Nexus 4

As the clock continues to click away to January 1st, we’re taking a look at our last top 9to5Google subject post of 2013. This time around we’ve saved the best for last as we look back at the last year in Android and the top 5 most read stories as determined by you, the 9to5Google reader. Perhaps the inevitable news is that 3 out of 5 or 60% of the top stories surround KitKat and its release. There were quite a few happenings in Android this year, but none more notable than the launch of the latest version of Android which has long been known as Key Lime Pie. Ultimately, Google decided on KitKat and announced the release with a partnership with the KitKat candy bar…which is exactly our kind of partnership. Facebook took its own stab at Android this year with Facebook Home and the HTC First, a story we’ll get to a little later on. I think it’s safe to call 2013 more of an evolutionary year in Android more so than revolutionary, but still another year where the platform surged in growth and adoption.

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Hold the phone! As Android 4.4.1 approaches a week in age, Google has already started a rollout of Android 4.4.2 for Nexus devices. As of now, the update is already confirmed to be appearing on Nexus 5, Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 devices. According to a change-log provided by Sprint of all places, the update includes fixes for:

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A new report courtesy of the folks at ReadWrite is shining light on the steps and process Google’s engineers undertook to optimize Android 4.4 KitKat before its introduction to the world.

As Google’s engineers believed they reached a “feature parity” point, they turned their attention to performance and optimization, something that began with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and “Project Butter.” The hope was that Android would be faster, more reliable and devoid of the crashes that plagued many Android users.

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[tweet https://twitter.com/fakeninjitsu/statuses/403014466767691776]

Thanks to a tipster tweet, the boys at Android Central are reporting Android 4.4 KitKat is now en route to Nexus 4 smartphones. The update weighs in at a manageable 238MB and will of course add all the candy-tasting goodness Android 4.4 brings to the Android world.

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Google has announced that the new Android KitKat operating system will begin rolling out to Google’s own tablets starting today. The rollout process will likely be completed over a period of time. Android 4.4 will be reaching the Nexus 7 (both last year’s model and this year’s new model) and the Nexus 10. KitKat brings several improvements to Android, including changes to Google Now, SMS integration with Hangouts, and general performance enhancements. Google says KitKat for the Nexus 4 and cellular-enabled Nexus 7 is coming soon.

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As I come up on a week of use with the LG Nexus 5, a few things become clear:

1. Tradeoffs were made to get this phone to $349. After some thought, I probably would have made the same decisions if $349 was my target price.
2. I hate carrier and manufacturer ‘improvements’ more than ever. Having a ‘pure Google‘ phone is liberating.
3. This will likely be my main Android phone for the next the year.
4. This won’t be a best seller, even if it should be because it is the best value phone we’ll see all year.

How did I draw these conclusions? Start the week ago flashback sequence…

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[protected-iframe id=”492e2c57048e6da0fc41819addecc350-22427743-13611283″ info=”http://assets-polarb-com.a.ssl.fastly.net/api/v4/publishers/9to5mac/embedded_polls/iframe?pollset_id=200-nexus5iphone5s” width=”100%” height=”425″ style=”border: none;”]

The results from our Nexus 5 vs. iPhone 5s photo quality survey are in.  The winner is probably not a surprise (the iPhone 5s) but the margin may have been a bit of a surprise after so many people rated the Nexus 5 camera so poorly (and Google subsequently offered promises of fixes).

At the time we turned on the answers, the iPhone won about 55% of the votes overall from over 200,000 votes placed.

Nexus 5 − 89724  (45%)

iPhone 5S – 110828 (55%)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sONcojECWXs&list=PLWz5rJ2EKKc-2quE-o0enpILZF3nBZg_K&index=1]

Update: Google has released a full list of what’s new in Android 4.4 KitKat. We’re digging in and we’ll bring you more details as we discover them.

Alongside the official release of its new flagship Nexus 5 on Google Play today, Google is also of course officially taking the wraps of 4.4 KitKat, the latest version of Android that will ship on the new Nexus 5. When will you be able to get your hands on the new OS? Google said KitKat 4.4 updates will arrive for the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, and the Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play Editions in the coming weeks.

Google confirmed that the update will not be coming to the Galaxy Nexus. Since it’s two years old, it now “falls outside of the 18-month update window when Google and others traditionally update devices.”

In the YouTub playlist above, Google walks through some of the new features of KitKat for developers and also highlights a number of user-facing features such as a new “immersive mode” that allows users to automatically hide onscreen controls for a truly full-screen experience. In a blog post, Google took sometime to explain the performance improvements it’s made in KitKat, noting that Android can now “run comfortably on the 512MB of RAM devices”:
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The Nexus 5 appears set to match or beat the iPhone 5s in graphics performance, according to benchmark data posted on the the GFXBench website, achieving 23.1 frames per second in a key test.

The GFXBench T-Rex tests are one of the most demanding tests of the graphics performance of a phone, and provide a particularly good guide to how well a handset is likely to fare when paying graphics-intensive games. The just-released iPhone currently tops the T-Rex scores, but one of the four tests appears to show that the Adreno 330 expected to be used in the Nexus 5 will at least equal that performance … 
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The latest Roku for Android app allows video as well as audio and photos to be streamed to a Roku set-top box – but only for a limited number of devices.

