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Nexus Advantages/reasons to buy (or not to)?

ben1122a

ben1122a

Well-Known Member
Hello all,
I am currently with virgin mobile ($25 grandfathered plan) and I am sick of getting 30 kbps and having a cruddy phone that still cost $300. Therefore, I am looking to switch phones. Right now, the best switch I have found would be to buy the nexus 4 off of google play, then get a sim from t-mobile. I have heard that this is a great dev phone, and that entices my because I LOVE roming/modding. However, Before I make the switch, I would like other opinions, because making this switch isn't cheap >.<

What made you buy the Nexus 4? Are you happy with it? Are there any things that you DON'T like about it? What service provider are you using? What plan are you on? Etc.

Thanks for your input.
 
ben1122a said:
Hello all,
I am currently with virgin mobile ($25 grandfathered plan) and I am sick of getting 30 kbps and having a cruddy phone that still cost $300. Therefore, I am looking to switch phones. Right now, the best switch I have found would be to buy the nexus 4 off of google play, then get a sim from t-mobile. I have heard that this is a great dev phone, and that entices my because I LOVE roming/modding. However, Before I make the switch, I would like other opinions, because making this switch isn't cheap >.<

What made you buy the Nexus 4? Are you happy with it? Are there any things that you DON'T like about it? What service provider are you using? What plan are you on? Etc.

Thanks for your input.
Click to expand...


I too was in a similar boat to you, boost mobile I got my sim free from t mobile while they were doing it. I am on the $30 plan down side is 100 talk mins but my download speeds are 6-16mbs down, depending on location.
I love this phone, I initially got it for its higher then average specs and lower then average price I do love the fact that its easily unlocked and rooted and dev community support is extremely good.
The $30 plan I have is 100 mins unlimited everything else, however after 5gbs down they say they throttle it to about 200kbs or 2G speeds. I have not gone over 5gbs yet. This plan is only available for new activations and its going away may 2nd.
 
ben1122a said:
What made you buy the Nexus 4? Are you happy with it? Are there any things that you DON'T like about it? What service provider are you using? What plan are you on? Etc.

Thanks for your input.
Click to expand...

My husband and I both got Nexus 4's in January. They are our first smartphones. There were a couple reasons we finally made the switch. The N4 seemed like a mature product - I've seen my brother go through several clunky smartphone iterations through the years that weren't tempting. The N4 was too good to pass up for the price.

I also found out about prepaid phone plan options. I had no idea how much extra you paid to be on contract. The prepaid options made it affordable vs contract data plans.

We both with Solavei - a T-Mobile MVNO. I wanted to make the $30 plan work, but there was no way with the 100 minute limit. I believe the next best value is Solavei. It's $49 for unlimited talk/text/data unthrottled for 4GB. They also have a referral program which can effectively lower this rate. This has ended up being a nice bonus.

I've been very happy with the phone and Solavei - I'd do both again in a heartbeat.
 
Banished Angel said:
You may find this thread useful:

http://androidforums.com/nexus-4/707649-happy-your-nexus-4-a.html

I can only assume you currently have the Motorola Triumph. I feel your pain. I've been there. Upgrade now and you won't regret it!
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haha right on. I have a cruddy phone with a 4 hour stock battery life that motorola, if they were a parent, would have cut out of their will. I would've probably thrown that phone against the wall by now if it weren't for the devs working on roms and what not.
 
I have mine on the tmobile 70 buck unlimited all "uncarrier" plan. Not the prepaid one but the actual postpaid. I got it cuase I go thru phones like crazy and it was the "it" phone and as stated its specs for the price are an awesome deal. It is currently though my second line. I used it as my main phone for a while but I ended up missing my s3 on sprint and went back to that as my main line. I'm in a Sprint lte area so data speeds are zero issue. I'm also in a hspa+42 tmobile area so the n4 flies as well. I just got bored fast with the n4. It's an awesome device don't get me wrong but I dunno. Guess I expected more and prolly listened to the hype to much.
 
timmyh318 said:
I have mine on the tmobile 70 buck unlimited all "uncarrier" plan. Not the prepaid one but the actual postpaid. I got it cuase I go thru phones like crazy and it was the "it" phone and as stated its specs for the price are an awesome deal. It is currently though my second line. I used it as my main phone for a while but I ended up missing my s3 on sprint and went back to that as my main line. I'm in a Sprint lte area so data speeds are zero issue. I'm also in a hspa+42 tmobile area so the n4 flies as well. I just got bored fast with the n4. It's an awesome device don't get me wrong but I dunno. Guess I expected more and prolly listened to the hype to much.
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You got bored with the phone that has a quad core processor vs a dual core, that has a GPU twice as powerful, that has a newer version of Android and is about to get Key Lime Pie in a month, that has the biggest modding community of any phone on the market to date? And went back to your S3?

