Google Nexus 4 Challenge: The Conclusion

The Google Nexus 4 30 day challenge is over.  First of all, if you're a Nexus user and love the stock Android platform, this is going to be the best phone you can snag.  The specs are great and the price point is even better.  It packs a quad-core 1.5 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 4.7-inch HD (720p) display, Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, and more.  Better yet, the $299 price point makes it affordable in comparison to the $500+ carrier-branded devices on the market.

If you like to hack, root, or mod, this is going to be a solid smartphone for you.  I can appreciate this device for being the best Nexus created - and for the tech nerd, this could be an ultimate device (despite the lack of LTE out of the box, which is frustrating).  If you're coming in as a new smartphone owner or are a mainstream consumer, I'm not going to recommend it.  This is a beautiful phone, but from a software perspective, it's bare - you're losing out on some of the software value adds that out of the box, improve the overall Android experience for most.

There's always the option to hack and root to make the device your own (much like adding aftermarket parts to a car), but many want the experience out of the box.  At the end of the day, it depends on what you want out of your device, and what you want it to do when you open the box.

Disqus Comments