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Nexus 4

Rondeau7

Rondeau7

Well-Known Member
Is this device a decent investment. I have worked with the F6, L70 and Leon. Looking to buy a Nexus device. Is this device solid.
 
I would say for the price they go for now, yes. Still a fairly powerful and well-made phone. No LTE or Marshmallow 6.0 - officially. But if you root it you can install Marshmallow and flash the LTE radios. A very good choice for someone to learn about rooting.

I have mine running Marshmallow, with TWRP recovery, AFwall+ firewall, Super SU, Google apps and all my favorite stuff installed. It runs Marshmallow 6.0 very well. I'm typing this reply with it. Check this out:

http://androidforums.com/index.php?posts/7130561
 
I am well familiar with rooting, custom recoveries and ROM's. The only concern I have is no ext SD slot and a non removable battery.
 
Hmmm...I've never worn out a non-replaceable battery yet, though I've certainly tried. Can't seem to kill one. I've quit worrying about it.

Don't need or want a removable SD card.

So the answer to both questions is no, the Nexus 4 has neither. Still been an excellent unit. Even though it's.semi-retired to spare and testbed duty now, I still find it in my hand a lot because I just like using it. Like right now.
 
If you're wanting to get into Nexus, you're just going to have to let go of expandable storage and removable batteries. With those two caveats in mind, I loved my Nexus 4 and would still be rocking it today if it hadn't killed itself in July.

What are you looking to use it for?
 
codesplice said:
If you're wanting to get into Nexus, you're just going to have to let go of expandable storage and removable batteries. With those two caveats in mind, I loved my Nexus 4 and would still be rocking it today if it hadn't killed itself in July.

What are you looking to use it for?
Click to expand...
Daily use, rooted with a custom ROM. Over clocked. Can I use on of those micro flash drives to expand storage on the device. And how is the internal storage in that device? The phone obviously comes with ASOP software with no carrier bloatware.
 
The link I gave earlier:

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/9...l-android-6-0-marshmallow-on-your-nexus-4.htm

...has the 6.0 ASOP ROM, Gapps, TWRP and SuperSU setup I've been running for a while now. This has been very stable and runs well, like an official 6.0 update ROM from Google. Highly recommended. Should be very suitable for daily use. I've used it like a daily driver with no issues. I can't say that about others I tried at all.

I haven't overclocked. Runs 6.0 so well I fail to see the point, but whatever.
I haven't tried an external flash drive but offhand I can't see why it wouldn't work.
I have the 16GB model. Not sure what you're asking...
OEM is with Gapps, of course. The ROM I linked is ASOP, but with a good Gapps package available.
 
Two quick issues as far as USB OTG goes, for using an external flash drive:

1) Not supported by the stock kernel. Less of an issue if you're looking to run something else, but you would need to make sure the kernel supports it. Not all of them do.

2) Nexus 4 doesn't put out enough power to support OTG. This can't be fixed with a kernel, but can be fixed with a special powered OTG cable. You will just be stuck connected to an external power source rather than "on the go".
 
codesplice said:
Two quick issues as far as USB OTG goes, for using an external flash drive:

1) Not supported by the stock kernel. Less of an issue if you're looking to run something else, but you would need to make sure the kernel supports it. Not all of them do.

2) Nexus 4 doesn't put out enough power to support OTG. This can't be fixed with a kernel, but can be fixed with a special powered OTG cable. You will just be stuck connected to an external power source rather than "on the go".
Click to expand...
The only thing I want with the micro flash drive is storage. I am OK with the locked battery.
 
codesplice said:
Two quick issues as far as USB OTG goes, for using an external flash drive:

1) Not supported by the stock kernel. Less of an issue if you're looking to run something else, but you would need to make sure the kernel supports it. Not all of them do.
Click to expand...
I was not aware of that. Never tried it with OTG. Curious now if the kernel I'm using has OTG, I'll check.

2) Nexus 4 doesn't put out enough power to support OTG. This can't be fixed with a kernel, but can be fixed with a special powered OTG cable. You will just be stuck connected to an external power source rather than "on the go".
Click to expand...
Really? Not enough power to run flash memory? That should take a very minimal bit of juice.
 
