Nexus 4

I'm definitely a computer/gadget/video game nerd. If you hadn't picked it up from my Username, I'm a big fan of the Nexus family of Android devices that Google sells and are manufactured by various partners. Among the newest of these is the LG-made Nexus 4 smartphone. It's their (surprise!) fourth smartphone following the Nexus One, Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus. It goes back to the original Nexus One sales model, being offered only directly from Google through their online store or subsidized by T-Mobile. For those not in the know, it launched on 11/13/12, sold out in less than a hour and has generally been considered one of the worst retail launches ever.

All of that aside, I scored a Nexus 4 last Saturday. My wife and I tried to put in an order when they went up for sale on the 13th but the Google Play Store was throwing errors everywhere and we never got an order in before the device was actually "sold out" and pulled from the store. Fast forward 2 weeks and Google re-released the phone, but the website suffered the same problems. Everytime I filled up the shopping cart their checkout service failed. I'd reload it and the cart would empty. Rinse and repeat for hours. (I really, really wanted this thing!) Then, with the discovery that you can hammer down on the checkout button, I finally got to order a beautiful Nexus 4.

To make the story shorter, my order still hasn't been fulfilled by Google (4 to 5 week backorder!), but a fantastic friend of mine ordered an extra with the intention of selling to me. He got his last week, so I paid him and I'll sell mine new-in-box and unopened when it gets here. I've had this thing for almost a week now and it's mind-blowingly amazing. I know there's a few people around here (GPS) who are into Android stuff, so if there's some interest I can write up a little opinion 'article' about it.

But suffice it to say, if you're looking at getting a new smartphone anytime soon you should really look into the Nexus 4. It's priced extremely aggressively ($300 8GB / $349 16GB) for a completely SIM-unlocked device. Sure, it's more expensive than the price of a subsidized phone, but you have complete freedom with your device. It's updated and officially supported directly by Google so you get the latest Android updates quickly and you don't have to wait for device manufacturers or carriers to handle the updates. It's a "stock" Android device so there's no manufacturer's 'skin' or user interface to ruin the Android experience as it was meant to be. You can even save a bunch of money on your phone bill with this thing by switching over to a GSM prepaid service like Straight Talk, Simple Mobile or T-Mobile Monthly. I'm with Straight Talk and pay $45/month for unlimited talk/text/data. I dare you to find that deal with a post-paid service.

www.google.com/nexus/4/

Congratulations on getting the hottest phone on the market!

Heck yeah.  Let's see some photos of that nice screen too if you can.  Better yet some screen grabs.

Yeah, I can write something up and post a few photos. Lucky for you guys I just got a new camera, too so I can get some super-nice photos up. I'll post a little later today or tomorrow.  8)

Cool!

I bet you could get more than you paid for that Nexus 4 since they are near impossible to find.

Yeah, I'm hoping I can make a few bucks on it. I've already got a few people that told me they're interested, but so far nobody is throwing cash at my face. You know, GPS, it'd be a BIG upgrade from a Nexus One...

Anyway, after a week of living with this thing I'm absolutely blown away. This is my third Android handset and my sixth total Android device, all of them Nexus or Google Experience Devices. This phone blows all of them out of the water in terms of build quality, speed and look-and-feel. The look-and-feel is always one of my big determining factors when I play with a new device. I want it to look great and it needs to feel great in my hand(s). I was actually kinda skeptical about this thing since the only other LG I've owned was 10 years ago. But all of that melts away like a spring snow when it makes it into your hands. The glass feels smooth and the sides feel... hmm... I want to say they feel like an unpolished slate. Definitely not plastic like the Galaxy Nexus. Almost a cross between stone and metal. It's awesome. Then there's the sparkly glass back. I'm pretty concerned about a glass back (there's a Reason the iPhone only had a glass back for one generation...) being a weak spot, but it is Gorilla Glass, so hopefully that counts for something. The shimmer effect that's etched into it looks incredible and is done very, very tastefully. The Nexus and LG logos are pressed under the glass and done in a very tasteful silver color.