I just fail to see your logic there. When I get "bored" I flash a new ROM. Really the only thing that I could see that would draw you back to the S3 is Touchwiz, and i'll pass on that one..
 
Banished Angel said:
You got bored with the phone that has a quad core processor vs a dual core, that has a GPU twice as powerful, that has a newer version of Android and is about to get Key Lime Pie in a month, that has the biggest modding community of any phone on the market to date? And went back to your S3?

I just fail to see your logic there. When I get "bored" I flash a new ROM. Really the only thing that I could see that would draw you back to the S3 is Touchwiz, and i'll pass on that one..
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Well I'm not you. Lol simple as that. The s4 pro quad is not much faster than the s4 they benchnark about the same and side by side the s3 is just as quick as the n4. Key line pie is 4 months away what's that have to so with now? I still have my n4 it sits on the table and I tinker with it now and then. A few people have that number so I use it from time to time. So your excitment on the n4 is you get bored from one rom that looks like vanilla android you flash to another....that looks like vanilla android.....you party animal you. You also forgot the s3 takes better pictures and has a bigger screen. After you take into account the on screen buttons on the n4 the s3 screen is vastly bigger. As for touchwiz is not for you that's great. I didn't ask nor honestly don't care. You got your tastes I got mine but riddle me this. For touchwiz being so bad a lot of developers sure do borrow a lot of ideas from it for those killer roms you love. Status bar power widgets lockscreen weather quick reply texts. It cracks me up. Oh I hate touchwiz but wanna use a rom that uses a lot of there features. As I stated before the n4 is a fine device but you gotta decide that on your own. To many people wear google colored glasses around here and they will tell you its a life changing machine. Its not.
 
timmyh318 said:
Well I'm not you. Lol simple as that. The s4 pro quad is not much faster than the s4 they benchnark about the same and side by side the s3 is just as quick as the n4. Key line pie is 4 months away what's that have to so with now? I still have my n4 it sits on the table and I tinker with it now and then. A few people have that number so I use it from time to time. So your excitment on the n4 is you get bored from one rom that looks like vanilla android you flash to another....that looks like vanilla android.....you party animal you. You also forgot the s3 takes better pictures and has a bigger screen. After you take into account the on screen buttons on the n4 the s3 screen is vastly bigger. As for touchwiz is not for you that's great. I didn't ask nor honestly don't care. You got your tastes I got mine but riddle me this. For touchwiz being so bad a lot of developers sure do borrow a lot of ideas from it for those killer roms you love. Status bar power widgets lockscreen weather quick reply texts. It cracks me up. Oh I hate touchwiz but wanna use a rom that uses a lot of there features. As I stated before the n4 is a fine device but you gotta decide that on your own. To many people wear google colored glasses around here and they will tell you its a life changing machine. Its not.
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Haha you like your toys and I like mine, indeed. The S3 definitely has a better camera. The S4 Pro blows the processor in the S3 out of the water with the right benchmark. Antutu for example gives me a score of 21,000. Real world usage is not noticeable though, I agree. If the OS can't run smoothly with a 1.5Ghz dual core processor then that is just poor coding. As for the bigger screen, really? 4.7 vs 4.8 inch? Seems pretty identical to me lol. I also use PIE so the on screen buttons are NOT taking up real estate on my screen. I enjoy all 4.7 inches.

As for boring old vanilla Android, you are aware of themes, correct? My phone looks quite different than vanilla Android and still uses 1/10th of the resources of a OEM skin. I have status bar widgets, quick reply, etc.. Custom ROMs are quite feature filled.

In the end though it really is preference.

EDIT: Oh, and I'm not sure where you get 4 months from, but Google is unveiling Key Lime Pie at the Google I/O next month. It will be on the Nexus 4 by mid June.
 
I love this phone and don't regret buying it at all.... But, it is a little boring lol. Not sure what I was expecting, but it's still just a phone. It calls and texts... I tend to like things plain and simple though. But like change. Had it less than a week and I'm on my third ROM.
 
Banished Angel said:
Haha you like your toys and I like mine, indeed. The S3 definitely has a better camera. The S4 Pro blows the processor in the S3 out of the water with the right benchmark. Antutu for example gives me a score of 21,000. Real world usage is not noticeable though, I agree. If the OS can't run smoothly with a 1.5Ghz dual core processor then that is just poor coding. As for the bigger screen, really? 4.7 vs 4.8 inch? Seems pretty identical to me lol. I also use PIE so the on screen buttons are NOT taking up real estate on my screen. I enjoy all 4.7 inches.