Well there is always the option to store files on my laptop and keep only the most important files on the devices internal storage. I typically like to keep a few nandriod backups in the device itself.
 
I keep a lot of stuff in cloud storage for easy access, about 700GB. Way more than any phone can store unless I used SD cards. But I hate carrying extra cards and swapping them around. Please, just put it all in the friggin'' phone. I can do that with cloud storage.

I haven't bothered with nandroid backups for a long time. They eat a lot of space and I can reinstall from scratch pretty quick. But everybody has their own method to their madness. That's what's great about Android - you're free to go crazy your own way.

This thread has got me in the mood to fool around with the Nexus 4 some more. I think I'm gonna try flashing the LTE radios, haven't tried yet.
 
Crashdamage said:
I keep a lot of stuff in cloud storage for easy access, about 700GB. Way more than any phone can store unless I used SD cards. But I hate carrying extra cards and swapping them around. Please, just put it all in the friggin'' phone. I can do that with cloud storage.

I haven't bothered with nandroid backups for a long time. They eat a lot of space and I can reinstall from scratch pretty quick. But everybody has their own method to their madness. That's what's great about Android - you're free to go crazy your own way.

This thread has got me in the mood to fool around with the Nexus 4 some more. I think I'm gonna try flashing the LTE radios, haven't tried yet.
Click to expand...
I might shell out a little more money for the Nexus 5, not quite sure yet. But I am looking for a new device to play with. I am currently working with my F6 which I will never get rid of but I need a new toy.
 
The Nexus 5 is another great choice. You can get more onboard storage and better LTE support. But honestly, in terms of actual performance, my N4 is about as good as my N5.
 
Rondeau7 said:
I am well familiar with rooting, custom recoveries and ROM's. The only concern I have is no ext SD slot and a non removable battery.
Click to expand...
This can't be considered as good investment. After a year or so you will see the battery performance decreasing and you will be looking for another device.
 
lvt said:
This can't be considered as good investment. After a year or so you will see the battery performance decreasing and you will be looking for another device.
Click to expand...

I'd have to disagree. After using the N4 as my daily driver for well over two years and another year as a backup phone, I can say that I haven't seen any performance problems, battery or otherwise. I don't consider lack of a removable battery or SD card as shortcomings. It's part of the Nexus paradigm. Besides, the Nexus 4 is ridiculously easy to open and OEM batteries can be had for ~$5.00.

Other than a lack of support for LTE and the fact it has dropped out of Google's update cycle, I can't think of anything that would make this a bad investment, especially when you can find one new for ~$150.00 and decent used ones for less than $100.00. :)
 
lunatic59 said:
I'd have to disagree. After using the N4 as my daily driver for well over two years and another year as a backup phone, I can say that I haven't seen any performance problems, battery or otherwise. I don't consider lack of a removable battery or SD card as shortcomings. It's part of the Nexus paradigm. Besides, the Nexus 4 is ridiculously easy to open and OEM batteries can be had for ~$5.00.

Other than a lack of support for LTE and the fact it has dropped out of Google's update cycle, I can't think of anything that would make this a bad investment, especially when you can find one new for ~$150.00 and decent used ones for less than $100.00. :)
Click to expand...
You are perfectly right on the S4, I just quoted the other version without SD card slot and user replaceable battery.
 
Ok, let's take this a step further. What is the best root related setup on this phone? The best custom ROM, custom Kernel, Overclock; powersave, root tool setup for the Nexus Mako. No kidding around the best setup that has the results proven. I do prefer a Andriod 4.4.4 setup find it the most user friendly.
 
There's not really a one-size-fits-all "best", particularly when two of your suggested criteria are pretty much polar opposites (overclock versus powersave).

Different ROMs and kernels have different priorities: some may be packed with features while others are more lightweight, full of gorgeous eye candy while others are more minimal, or blazingly fast while others just sip at the battery. It really depends on what you personally want to get out of the experience, and usually that means trying a bunch of combinations to figure out what works best for you.
 
Yeah I know but I have a combination on my F6 that works. Is the CM 11 for the Nexus Mako stable? I have Carbon 4.4.4 with a supercharged Kernel and powersave. I am looking for a setup on the Nexus Mako with Andriod 4.4.4 with a good custom kernel.
 
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