Play your video from select Android devices to your Roku player. Supported models include: Samsung Galaxy SIII, Samsung Galaxy S4, Nexus 4, HTC One, and Nexus 7 (2012 model). Video playback requires Android 4.0 or later … 
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Developer Jack Underwood took the dimensions from the recent FCC approval of the LG D820 that has been pretty much confirmed as the Nexus 5 and compared them to the Nexus 4. The result? Despite a larger screen size with higher resolution, the Nexus 5 is actually smaller in every dimension.

If there were any lingering doubt about the match between the casings shown and the device slipped into the KitKat video, the animated GIF below seems to provide conclusive proof … 
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The mystery over whether the Nexus 5 is made by LG or Motorola appears to have been solved by FCC approval documents. The documents refer to the handset as the LG ZNFD820, but all the signs point to this being the replacement for the Nexus 4, expected to be launched in the next month or so. Google recently slashed the price of the existing handset, with the 8GB model going out of stock for good.

It appears to match the video grab we caught earlier this week.

Engadget points out that the casing images appear to be an excellent match for the phone which Google apparently inadvertently included in the KitKat promo video that it swiftly withdrew. The specs also look likely for what we expect to be a significant upgrade to the Nexus 4 … 
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Google has just announced that it is cutting the price of its Nexus 4 in Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, Korea, the United States, and the UK. The device now runs just $199 for 8GB of storage and $249 for 16GB in the United States. Previously, it was priced at $299 for 8GB and $349 for 16GB.

We've lowered the price of #Nexus4. Get it for 25% off or more in Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, Korea, US, UK: http://t.co/g8vIKtBC9N

— Google Play (@GooglePlay) August 28, 2013

Even though the Nexus 4 was released nearly a year ago, it’s still very solid smartphone, and will continue to get updates directly from Google for a long time to come. The device is powered by a 1.5GHz Quad-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with 2GB of RAM and an 8MP camera.

Google is expected to announce a new Nexus device sometime this fall, though exact details still remain up in the air. Some rumors point to Motorola manufacturing the device, while others claim that it will be LG again.

At the same price as many phones are on-contract, the $199 off-contract Nexus 4 is a great deal. It’s available on Google Play now and will ship within 1-2 business days, though that may change depending on demand.
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Photo: phandroid.com

Chinese site MyDrivers (comical Google Translate warning) is citing Korean sources suggesting that the Nexus 5, next year’s replacement for the Nexus 4, will be made by LG and based on the G2. An earlier rumor suggested that the handset would be made by Motorola.

It has already been rumored that LG would be making next year’s Nexus 7 … 
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Just got word from our Motoleaker with the latest in X Fon news. As of now, only Sprint, Verizon and AT&T are major carriers confirmed to carry the device in the US. T-Mobile (perhaps because it already subsidized the similar-specced Nexus 4?) hasn’t yet finalized any deals with Motorola for the device.

The X phones will begin shipping to carriers in August and should be ready for back to school.  The price is cheap enough for the carriers to subsidize the complete upfront cost, though it isn’t certain if they will or not. $300 is the current number being thrown around as the unsubsidized price (Again, like the Nexus 4).
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A link has been posted in the XDAdevelopers forum of an Android 4.3 build for the Nexus 4. This follows an earlier leaked version for the Google Edition of the Samsung S4 and likely more before google’s July 24th unveiling.

While the dropbox link posted to the forum soon stopped working, MoDaCo has mirrored the file on MEGA.

Posted just this morning on the XDA-Developers website, the build is currently in TWRP backup format so you’ll need to ensure you have the custom recovery installed, push the files to your TWRP backup directory on /sdcard and then restore … 
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Well, I did it. I got my hands on a White Nexus 4 to review. And, as you probably would have guessed it is a lot like the black version. In fact that’s pretty much all I have to say for this ‘review’: It is white and just as, if not more, attractive than the original – and that’s the back. The front is identical and still black. See gallery above.

But there are some things to note here, not the least of which is the white bumper that came along with it. It is great! Fits like a glove, and will help prevent breakage. The downside is that it adds a bit of size to the phone and doesn’t completely cover the glass backside.

Also, the Nexus 4 has been my daily driver since I got it in October. It is still my go to phone after reviewing such beauties as the HTC One or the Samsung Galaxy S4 or even its recent cousin the LG Optimus Pro. How is the Nexus 4 holding up and why do I like it more than the ‘superphones’ released this year?
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We already knew a new white version of the Nexus 4 would begin rolling out after LG confirmed as much earlier this week. It first launched in Hong Kong on Wednesday, and today the device has finally hit both Google Play and T-Mobile’s online store for customers in the US.

You can grab the device now in both 16GB ($349) and 8GB ($299) variants from Google Play. Google is also offering a free white bumper with your purchase.

T-Mobile also began offering the device on its online store store today with a list price of $427. According to the often reliable TmoNews.com, the pricing and note of the device not being eligible for a monthly payment plan is a mistake:

Barring the error in pricing on the website, the Nexus 4 will set you back a $19.99 down payment and 24 monthly payments of $17.

Your #Nexus4 should be as stylish as you! Check out the new white finish and pick up yours online today: http://t.co/U3vpPgvH6k

— T-Mobile (@TMobile) May 31, 2013

The device is expected to roll out to other retails across Asia, the US, and Europe in the coming weeks.

The Nexus Swan, a white-cased version of the Nexus 4 which was leaked back in January, has been confirmed by LG …
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