I always liked the hardware inside the Galaxy Nexus. The dual-core processor and Jelly Bean software made the thing feel very fast, fluid and responsive. But, that said, I've always hated the way the phone felt and looked. I didn't like the curved screen and it has that "chin" that sits at the bottom of the phone. The textured back felt tacky and the camera protruding from the back looked completely retarded. The whole thing felt very cheap and plastic-y but still had a solid feel to it. The internals of the Nexus 4 is a huge step up, too. It more than doubles the processing power of the Galaxy Nexus (4 cores at 1.5Ghz!), doubles the RAM and includes some awesome features like inductive charging and a 720p screen with 320ppi. Sure, the screen doesn't have the amazing color saturation of an AMOLED screen, but it looks fantastic and has great resolution. The camera is pretty decent (I believe it's a Sony 8MP camera/sensor) but I'm not a fan of smartphone cameras. They do a great job for capturing something for reference, but when it comes to artistic photographs I'm going to pack my DSLR.

On the software side it's the standard Jelly Bean stuff that I've had on my Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7 for more than a month now. The quick-menu was a big thing for a lot of people, but honestly I don't use it that much. I almost always just used the stock Power Control widget. One feature that I've used a few times now that I believe is unique to the Nexus 4 is the HDR-capable camera. It does a surprisingly good job of combining multiple exposures into one image; giving bright highlights, deep shadows and well-saturated midtones. You can snap a photo in a very dark room with HDR on and get a well-lit photo with good detail. The image processing takes a little longer (a couple seconds?) but it does a great job. The other cool software feature is the photospheres. It uses the same tech that the Google Maps Street View cars have to create little 360-degree spherical panoramas. I've used it on both the Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus 4 and it works pretty well. I imagine if I really took my time it'd come out great, but most of the time I get impatient and it comes out with a few mistakes. But I've seen some really great photospheres done by other people and they're quite impressive.

Now, I do have a couple small concerns or complaints about it, though. The glass back obviously looks and feels cool but I'm concerned it'll shatter before I'm done with this thing. I've already seen and heard enough stories of cracked glass, but I've never damaged any device I've owned (yet) so here's hoping it was engineered to be practical. Also, the thing sits completely flat on the front and back (awesome!) but it's covered in glass front and back so saying it's slick is an understatement. It slides all over the place when put on almost any surface. That's not really a problem in-and-of itself, but if it slides right off the kitchen counter and meets the laminate below it could pose a bit of a problem. Then, lastly, to be incredibly nitpicky: the higher pixel density screen and slight bump in size over the Galaxy Nexus the software adds an extra row of icons to the app drawer and it feels just a little bit cramped. Call me weird, go ahead. But if that's what I resort to complaining about with this handset it should go to show how incredibly well-done this thing is.

As per GPS, request I've got a few screenshots and photos to show off. My beautiful wife bought a new camera for me (Canon EOS T4i) as an early Christmas gift so I've been playing with it. The photos are intentionally "artsy" while I play with depth of field, so if parts of them are blurry it was kinda on purpose.

hehe, nice nexus, Nexus

How's that DSLR Controller application? ...

I'm curious ...
... How does your camera connect, USB, WiFi or Bluetooth ?
... I have a similar app for my Nikon and PC but it only connects via the USB
... and which camera did you end up buying ?

Oh, by the way thanks for the heads up, Google Sky is a new discovery for me

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Hey thanks! DSLR Controller is a really great application. It's still technically a beta app, and a little expensive, but I haven't really run into any issues with it. It's not super pretty, but it's incredibly functional. It only works with Canon cameras right now, though. It connects to an Android device via USB and requires a USB OTG (on-the-go) adapter. It's a much cheaper solution than buying an expensive remote release. Your Android would need to be running 3.2 or higher and in some cases may need to be rooted. It works just fine with my Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus. (The Nexus 4 does not have OTG capability. Sad.) It basically allows you to completely control all functions of the camera through the app. It's great for slow shutter shots where you don't want any camera shake or even viewing your shots on a larger, higher resolution screen.

