LG Nexus 4 Review by Popular Tech Websites

LG Nexus 4 Review by Popular Tech Websites:

JOSHUA TOPOLSKY, THE VERGE

• Two new camera features of the LG Nexus 4 simply amazing: 360 degree pictures which allows you to take Street View-like pics and the very useful and cool looking settings panel for the camera that can be accessed by tapping the screen on the camera app.
• Also, the camera has a new HDR setting that will allow you to take quality pictures in less than ideal lighting conditions.
• The reception and call quality of the LG Nexus 4 are great. LG have included a great speaker as well, and the microphone and earpiece work great.
• The battery last considerably longer with the LG Nexus 4, sometimes over 18 hours of normal use. This is much more than its predecessors, and a cool feature is the “orb-like” wireless charging kit.
• Gmail has gotten a few updates, such as Swipe to archive or delete and pinch to zoom, a feature that the iPhone had for quite some time now.
• A very interesting feature is the quick setting panel that can be accessed from within the drop down menu, or by swiping the drop panel with two fingers at once. The quick settings panel holds your most used settings, which you can quickly modify.
• The clock app has been updated, something that shows us that Google is paying attention to every last detail. (Source :The Verge)

CHRIS VELAZCO, TECH CRUNCH

• While the front of the device closely resembles the last Nexus device, the Galaxy Nexus, the back cover has a reflective tiles that give is nice, futuristic look in the right light.
• The lack of a SD card slot is one of the biggest drawbacks of the LG Nexus 4. But then again, none of the previous Nexus devices had this feature. They must have kept with tradition in this perspective.
• Voice search has gotten a lot better. Now it better resembles Apple’s Siri, and it can launch apps, but it still has some issues with this feature in the sense that it does not work every time you need it to.
• The ability to set screensavers on the device is also a great new add on to the LG Nexus 4. You can also set your gallery as the screensaver, so you can watch your photos as the device is on standby.
• For those who enjoyed the Swipe keyboard and other third party apps that would give you this feature, the new swift keyboard will fit in nicely. It allows you to write by using gestures, something that will make messaging much quicker.
• HTC users had a feature that many thought it should be implemented in all Android phones: lockscreen widgets. You can now rest assured that the Nexus 4 has this feature and it allows you to load your favorite widgets directly on the lockscreen.
• The cherry on the cake is without a doubt the multiple users setting that make the LG Nexus 4 resemble a PC. This allows more than one user to use the smartphone and each have separate wallpapers and settings.
• The device ships unlocked, and it is pretty cheap, so if you are not a fan of multiple-year contracts, then this is the phone for you.             (Source :Tech Crunch)

BRENT ROSE, GIZMODO

• The new LG Nexus 4 has the guts of the Optimus G but in a slicker and better looking body. Essentially, the LG Nexus is a Optimus G with rounded corners and a “Nexus” label on its back.
• Apart from the camera app, the Gallery app has been revamped. If until now it was a simple image viewer, now you have an entire image editor in one app.
• The screen of the device tends to have a blue-ish look and it falls short of some other models, such as the HTC One X or the Xperia TL, but still, better than most.
• Although the battery life is much better than what it used to be, the major battery hog is the camera, especially when making 360 degree photos (or PhotoSphere as it’s called).
• A feature that should be implemented in the Android OS but still hasn’t made the cut is “Find my Phone”. This is still only achievable only with third party apps.
• Google is pushing more and more for cloud storage, but it seems to let behind the direct file transfer from a computer. The “Android File Transfer Utility” still needs a lot of work. (Source :Gizmodo)

BRAD MOLEN, ENGADGET

• The Nexus 4 is one of the most elegant devices we’ve played with.
• Nexus 4 also fully supports the Qi wireless charging standard, which means you can use any Qi-capable charging pad to refill your battery
• The display is among the best that you can currently find on a smartphone.
• The new and improved Jelly Bean also features native widget support on the Lock Screen and even offers multiple panels for additional widgets.
• The camera is much improved over what we saw on the Galaxy Nexus. It may not be the best performer among its peers, but the camera is still an asset to the Nexus 4.
• The camcorder is capable of taking 1080p movies in MPEG-4 format, and records footage at an average of 22 fps with a 9 Mbps bit rate. This resulted in noisy, slightly choppy videos that didn’t really convince us that what we were watching was of true HD quality.
• Performance is pretty solid, though it comes with the occasional hiccup.
• Battery life is considerably poor as compared to LG Optimus          (Source :Engadget)