The Verge’s Google Nexus 4 review

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Kudos to Josh on the review, especially for calling out the lack of LTE.



  • Canucker

    But it’s delightful to read various apologists in the comments claiming that this is no big omission… Google can do no wrong.

    • http://darcyfitzpatrick.tumblr.com/ Darcy Fitzpatrick

      According to many around here, neither can Apple.

      • Canucker

        True, but it depends on the company “you keep” :)

  • Steven Fisher

    Sounds like a nice phone.

    The combination of calling a phone without LTE “a muscle car without wheels” and an 8.3 overall score is really jarring, however. Either LTE isn’t as important as his analogy suggests, or the 8.3 score is much too high.

    My vote is that LTE is obviously not as important as wheels are to a car.

    • http://twitter.com/OssoBuco Ralph Kruse

      Agreed. A little unfair to be harsh for a phone that is missing LTE. I don’t consider LTE a necessity for modern phones when most of the time HSPA+ is just fine (especially when you consider there are still some markets that don’t have LTE available).

      Also, I remember a certain glassy smartphone released just 12 months ago that wasn’t equipped with LTE.

      • Canucker

        Yup, 12 months ago which is an eternity (and the iPhone 4S was criticized for the oversight). “Nexus” is supposed to be a high end, demonstration device. The Android OS integrates well with Google cloud services. LTE makes that experience so much better. It’s not often technology takes a step backwards. This is simply a hobbled phone. Excuses, excuses.

      • Steven Fisher

        Twelve months is a long time in the world of cell phones. I think these days not having LTE is fairly bad. Almost (but not quite) unacceptable. If you know you’re unlikely to get LTE in the next two years (which seems impossible) or you know you don’t care, fine.

        It doesn’t make the phone as useless as a car without wheels, however. :)

    • ort888

      The Verge uses a weird grading scale. A 7 at the Verge is a pretty crappy score. If something gets a 6 it’s basically worthless.

      Personally, I find scores on things like electronics pretty silly.

      You’re much better off reading the actual text then trying to gain any insight from the score itself.

      • Steven Fisher

        Looking at their scoring system, I can see what you mean.

  • ort888

    Thanks for posting this review. I thought you were a little hasty in your criticism of the Verge last week.

    Posting this review as a follow-up is the right thing to do.

  • rj

    Weird that the review doesn’t mention that the Nexus 4 starts at $299, unlocked.