I took my time deciding which camera I wanted to get. I went back and forth between the the Canon T4i and the Nikon D3200 and ultimately settled on the T4i. The touch screen and low-light performance were big selling points for me. I found a great deal online that I couldn't pass up so my wife was nice enough to buy it for me as long as I sold some stuff to recoup some of the money. It's a fantastic, incredible camera and I could do a whole separate write-up on it if anybody else is interested.

Glad you found Google Sky Map. It's pretty neat for anybody that's into astronomy even the slightest bit. It's really fun to take outside on a clear night and find all those stars, planets and constellations.

I was into astronomy when I was a kid, had a pretty nice scope, a 6" reflector w/ equatorial mount.
... Was even thinking of buying something new given all the new and exciting CCDs, Electronic Clocks and Software available.
... All the stuff that wasn't available when I was a kid

Re: DSLR Controller, unfortunately I can't run Android apps because I have the iPod. And you say it's is only good for Canon and I have a Nikon ... I'm wondering if there's such a thing, is there an iPod like device (no phone) that runs teh Android OS?

Hey Nexus, how is the camera in your nexus, I can't imagine it being bad either? How about some samples?

Just looking over a review of your Canon T4i, NICE ... Very Nice!
... Yes I would read a 'whole separate write-up' It's 'Touch Screen' sounds interesting?

These days if talking brand name it's hard NOT to get a great quality camera. You'd be hard pressed to find a difference in picture quality with any. Meh, even the new iPhone take's a GREAT photo, sample PICs. Seems to me all they are talking about these days are a cameras speed, it's ergonomics and Fluff (LOL, added features) ...

As for DSLRs in general they (reviewers) say the Canon 6D and 5D Mark III are fantastic, and reasonably priced being full frame cameras. Must say being married to Nikon that Canons are doing really well in today's markets! That said my next camera will certainly will have a full frame sensor as the time is right given there's been a significant price reduction of full frame cameras.

Anyhowz, thanks for the info
    [acronym=EYE See! "w00d's Photo Musings" LINK to my BLOG][shadow=grey,left][size=1em]w[/size][size=1.25em]00[/size][size=1em]d[/size][/shadow][/acronym]

Yeah, there's a few things out there like that. I'm not terribly familiar with them, but honestly, the best bang-for-the-buck you're going to find is the Nexus 7 tablet. No phone capability, but runs the most up-to-date version of the Android OS. It runs $200 which is likely a bit more than some people want to shell out, but the quality and performance you get are incredible. There's definitely other choices out there, though, I just don't tend to pay much mind to them.

[quote author=w00d link=topic=2411.msg14090#msg14090 date=1355758029]
Hey Nexus, how is the camera in your nexus, I can't imagine it being bad either? How about some samples?
[/quote]

Honestly, it's pretty good. It's an 8MP Sony-built shooter and it's capable of shooting HDR, which is a pretty awesome thing for a camera stuck on the back of a telephone. I can load  up some sample pics a little later. Color reproduction is pretty great, it autofocuses really quickly, and unless you push the exposure too high it's pretty grain-free.

[quote author=w00d link=topic=2411.msg14090#msg14090 date=1355758029]
Yes I would read a 'whole separate write-up'  It's 'Touch Screen' sounds interesting?
[/quote]

Absolutely. I can write up a little personal mini-review. I feel like I know the equipment well enough to evaluate it from a layman's point-of-view well enough. And the touch screen is quite awesome. I was expecting it to be kinda gimmicky, you know, feeling like it belonged on a cheap point-and-shoot but that's not true at all. One of the things I love about it is being able to go from f/4 to f/32 all with a swipe of a finger instead of pulling on a clicky scroll wheel forever.

"I was expecting it to be kinda gimmicky, you know, feeling like it belonged on a cheap point-and-shoot but that's not true at all. One of the things I love about it is being able to go from f/4 to f/32 all with a swipe of a finger instead of pulling on a clicky scroll wheel forever."

