again...
And the S3 Mini comes out in two days. Hmm...
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dismal Shadow on November 7th, 2012, 09:09 PM
Nexus 4's  wireless charging makes no sense, you still ñeed to plug the pad to outlet anyway. The phone must be placed on the pad for it to charge.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Arantor on November 7th, 2012, 09:16 PM
Wireless charging just strikes me as just being a 'cool thing' rather than being genuinely useful - though I suppose you could install a bank of them in somewhere like a cafe.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Nao on November 7th, 2012, 11:47 PM
Oh, I myself would appreciate just putting my phone on a charger pad rather than having to plug it in... It saves a couple of seconds every time I recharge it. Time is money eheh.

Okay, so I still have no idea what phone I'm gonna buy, ah ah...
I think I'm bewitched by the Note II.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dragooon on November 8th, 2012, 03:36 PM
Quote from Nao on November 6th, 2012, 11:13 PM
Quote from Nao on November 5th, 2012, 08:10 PM
I'm still looking for the perfect phone around 64mm wide. :( whatever the price at this point.
Went to various shops today... Fell in love with the Galaxy Note II but it's way too big for phone use. As a tablet it'd be perfect, but what the heck.
The S3 is definitely too wide for me. Had a Razr i in my hand (a fake one, not a real one unfortunately), I loved it. But obviously couldn't play with the OS itself... Also played with a 'real' Razr HD, nice but a bit too wide once again. Tried the HTC One X, it's possibly the least annoying 'wide screen' to me, but still too wide.

I'm torn between choices, once again...
And the S3 Mini comes out in two days. Hmm...
S3 mini has nothing of a S3 besides it's looks, so be careful there. How is it the Note II bewitched you but Razr HD is too wide? :P. You should try holding a Nexus 4 when it comes out, it feels better than some of the existing options although it's about as wide as the HOX. How does their width bother you? You can't hold them comfortably and access the screen or is it something else?
Quote from Nathan Sparrow on November 7th, 2012, 09:09 PM
Nexus 4's  wireless charging makes no sense, you still ñeed to plug the pad to outlet anyway. The phone must be placed on the pad for it to charge.
It's convenient, don't need to plug in the phone every time you plug it in and can just dock the phone into some screensaver mode.
Quote from Arantor on November 7th, 2012, 09:16 PM
Wireless charging just strikes me as just being a 'cool thing' rather than being genuinely useful - though I suppose you could install a bank of them in somewhere like a cafe.
Make it even more convenient to steal a phone, eh? :P.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Nao on November 10th, 2012, 08:22 PM
Quote from Dragooon on November 8th, 2012, 03:36 PM
S3 mini has nothing of a S3 besides it's looks, so be careful there.
I know... But if a phone looks ugly, I'm not excited about it. I'm not excited with the Razr i because it doesn't look/feel great in my hand... (Or worse, the Motorola Razr HD.)
I like the S3 Mini's looks.
As for power... I don't know if I need a nuclear plant in my pocket, see..? Maybe the S3 Mini is enough for me.
Then again... It's probably a tad expensive just for the looks.
Quote
How is it the Note II bewitched you but Razr HD is too wide?
Note II is definitely too wide. But it feels great in my hands (very sensual if I may say...?), plus the S-Pen is fantastic. It's the only smartphone I know of that supports :hover in CSS...! (Just have your pen close to the screen, anything below it will get the hover effect... I tried here!)
I tried the Razr HD and I just thought it wasn't too exciting or innovative, from what I could see.
Quote
:P. You should try holding a Nexus 4 when it comes out,
I've tried the Nexus 7, not the same I know, but I liked it. Except for the screen. Even in 720p, it's a bit... pixelized.
Nexus 4 has a big issue to me: it doesn't have a SD slot. It's a no-go then... I absolutely need the SD slot. I listen to tons of music on my devices. My iPod 4 with 32GB is already too small for me...
Quote
it feels better than some of the existing options although it's about as wide as the HOX. How does their width bother you? You can't hold them comfortably and access the screen or is it something else?
When I close my hand on my phone, it has to fit exactly between the center of my palm and my intermediate phalanges, so that I have a perfect grip of it, and full freedom to use my thumb on the screen. Plus I need to be able to access the entire screen with the thumb. If I have to use two hands for that, it's too big for me.

So, from what I can see, the best width for me is around 60mm (like the Razr i, or a bit wider than an iPod), although I've held ~64mm phones that were pretty okay, such as the Xperia S. (And yes, the Xperia S doesn't have a SD slot IIRC, so it's hard to consider it...)
After trying a 65mm phone like the One S, it started feeling awkward. The Xperia T was even harder to hold. The S3 was quite obviously impossible to hold like my iPod. It's pretty much the same as holding a Note II, so between the two, I'd probably prefer the Note II.

