Background
The LG Nexus 4 was launched in 2012, and that is the year which Galaxy S3 was launched. Yes that is a pretty long time. At launch, the Nexus 4 was a total bang for the buck. It was the very first Nexus that is priced rather competitively. Despite all these however, it did not launch in Singapore. Thus many do not get to even see this device often.
Fast-forward to November 2014, I found a refurbished Nexus 4 for 168 SGD. Me being an Android maniac, I decided to splurge on this Nexus 4 even though the Nexus 6 is already out at that point in time.
A year later and after replacing my daily driver to a LG G Flex 2 (read that review if you haven’t), I felt that I am ready to write my review of the Nexus 4.
Hardware
Called me biased. I personally feel that even by today’s standard, the build quality ain’t bad at all. A glass sandwich with nicely textured plastic makes this device a pleasure to use. In particular this phone is extremely comfortable to use with one hand due to its compact size.
Unlike the G Flex 2 I reviewed, this phone is rather standard with the button placements. Volume on the left, power on the right, earphone jack on the top, USB port at the bottom.
Like many phones nowadays, the back panel is sealed in, which means no removeable battery. There is no microSD support either, so users might get stuck with either 8GB or 16GB of memory, which is paltry by today’s standards.
Specifications
Let’s start this section with a good news. This phone still have 2GB of RAM. Which is still keeping up with today’s standards for phones. Coupling with the software (which I will get to later) , this amount is enough to do some rather decent multitasking.
The processor although powerful for its time, is really getting rather outdated. A Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro is inside, which by today’s standard is slightly weaker than the Snapdragon 410.
The screen is a 1280×768 resolution display, which is similar to a HD display. There is a reason why manufacturers of smaller devices (such as SONY with their compact series) stick with HD resolution. That reason is perfectly legit to me, as I can’t fault the sharpness of the display.
I could fault the screen for something else though; the colours. I am not a picky person in terms of this, however even I could tell that the colours seems a bit off. The screen lacks vibrancy, which many daily consumers actually prefer. There is a very obvious screen backlight from the LCD, which would ruin how black looks on the screen.
Long story short, this screen definitely is not the best screen. Coupling the fact that the competitions are bringing out AMOLED and IPS LCD screens, the screen is only going to look worst in comparison. However the screen is definitely passable.
Performance
Performance on the Nexus 4 is almost flawless on normal usage such as Facebook, web-browsing and watching Youtube. It could even play some normal casual games too. It could even play Asphalt 8 on high setting, and that game isn’t that bad in terms of graphics.
Push it any further however, and the age of the device becomes much more obvious. Heavier games such as Hearthstones are although playable, have rather obvious slowdowns. Phone also tends to heat up like crazy with such tasks to an extent that it is rather uncomfortable.
There is a reason why the performance of this device is so good even till today, and that is because of one simple reason; Software.
Software
There is a good reason why I chose to write my review now rather than before. Marshmellow.
Although through an unofficial upgrade rather than an official OTA (Android 5.1 is the last version for Nexus 4), the fact is that it is perfectly possible to upgrade a 3 year old phone to the very latest version of Android is a feat by itself. Plus it got 5.1.1 rather quickly.
The stability of these firmware are really nice, plus due to it being a Nexus, it meant that there is lesser apps automatically installed on the device, which is why Nexus’s Android are also known as “Vanilla” solely for this reason.
Although the official support of the Nexus 4 has already ended, for those who don’t mind they could dwell into the world of custom firmwares. Although sometimes stability is an issue, usually after awhile such firmwares become very useable after awhile. That is a true benefit of a Nexus device.
With regards to Marshmellow however, I felt that on the Nexus 4, other than the additional improved performance on Marshmellow, there are surprisingly little in terms of additional features.
To be honest, I rarely use Google Now due to it being battery draining sometimes on most devices, so Google Now on Tap ain’t gonna help much. The additional permission control is really nice for those who are more careful with their personal information though.