You pretty much said what the review had voiced.  The review I read talked about the Canon Touch Screen in depth and they talked about how much faster the work-flow was verses spinning teh dials. Apparently Canon did a wonderful job implementing their Touch Screen, pretty much everything can be controlled via the screen. Bet we will see every camera manufacture doing 'touch' in the near future!?! After reading the review I know it's something I want, it's cool stuff!

"Nexus 7 tablet" $200 is not a bad price compared to the iPad ... I will be having a look at that for sure

"Honestly, it's pretty good. It's an 8MP Sony-built shooter and it's capable of shooting HDR, which is a pretty awesome thing for a camera stuck on the back of a telephone. I can load  up some sample pics a little later. Color reproduction is pretty great, it autofocuses really quickly, and unless you push the exposure too high it's pretty grain-free."

Yup, again I read Sony are leading the race for better sensors so it's no mystery why your nexus is taking pretty good shots.
... Looking forward to the samples ... and looking forward to the user-review of your Rebel

PS: The 'review' also talked a little about the T4i's WiFi in so much as they said it was 'Eye-Fi' but THAT is ALL they SAID! The reviewers were somewhat vague, do they mean the T4i supports Eye-Fi but we would still need an Eye-Fi SD Card. I'm left wondering if WiFi support is built-in or we would still need a WiFi enabled SD Card? Anyhowz, we have options now so if a WiFi card is needed have a look here

Teh Added Value: As we talked about Camera Controls w/ Android,
... thus for some of the more 'unique' ways of controlling a camera via the Android/iOS have a quick look at TriggerTrap
... The software package is completely FREE during the Christmas season!
... The software support's the 'nexus' and it's camera but to control a DSLR their 'dongle' is needed for the connection.

Thanks Again
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As promised, a couple sample photos from the Nexus 4. Keep in mind that these were shot indoors, with only incandescent light, and taken on practically the gloomiest, grayest day I've seen.






Our little parrot, Ezio. It's hard to get a good picture of him since he's ALWAYS moving around.




This one is taken with the front-facing camera, so expect much lower quality.

I think any camera can take a good picture in good light, the test comes in low light and there your pics look good to me. Colours are also good and it did a good job with the white balance ... My Nikon's auto white balance does pretty good under tungsten light but it's horrible when taking pics under florescent lights, too green. And no amount of post processing can fix it's JPGs, best option for my cam under florescent is to shoot RAW then correct the best I can in the photo editor

... Anyhow the nexus look's like it can take a good pic

Yesterday I was looking a two Point'n Shoot cams that are Android powered which look interesting. One from Nikon, Coolpix S800c w/ 10x optical zoom w/ it's fixed lens and another soon to be released Polaroid Mirrorless which supports interchangeable lenses. However the Nikon version unfortunately ran 'Android v2.2', the Polaroid will be running 'Android v4' but it's also larger and bulkier. 

I was looking for one of these a while back.


Happy Holidays Android.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=967nio2LF7s[/youtube]

DashClock Widget for Android 4.2

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ls4AhEzHSc[/youtube]

Via:
http://www.androidcentral.com/dashclock-widget-android-42

I'm using it and it's pretty nice, but not incredibly functional for me. I tend to keep my Gmail inbox cleaned out and "read" most of the time, as well as SMS messages, so this basically just functions as a pretty clock widget in my case. I'm guessing that this functionality will be built into the 4.3/5.0 release, perhaps with additional extensions.

The DashClock widget was made by a Googler so I would be surprised if it didn't make it into the mainline OS, especially if it get a decent amount of downloads.

I wish my Nexus One could run Android 4.2 so I could use Google Now.

You know, the Nexus 4 is back in stock and is an incredible device at an incredible price...  8)

Even better that that.  T-Mobile is offering the Nexus 4 for $49 if you extend your contract.  Check this out:

http://www.androidcentral.com/t-mobile-offering-nexus-4-contract-just-49

...So what are you waiting for?

Well the only thing is it's T-Mobile, who I am already with.  But do I really want a Nexus 4 so bad that I sign up for another two year contract?  In the end a unlocked version from Google Play might be less expensive.