Plus, the Note II doesn't have the deal-breaking feature that the S3 has: when you scroll something (whatever, settings page or web page), and you release your finger, you'll see the screen scroll itself automatically quite fast, then suddenly stop and keep scrolling very slowly for like half a second. It doesn't sound terrible when I say it, but once you see it in action, it's hard not to take this into account. The Note II seems to fix that. I NEVER was able to find a website discussing this. It looks like no one on the net has ever noticed that. And yet, everytime I showed this to other people with a S3 in hand, they admitted that it was odd.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dismal Shadow on November 15th, 2012, 09:13 PM
Returned the Samsung Nexus 4G from Verzion after playing it for a few days, it's good considering the phone with great specs but I would rather get the unlocked one with HSPA+ since I am still in contract with AT&T. I have decided not to go with Nexus 4.

In other word, I would pick up the Nexus 7 instead. It had multi-users profile in the update 4.2
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dragooon on November 15th, 2012, 09:15 PM
There is no Nexus 4G from Verizon...what did you return?
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dismal Shadow on November 15th, 2012, 09:43 PM
Quote from Dragooon on November 15th, 2012, 09:15 PM
There is no Nexus 4G from Verizon...what did you return?
Yes there is...
http://www.verizonwireless.com/samsung-galaxy-nexus.shtml

I returned this 6 days under the 14 days policy.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dragooon on November 16th, 2012, 09:23 AM
That's the last year's nexus, this year's nexus is by LG not Samsung and not available in LTE or Verizon.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dismal Shadow on November 16th, 2012, 09:32 AM
That's my point. The Nexus 4 doesn't have LTE, so I would go the last year's model
: Samsung Nexus HSPA+ from Google.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Nao on November 16th, 2012, 09:41 AM
Quote from Nathan Sparrow on November 16th, 2012, 09:32 AM
That's my point. The Nexus 4 doesn't have LTE, so I would go the last year's model
: Samsung Nexus HSPA+ from Google.
Iirc the lg Optimus G may have lte. It's a Nexus 4 exactly but with ICS (install Jb yourself I guess?) and 32gb.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dragooon on November 16th, 2012, 10:09 AM
Quote from Nao on November 16th, 2012, 09:41 AM
Quote from Nathan Sparrow on November 16th, 2012, 09:32 AM
That's my point. The Nexus 4 doesn't have LTE, so I would go the last year's model
: Samsung Nexus HSPA+ from Google.
Iirc the lg Optimus G may have lte. It's a Nexus 4 exactly but with ICS (install Jb yourself I guess?) and 32gb.
It's more or less a nexus 4. But a nexus has its advantages when it comes to updates and developer support.
Posted: November 16th, 2012, 10:07 AM
Quote from Nathan Sparrow on November 16th, 2012, 09:32 AM
That's my point. The Nexus 4 doesn't have LTE, so I would go the last year's model
: Samsung Nexus HSPA+ from Google.
This year's model does have HSPA+42  but not LTE, if you're using HSPA connection the nexus 4 will be fine.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: feline on November 17th, 2012, 11:59 AM
Quote from Nao on November 10th, 2012, 08:22 PM
I listen to tons of music on my devices. My iPod 4 with 32GB is already too small for me...
with a nexus you can use google play music... so you can upload 20000 songs without to use one byte on the phone and you can hear music on any place....
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Nao on November 17th, 2012, 02:52 PM
Except If You dont have net access around..?

Anyway it's not a free service is it?

Plus the next delivery for nexus 4 is in 3 weeks... If I manage to get one this time! (an id rather buy it in a shop anyway...)
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dragooon on November 17th, 2012, 05:38 PM
You can store selected music on device for offline access and its free.
Quote from feline on November 17th, 2012, 11:59 AM
Quote from Nao on November 10th, 2012, 08:22 PM
I listen to tons of music on my devices. My iPod 4 with 32GB is already too small for me...
with a nexus you can use google play music... so you can upload 20000 songs without to use one byte on the phone and you can hear music on any place....
You can use Google play music with any device.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Nao on November 17th, 2012, 07:05 PM
Didn't even know this existed...

Too bad it asks me for my credit card number. I'm not a big fan of the idea of giving them (and worse, having them store) my payment details, even if I don't use them... (I mean, someone could hack my account couldn't they?)

Other than that, 20k songs = about 15% of my entire MP3 collection, totalling 500+ GB, so that's at least 50 GB worth of music... Not bad! I could do with that ;)
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: feline on November 20th, 2012, 09:06 AM
if you upload a album that exists on google music, this is't add to your limit of 20k songs...
and the streaming over the voicenet works perfect .. i tested that on the road in my car...
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Nao on November 21st, 2012, 08:28 AM
What's voicenet?

