Google Nexus 4 Review - Google's new Flagship
by Brian Klug on November 13, 2012 8:45 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- LG
- Android
- Mobile
- APQ8064
- Nexus 4
- Android 4.2
- MDM9215
The Nexus 4 is based around a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC, the quad core Krait APQ8064 with Adreno 320 GPU, which is still built on a 28nm process. The combination of APQ8064 for AP and MDM9x15 for baseband is Qualcomm's Fusion 3 platform, and the Nexus 4 and Optimus G are the first phones to market based on that platform. This is a relatively unique opportunity for Nexus, which until recently wasn't really first to market with the latest and greatest silicon.
A while ago we posted our Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 performance preview. At that point we still had a lot of testing to perform, and many people noted that the Nexus 4 performance was far behind the LG Optimus G despite it being based on the same platform. Later, some people noticed that I had uploaded another set of results from GLBenchmark 2.5 to the online result browser with much better performance. The difference wasn't some over the air software update but rather that I was running some of the tests with the Nexus 4 in a ziplock bag inside the freezer to mitigate any condensation problems, and simultaneously nail down any possible thermal throttling.
I've re-run everything and can confirm obviously that there was thermal throttling going on affecting some of the results, and have included the new results wherever there was a deviation from previous. For those wondering why the LG Optimus G wasn't affected in spite of it having the same platform, the reason is because the results from the Optimus G were run in parts due to some instability affecting its ability to run a complete set of tests without crashing. The Nexus 4 has newer drivers that don't crash during a full GLBenchmark 2.5 run but as a result run the device long enough for thermal throttling to kick in.
The result of the tests in the freezer results that are much closer to what we'd expect based on the APQ8064 MDP/T runs and the Optimus G numbers I saw in Korea.
When it comes to the CPU side of things there were results also affected by thermal throttling. I spaced some of those runs out (unintentionally) enough that performance didn't change, but for other things it did affect performance. I can't tell what GPU clocks end up being when the SoC decides to throttle, but it is possible to nail down what CPU performance state APQ8064 settles down into when there's throttling going on by looking at the state tables.
Left - 1.134 GHz during throttling (running tests), Right - All the performance states
I can see the Nexus 4 not use any of the performance states above 1134 MHz when it's getting hot, as shown in the images above. I've tweeted a link to the pastebin for thermald.conf which I believe configures the thermal cutoffs and will be interesting to kernel hackers trying to play with these values.
Our CPU performance side is unfortunately still dominated by JavaScript performance tests. The story there is that the Nexus 4 ships with Chrome (and originally shipped with a newer build of Chrome than what was on the market - we were running that updated version all along) and thus the mainline version of the V8 JavaScript engine. OEMs perform their own optimizations to the V8 library, and try to upstream whatever they can into the main project, but in the case of Chrome for Android that means V8 sans secret OEM sauce.
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meloz - Wednesday, November 14, 2012 - link
>It's really cheap, though.Until you include the price of a carrier plan? Or were you planning to use this smartphone without any phone capabilities? Apple iphone sells so well *inspite* of its premium price because most people who buy it buy with plans.
doobydoo - Thursday, November 15, 2012 - link
The iPhone 5 is $199 on contract, right?How much is the Nexus 4 on contract?
Guspaz - Thursday, November 15, 2012 - link
Hard to do a direct comparison when you can't find the thing anywhere. None of the major Canadian carriers have the Nexus 4, but the LG Optimus G was $50 less than the iPhone 5. A list of what I saw:iPhone 5: $180
LG Optimus G: $130
Galaxy Nexus: $0
iPhone 4S: $0
Sabresiberian - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
This is the best thing Google does (make phones that can be used on any service provider), in my opinion. $300 (or $350) for a top-end phone you can use on any carrier? Almost makes my desire for a Nokia 920 Win 8 phone go away.Then, I think about Android compared to Win 8, and realize that will likely never happen.
;)
crankerchick - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
Thanks for the thorough review. Too bad this phone will go largely unnoticed in the US amongst non-enthusiasts, and almost wholly ignored by any one on CDMA. Those of wanting LTE (who also acknowledge that a nexus on VZW is a hard feat to accomplish) are left wanting more, and *gasp* looking at the iPhone 5. I wanted this to be my next, but I'm not willing to switch to have it.I hope the folks around the world make this phone super-successful and can make this phone a game changer in the Android landscape (and here in the US where carriers rule and the customers drool). That's a lot to ask, but I'm still hopeful.
superjim - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
WTB Nexus 10 review. Sure there's plenty on the net but I specifically wait for the AT review.Pipperox - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
I do not understand how Google can sell a "flagship" phone which is unable to complete a 3D benchmark without thermal throttling.This is unacceptable, do they expect people who run intensive 3D apps such as games to take a liquid cooling kit with them?
Also unacceptable is the lack of browser optimizations for this SoC.
The Snapdragon S4 Pro is a BEAST, with 2x the theoretical CPU power than pretty much any other ARM SoC (with the exception of the Cortex A15 which is only for tablets now), and yet one sees lackluster performance in most browser related tests.
This is a diamond which hasn't been polished at all... the only thing going for it is the price.
JohnnyL53 - Wednesday, November 14, 2012 - link
The throttling is not an issue if it doesn't result in any real world performance slowdown. Although the reviewer adds subjective comments to the battery life section, I would like to see some comments as to how benchmark performance actually relates to real world performance. What seems to be poor performance in a benchmark may not even be apparent when playing a 3D intensive game.meloz - Wednesday, November 14, 2012 - link
>The throttling is not an issue if it doesn't result in any real world performance slowdown.Yes, because in real world everyone will use this device in temperature controlled room (mom's basement?). I mean, who goes out on a hot summer day?
doobydoo - Thursday, November 15, 2012 - link
The bottom line is that if you have to use a freezer to get results from a phone in the same situation where other phones don't have such a requirement, there are issues.The reality is that this phone probably gets too hot so the throttling was a necessity rather than a choice.