3 hour Nexus 4 Review:
- FAST. No question. The lower res compared to Nexus 10 allows it to do really well. This was why the Nexus 10 was a bit underwhelming in speed for me.
- Display is underwhelming. LG Optimus G looked better at the AT&T store. I know they tend to boost brightness to 100% in store but I turned it off. Google needs to learn how to calibrate screens. The Galaxy Nexus was poorly calibrated too. So was the Nexus S. Factory calibration is absolutely WEAK on all these phones. The previous 2 phones had overly blue screens too. My Galaxy S2 definitely looks better and it's completely uncalibrated. My Nexus S colors punch more than my SGS2, yet my SGS2's fail calibration still beats the Nexus 4. Meanwhile my cousin's HTC One X seems to blow all these phones out in terms of quality.
- Build quality is pretty solid. I like this over the SGS3, but not as much as the HTC One X.
- I definitely miss root and CyanogenMod. How come google hasn't figured it out that people like a REBOOT option when they hit power? This was like a CM6 option or something, and every freaking OEM has already included this. Good job on being the last one on figuring out the need for better copy & paste flags, multitouch keyboard, group MMS, and now the reboot option.
- I cringe at the thought of 16 GB of space only.
Edit
- I know I've been vocal about not liking soft buttons, and so this is a multipronged complaint. My main complaint was that they don't really serve any purpose or any advantage over hardware keys. It's still a bezel. And with phones like the SGS3 minimizing bottom bezel, you don't need soft keys to maintain that. But before I regurgitate the same arguments, let me move onto something new I discovered today.
- First, the 3 button choice is stupid. Long press Home is retarded. On my SGS2 it was bringing up the multitask menu. Ok, so Long Press brings me to Google Now. What about the general search feature? I know they're pushing Google Now heavily, but I want to search in all my apps: SMS, Twitter, Maps, Yelp, Foursquare. No way to get to that. Now before I say 3 buttons suck, let's review the SGS3 and SGS2 CyangenMod. Long press home brings you multitasking. Long press Menu brings you Search. Touchwiz might have it different, but you can invoke voice search and multitasking using some combo also. Long press home is an absolute waste.
- The multitask button to me is not used as much as the menu. I'm not sure why the insisted on removing the menu button. So even if they remove it, it's going to be in all apps anyway, because Android is built that way. You WANT to find that menu button to bring up a menu of buttons.
- Removing the menu button and putting it on the top is flat out stupid. The menu button is used so much my fingers have to shift around to the top of the phone and bottom of the phone. Remember that with larger phones you have to shift the phone around in your hands. This was ok for me on a 4" or 4.3" platform, but getting to 4.7" it's getting tricky esp with a case.
- 3 button layouts are not impossible. The SGS phones did it well. Google just chose the wrong buttons. They should've kept the task switcher as a long press home, and then kept the menu button present. Basically, we should be able to access search, home, multitask all from the bottom keys. With a 5" phone like the Note, you want me to reach all the way to the top everytime? Sigh Google.