Re: the 20k limit, I'm not sure what to think...
I went ahead and installed GM last night. It immediately found and enabled a song from my Benny & Joon soundtrack, so I'm assuming it was in the list of albums Google has. Right. Now, thing is, this morning I'm looking at the titles being uploaded, and seriously: "Benny & Joon.mp3", or something like that... It's currently, right now, uploading that folder.
Good job Google...

I also don't know why it's telling me that there are 4500+ songs I can't upload because I'm over the 20k limit (yet it's still in the upload stage with apparently 500 songs done according to the website... And 3300+ according to the app... Please!), and in the list of songs it didn't upload, there are songs from an album that shows up in my list of uploaded albums... PLEASE, Google!!

Also, technically I'm not sure what to think of the thing. The only way to play the music on my computer is through their website... Which takes a long time to prefetch the audio (?!), and doesn't let me access through albums, only single titles... That's f'ed up. I'm assuming the Android app is just like that... If I'm stuck with a stinky app, I'm not sure there's a point in using it.

Oh, right... Now I cancelled my current import work, removed my main music folder from the import list, and just kept it to import my 'recent music' folder. It says, 'this folder has 1500 files, can import 2500 more files."
Then I click next, and it says I'm over the 20k limit now and I can't import anything and f'off. And at the same time it says "148 items imported from about 5000" in the right-click menu of the music app.

Seriously, has this shit been available for this entire year now...?!

I really, really want to love this app... But right now it's like it's laughing at me and my huge collection. :-/
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dragooon on December 6th, 2012, 06:44 PM
Finally received my Nexus 4, and it's an awesome phone!
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Nao on December 22nd, 2012, 11:06 PM
I'm sure it is :)

I myself ended up buying a Galaxy S3, "like most people"...
The reasons behind it:
- It's wildly popular, meaning it's better supported by third-party providers (hopefully). I originally had a Razr i which isn't very well supported.
- Battery life is better than most of the competition. It's not as good as the Razr i's, though... After 14 hours of slow activity on my S3, I'm down to 17% battery. Still, it mean I can probably use it for an entire day. I can simply have a spare battery and charge it alongside it...
- Out of all phones I had in my hands, this was the sexiest in my opinion. I've always found it beautiful, always will. My girlfriend doesn't understand me. I guess it's in the eye of the beholder etc.
- It is, basically, the most balanced phone of all -- there's always a phone that does something better than it does, but it beats them on all other counts.

The main drawback, as silly as it sounds, is that I really can't get used to the huge width (70.6mm), even phones that are 5mm narrower have a better grip in my hands. Considering modern smartphones are all pretty fragile (apart maybe from Apple's stuff), it's something that bothers me. I'm trying to get used to manipulate the object while touching the screen -- it's always been a 'sacred place' to me, something I shouldn't touch... Well, I have to, here.
Also, I hate the Back/Menu buttons because it's very easy to hit them by mistake. Thankfully, once the phone is rooted, you can edit the build.prop and Generic.kl files to disable these keys and instead show the navbar on the screen. Yeah, I know, it makes for a smaller screen, but whatever... All I care about is the width, not the height. I wouldn't even bother if the screen was square or something...

Another phone that has eluded me for a while is Acer's CloudMobile. It's pretty close to the S3's specs, only it's a 4.3'' HD screen (instead of 4.8'') and is 5mm narrower. The perfect combination I guess, but then again, losing half an inch in screen size also bothers me... Once you're used to the super big screen, I guess it's a bit hard to come back.
So, it isn't the "perfect phone", but it's damn close to it.

I still have a day left to "evaluate" it. Then I can have it refunded, and buy something else, otherwise I'll just keep it.

Any suggestions...? (I suppose not, but I'd rather ask :P)
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Dragooon on December 22nd, 2012, 11:09 PM
Well...load up cyanogenmod and a nice kernel, S3 is a beast of a phone and you should try and keep it.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Nao on December 22nd, 2012, 11:18 PM
If you're into the technical details of it... (I wasn't, until a few days ago when I started digging into it :P), what I'm currently using is a CyanogenMod 10.1 Custom (tomasek's version), with a Siyah v1.8.6 custom kernel set to a 'lulzactiveq' governor. I'm using Siyah because it supposedly can do dual booting, which is great, but not on 10.1, so I'll have to use a 10.0 CM instead, no biggie, I'm only evaluating the phone for now anyway, will install everything 'seriously' later...

