Nexus 4 – The Android iPhone and that's ok

I decided to upgrade my Samsung S2 to a Nexus 4, there were several reasons for this…

• I dropped the S2 on a rock and it had a large hairline crack in the screen, not that bad but noticeable.
• I rooted the phone and installed Cyanogen Mod, it ran really well until recently, and a stable version of 4.2 looks like it was never gong to happen.
• I came into some money and thought I’d treat myself

So why is this review entitled “The Android iPhone”, well some of the reasons some people like the android platform is its flexibility. Therefore it’s a strange choice with the Nexus 4 to have an iPhone style sim card slot that requires a silly ‘tool’ and a non-removable battery.

I didn’t realise how many features and settings I had become reliant on that were actually Cyanogen Mod features, things such as being able to change lock screen shortcuts, remove battery status from the top nav bar, changing the number of home screens and a few other features to.

Still after a few days I realised most of these could be done without or replaced with other apps and I started realising the positive aspects of the nexus 4.

Firstly, the screen is incredibly sharp, crisp and clear. I’ve never been greatly convinced by retina displays or their equivalent but after a few days with this screen it’s hard to look at another phone.

Its fast and snappy, everything seems to be running faster, even data reliant tasks, I’ve only had a handful of occasions when it feels laggy.

The battery life is generally phenomenal. I’ve had days when I’ve tethered into it, listened to music, made calls and a bunch of other things and still had 30% left by the end of the day.

I really like the build of the phone to, its solid without being metallic, a nice fit, not too heavy and the rubber sides add a nice comfortable feel when holding it. I’m still getting used to the side power/lock button, generally its not an issue, but can be a bit of a fiddle when trying to do something like end a phone call.

In summary, my initial concerns and grievances ended up turning into positives and perhaps the complete flexibility I had with my s2 led to inconsistency and unreliability. Now the slight locked down compromise is actually much more liberating and just works.