As for boring old vanilla Android, you are aware of themes, correct? My phone looks quite different than vanilla Android and still uses 1/10th of the resources of a OEM skin. I have status bar widgets, quick reply, etc.. Custom ROMs are quite feature filled.

In the end though it really is preference.

EDIT: Oh, and I'm not sure where you get 4 months from, but Google is unveiling Key Lime Pie at the Google I/O next month. It will be on the Nexus 4 by mid June.
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Pie is a nice feature. And sure you csn theme roms and some love just the simple look thsts there likes. But for stock the screen is actually much smaller than 4.7 inches and it does show in some apps on the phone. They tend to look squeezed. Like I said its a nice device I'm not saying its not. If someone only has 300 bucks and wants a high end phone by all means buy a nexus 4
 
ben1122a said:
haha right on. I have a cruddy phone with a 4 hour stock battery life that motorola, if they were a parent, would have cut out of their will. I would've probably thrown that phone against the wall by now if it weren't for the devs working on roms and what not.
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I had the Triumph, then switched to EVO V still on Virgin Mobile, but switched to Nexus 4 on T-mobile $30 prepaid plan.

The battery life on Nexus 4 is much better than Triumph, although it's difficult to get a full day use on one charge. Nexus 4 is much faster (hence a lot smoother), bigger/better screen, better cam than triumph. Plus also, T-mobile coverage and speed (HSPA+) for my location is much much better than Virgin Mobile (don't have WiMAX here).

On development side, there are a lot of ROMS/Kernels being actively worked on. I am on CM10.1 nightlies myself and it's great.

I don't know of another phone in this price range with comparable features. Not sure about the Galaxy S4, it's more expensive any, but the HTC One doesn't have one of the frequency band support that is needed on T-Mobile's HSPA+ network, so probably can't go full speed on T-Mobile.

I am now waiting to see if the Motorola X-Phone gets any cool features that I would switch over.

In short, you won't regret.
 
namartlu said:
but the HTC One doesn't have one of the frequency band support that is needed on T-Mobile's HSPA+ network, so probably can't go full speed on T-Mobile.



In short, you won't regret.
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That depends on if t mobile has refarmed the 1900 in your area, I heard most areas are done so if that is true any att phone that uses the 1900 band for hspa will have hspa on t mobile.
When t mobile is finished it appears they are going to have all the hspa on 1900 and just use the 1700 for LTE.
 
new optimus said:
That depends on if t mobile has refarmed the 1900 in your area, I heard most areas are done so if that is true any att phone that uses the 1900 band for hspa will have hspa on t mobile.
When t mobile is finished it appears they are going to have all the hspa on 1900 and just use the 1700 for LTE.
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Thanks, when you say hspa you means including hspa+? I remember coming across something like you need two bands for hspa+, one for download one for upload.
 
namartlu said:
Thanks, when you say hspa you means including hspa+? I remember coming across something like you need two bands for hspa+, one for download one for upload.
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To be honest I dont know for sure, but I think hspa + from some of the speed tests I have seen pics of.

What I have see and heard with the change to the pcs band it only uses the 1900 instead of needing both the 1700/2100 of aws
 
new optimus said:
When t mobile is finished it appears they are going to have all the hspa on 1900 and just use the 1700 for LTE.
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No, at least not for a long time. T-Mobile will continue to use both 1700 and 2100 (one is used for upload, one for download) for HSPA+ for at least 4-5 more years. Along with, of course, 1900 HSPA+ and LTE.

Linux user #266351. Android since v1.0
 
Crashdamage said:
No, at least not for a long time. T-Mobile will continue to use both 1700 and 2100 (one is used for upload, one for download) for HSPA+ for at least 4-5 more years. Along with, of course, 1900 and LTE.

Linux user #266351. Android since v1.0
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I do realize that it will be a while, that is why I used when they are finished:p:D
Actually your info is very good though thank you.
 
I'm planning to buy the Nexus 4 for the following reasons:
* Updates come directly from Google
* The Nexus phones receive updates first
* No carrier bloatware
* No manufacturer overlays (skins such as Touchwiz, Sense, etc.)
* Pure Android

My biggest complaint with non-Nexus devices is that updates have to be altered by the manufacturer and approved by the carriers, which causes delayed updates. I have also experienced instances in which updates were declined because of manufacturer skins.
 
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