Battery
This is one of the main reasons why I eventually swapped to my current new phone. The battery is rather awful. It fails to reach 3 hours of screen on time almost all the time, making a power bank absolutely mandatory to survive the day. If I supposedly go out of my house at 7am, I usually require my phone to be on life-support by 3pm. My usual usage is some light gaming and general web-browsing.
Stand-by isn’t as bad as the screen on time though. Should I not use the phone, usually the drainage is rather minimal. So if I happen to not use the phone as much, it’s not that bad. However once the screen turns on and I start using the phone, battery plummets.
Note that this is on the Android 5.1.1 firmware. On Android 6.0 it is too early to tell, however currently it is not very positive as well.
Camera
Let’s not beat around the bush with regards to the Camera. It’s a potato camera.
Even in 2012, the Nexus 4’s camera is not going to win much awards. 3 long years later, it is getting incinerated by the competition, no doubt about that. With plenty of light, the pictures it took are passable for the social media. However under low-light conditions, and this phone’s camera is almost unusable.
Video is also rather lacklustre. Yes it does have 1080p resolution, however it shares the same problem as the photos it took. It only could perform decently under good lighting conditions.
Other Issues
I save the biggest issue for the last, and that is the durability issue with the device. The power button is an absolute wreck, as it is not working 50% of the time, which is rather frustrating. This issue is not only exclusive of my set, as many users also reportedly have this power button issue.
Sadly it is because of this, I started to look for another device to replace my Nexus 4. I could live with the sub-par camera, and I could get over the lack of battery life with a power bank, however I could not get over the wonky power button. I currently modified the buttons in a way that the volume button acts as a lock and unlock key, however this is not a good solution in the long term.
Conclusion
Does that meant that I regretted purchasing the device? Absolutely not. It’s been a hell of a ride.
The Nexus 4 is the very first time I experienced the Nexus experience, and I could see why many people yearns for it and pledged allegiance to the Nexus line-up. The software support directly from Google is an absolute god-send, as many other phones are stuck with old versions of Android. For the users who don’t mind learning a bit about Android custom firmwares, the Nexus 4 could last potentially even longer. If not the power button issue, I believe that a loyal user would be able to survive well even 1-2 years later with the Nexus 4.
However, due to the issues stated in the review, I decided to moved on. I still absolutely adore the device for a lot of reasons. It remains very responsive, plays the games I play decently, watch videos rather nicely, etc. This does not meant that I am suggesting people to scramble to buy a Nexus 4 right here right now, because other than used sets, I believe it is downright impossible.
Although LG Nexus 4 is a rather ancient device, it is an interesting specimen to show the power of software support. I have friends who are using their old phones and usually it is a sluggish mess. However on the Nexus 4, the fluidity and responsiveness are still present, and that is something worth to be proud of.
There are 2 things worth taking away from this review. First thing is the Nexus experience. With the recent announcement of the new Nexus devices (6P and 5X), the Nexus experience is something I would love to go through again. The good news is that Huawei is going to bring their Nexus 6P into Singapore, so I will be looking forward for that.
Another thing is how important software optimisation is to the experience of the device. In the present age of devices, we are reaching a state that even lower-end specifications could give a good experience. Nexus 4 is a true testament to that statement, as its specs although losing out to more recent devices, is still able to stand head to head with the competitors in terms of responsiveness and fluidity.
I’ll look forward to use a Nexus device again. For now though, you can rest well Nexus 4.
“The Nexus 4 is a timeless device that withstood the stand of time in terms of software by being extremely responsive despite its age. However there are issues mainly with its camera and durability. Regardless, it is a device that taught us the importance of software optimisation.”
– NUS Tech Friends
Final Notes
All photos are taken on a LG G Flex 2. It feels good to have a non-potato camera for once. Hope you guys like the pictures I used in the review ^^.
As usual, any question feel free to drop in the comments below, or email us at nus.tech.friends@gmail.com
Phone Details
As usual, here are the firmware that I used in my review.
- Model: NEXUS 4 16GB
- Android version: 5.1.1/6.0
- Rooted
- Xposed (5.1.1 only)
NUS TECH FRIENDS 