The new Google Nexus 4. This time, the hardware is made by LG. Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired
Android has a new champion. The Nexus 4, built by LG in collaboration with Google, is the best overall Android handset currently available, and it’s one of the best phones to be released this year.
It’s a truly exemplary piece of hardware that showcases the best of what Google can offer in a smartphone when crufty user interface skins from hardware makers and bloatware from carriers are cut out of the equation.
It’s as close to perfect as I’ve seen any Android smartphone get. But the Nexus 4 falls just short of perfection due to one major omission: It’s not compatible with any LTE networks. The Nexus 4 will run on just about any other cellular network outside of LTE (GSM, UMTS, Edge, GPRS, 3G and HSPA+), which means you can take the handset with you all over the world, swapping SIM cards as needed. It also means Google can sell one device in multiple markets all over the world, since Europe, Asia and other continents are still largely without LTE service. This is likely a big reason why Google can charge so little for the Nexus 4 â€" $300 with 8GB and $350 with 16GB, unlocked and off-contract. For comparison’s sake, an unlocked iPhone 4S from Apple sells for about $650 to $850. An unlocked Samsung Galaxy S III runs $800.
The lack of LTE connectivity will spoil the Nexus 4 for some. But if you don’t mind living without LTE â€" and you likely currently are, given AT&T and Sprint’s small LTE footprint, and the fact T-Mobile has yet to begin building its LTE network â€" then the Nexus 4 is a good buy. And you’ll also be freed from taking on a two-year carrier contract, though T-Mobile is selling the Nexus 4 at $200 on-contract if you’re into that too. If you do take the Nexus 4 plunge, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.
Living with the Nexus 4 and using it over the last week has been a joy. The first thing you notice when you pick up the handset is just how sturdy and luxurious it feels. The front and back of the device are coated in Gorilla Glass 2. I took a set of keys, a fork and a pocket knife to the front and back glass panels of the Nexus 4 and couldn’t get a scratch to show up anywhere. I also slipped and dropped the phone while pulling it out of my pocket this week, and it showed no signs of my fumble.
Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired
I can’t blame the design of the Nexus 4 for my clumsiness. It’s quite grippy thanks to a rubberized band of plastic that runs in a ring around the whole device. This band is where you’ll find your buttons and ports â€" a volume rocker and a SIM card tray on the left, a sleep/wake button on the right, a headphone jack up top and a mini USB port for charging on the bottom. There’s also a strip of chromed plastic that skirts the edge of the face. It’s a handsome touch that doesn’t distract from the massive 4.7-inch 1280 x 768 display. The strip smoothly meets the curved edges of the phone’s touchscreen, which glides into the sides of the phone â€" it’s somewhat reminiscent of the display treatment on HTC’s One X. It’s a fantastic design choice, as it makes the Nexus 4 comfortable to hold and makes it more satisfying to swipe your hand across. There’s no resistance here, no hard edges. Just silky glass on a 0.35-inch thick device that weighs just 4.9 ounces.
The display on the Nexus 4, which packs a density of 320 pixels per inch, is one of the best I’ve seen on a smartphone handset. I wouldn’t say it’s the absolute best, as I still prefer the color reproduction of the One X and the sharpness of the iPhone’s Retina display, but it’s very close. While colors do lean toward the cool side, LG’s True HD IPS LCD display is flat-out gorgeous. The level of detail and definition seen here is worthy of a flagship phone. Everything looks spectacular: apps, e-books, magazines, comics, websites, videos and photos.
Beneath the glass back panel, there’s a sparkly, textured inlay that shimmers when the light catches it just right. It’s very subtle. The back appears to be just plain black glass, but when the light hits it, you see sparkles. While it’s purely cosmetic, it’s a detail that, along with the top-notch fit and finish, shows some thoughtful design.
It not only looks great, it runs like the wind. I couldn’t find a single stutter or hiccup during my week with the phone. Even graphically intensive apps like Google Earth, or fast-paced games like Nova 3 loaded quickly and ran smoothly. This can be attributed to Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, Adreno 320 graphics processor, and 2GB of RAM. The rear-facing 8-megapixel camera is also very nice, but falls just shy of greatness. The photos it takes aren’t quite as clear or detailed as the ones we’ve seen from the cameras on the HTC One X and iPhone 5.
Carrying on the Nexus tradition, it packs an NFC chip, so you can use it with Google Wallet for mobile payments, or you can use Android Beam to transfer files (like homebrew porn, for example) to other NFC-enabled phones. It also supports wireless charging, and since it uses the Qi wireless charging standard, you can use a charging pad from another manufacturer (like Nokia) until you get Google’s official orb-shaped charging accessory. You can read more about the hardware in my initial hands-on report I wrote when the phone was first announced.
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