It seems to me that the stock Samsung ROMs are a bit better when it comes to battery life, but only when setting them to Power Saving mode permanently (or close to), which probably basically switches it to 200mhz... Nah, maybe a bit more -- it's still usable, while a power saving governor will set it to 200mhz and make it close to unusable. It's only worth it when you know you're not going to browse the web at all... Then what's the point of such a huge phone, I'm asking ya :P

(Oh, and on an unrelated note, I hate Firefox on Android. While it has one of the best rendering engines availlable, and a cool UI, I can't believe they actually drop sessions when you restart it. Even the Android stock browser keeps all previous tabs in memory when rebooting or whatever...)

Perhaps I should get myself an iPhone 4S for the same price, it's small enough to keep me happy, and then buy a Nexus 10 tablet for daily browsing... :^^;:
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Arantor on December 22nd, 2012, 11:21 PM
Don't look at me, I bought a Nokia PureView 808 (you know, the one that runs Symbian)... aside from the fact that the browser is only modestly good, the battery life has been great and the camera is fantastic.

Go with what feels right to you and what has the features you need.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Nao on December 22nd, 2012, 11:32 PM
The PureView, isn't that what Pete has as well..?
I don't see the point, is it only for the camera?

What feels right to me doesn't actually exist. It should have the size of a Razr i, the screen and grip of an HTC One X, the design and compatibility of an S3, the price of a CloudMobile, the battery life of a Droid Razr Maxx, and the loudspeaker of a Nokia Lumia 920 (or, a bit worse, Galaxy Note 2). I could go on like this. ;) As I said, the S3 is either the best on some of these, or the second best. Apart from the buttons (which I found a fix for) and the width (for which I have nothing), it's hard to blame it for anything.

Maybe next year Samsung will release my dream machine... In which case I won't hesitate to sell my S3 and buy it. ;)
Oh, and for the anecdote:
- I first heard about the S3 while in San Francisco. Adverts everywhere. Having it... Well, feels like being in SF again.
- I bought it with my Aeva Media proceeds. I've kept the money in my PayPal account, and never use said account. So it's like I made Foxy! just to get an S3 two years later. I'm full of good ideas, ah ah.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Arantor on December 22nd, 2012, 11:37 PM
Quote
The PureView, isn't that what Pete has as well..?
I don't see the point, is it only for the camera?
<-- ;)

Yes, it was primarily for the 41 megapixel sensor in the camera. Symbian's design does also predicate well designed, efficient code, and the single core processor enforces that.

I realise that you don't have everything, but figure out what's most important to you, and go with that. For me, beyond the ability to talk, I only wanted the camera. The maps are *great* (better than Google or Apple) but that's a nice bonus rather than a core feature.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Nao on December 22nd, 2012, 11:43 PM
I don't really use cameras much. I don't go out a lot, and when I do, I don't tend to want to immortalize a moment. So I don't take pictures. But now, I know that if I want to, I'll have a good camera under the hand, i.e. the S3 ;)
It still won't be as good as my girlfriend's Canon reflex camera which cost me something like a Galaxy S3 and a half's worth, a few years ago... But it doesn't matter ;)
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Arantor on December 22nd, 2012, 11:45 PM
Well, what prompted it for me was a concert I went to over the summer; taking my decent Canon camera was out of the question, but had I had a camera phone, I would have taken pictures.
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Nao on December 22nd, 2012, 11:51 PM
I can understand that.

Hmm... I'm trying to make a quick review of all other possible phones I could get my hands on... Apart from the CloudMobile (which has the advantage of being so cheap I can survive seeing it break if I drop it by mistake...), I don't really see anything convincing. Meh...
Posted: December 22nd, 2012, 11:48 PM

Well, still, there's a reason why I went from my iPod to an Android phone, and survived the idea of no longer having my Scrabble app (which I played something like a thousand times in tw oyears), or my Monopoly Hotels app, in my pocket... And it's not just because I get extra freedom.

It's just that I'm into innovation, like you are. My iPod was innovative two years ago. But right now, if I want to replace it for a similar price, I can get the same machine, a tad faster, a few grams lighter, a centimeter taller, and way uglier. That's not innovation to me... When for the same price I could get a machine that's twice more powerful and actually allows me to phone as well.

Anyway...
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Arantor on December 22nd, 2012, 11:54 PM
I'm not disagreeing that Apple haven't innovated the last few iterations ;)
Title: Re: LG Nexus 4
Post by: Nao on December 22nd, 2012, 11:58 PM
I'm waiting for the second iPad Mini to buy one and (finally) ditch my iPod for good. All the iPad Mini is missing is a Retina screen... Other than that, it has the perfect size for a tablet to me. (Please note the very thin margins on it. I love that. I've always hated that the earlier iPads had such huge margins, it made them look like a photo frame or, worse, a baby toy...)