The Google Nexus 4 was announced back in late October of last year and became available on November 13th. I was one of the few lucky ones to get one in the first batch that shipped. I did a review back in November of the device. Since then I’ve gone back to the Galaxy S3 and now back to the Nexus 4. Now what this post is going to do is talk to you about why the Nexus 4 is still my daily driver, 4 months after release.
What I use the Nexus 4 for
The Nexus 4 is my daily driver, but in all honesty, I don’t use it as much as most people would. Since I do have a Nexus 7, when ever I’m sitting at my desk I’m usually using my Nexus 7 and not my Nexus 4 to check a variety of things. I use my Nexus 4 mainly for news and social media. I have one home screen, and I use Nova launcher to keep it all looking nice. I have in my dock from left to right, a folder with phone, messaging, Google Talk, Facebook Messenger, Google+ Messenger, and Whatsapp, then Gmail, Falcon Pro, Google+, Camera and Chrome Beta. On my home screen I have three folders. The bottom folder is my social media folder which includes Tumblr, Facebook, Foursquare, GetGlue, Instagram, Robin (for App.net), Path and BaconReader (for Reddit). The middle folder has all my audio and video apps including Pocketcasts (for podcasts), Google Play Music, YouTube, Pandora, and Vevo. Then finally the top folder has Feedly where I keep all my Google Reader feeds, and Pocket where I can read stuff later on.
You might be surprised to see Qualcomm’s Battery Guru app installed. I actually decided to give it a go and see if it’s really worth it since I’ve been hearing mixed reactions and reviews regarding it. But normally I don’t have that one installed.
Stock or Custom ROM?
On my previous devices, even the Galaxy Nexus, I’d flash a ROM all the time. I almost never ran stock. With the Nexus 4, I’ve tried to run different ROMs, but stock Android is just so great nowadays. The only ROM I could run is Paranoid Android. Which I did run for a few weeks, but Stock is just so smooth, and fast, and has everything I want with Android 4.2.
What made me go Back to the Nexus 4
I left the Nexus 4 in about December to go back to the Galaxy S3, mainly because of battery life. I had a 4400mAh extended battery on my Galaxy S3, which made it last forever. When Android 4.2.2 came out a little while ago, I started hearing all these reports of how much better battery life is now on the Nexus 4. So I decided to check it out and see how much better it is. And wow, it’s pretty amazing. For me, since I have unlimited data with T-Mobile, I pretty much never use Wi-Fi on my Nexus 4. I’m about to get around 12 hours or more on HSPA+ everyday, depending on how much or little I use my phone. Now the other reason why I came back to the Nexus 4? Simple. Stock Android. Prior to Ice Cream Sandwich, I wouldn’t care about stock since it didn’t look all that nice. But Android 4.0 and above, Stock Android looks beautiful, there is basically no need for a custom skin now.
Should you buy one, 4 months after Release?
Sure there are plenty of rumors about the Nexus 5 and even the Motorola X Phone, but they are NOT confirmed. The Nexus 4 is still a great device, even if it is built by LG. I, too, was on the fence once I found out LG was building the Nexus 4 last year. Since I never had a good experience with their phones, I still decided to try it out. It wasn’t half bad. Especially since it’s running stock Android. Sure it doesn’t have LTE, for me that’s not an issue since I’m on T-Mobile and am in a HSPA+ 42mbps area, I can get faster speeds on T-Mobile here than on Verizon’s LTE.
The bottom line is this, yes, four months after the Nexus 4 has been released, I’d still recommend people to buy it. But only if, you live in an area where you get good or at least average, coverage from AT&T or T-Mobile. If you only get coverage from Verizon, Sprint, or US Cellular, do not buy this phone. As you won’t be able to really use it other than as a Wi-Fi device, like an iPod.
How many of you have had the Nexus 4 since release? What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments down below.