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 display on the Nexus 4 is another shared component between the Optimus G, and is a 4.7-inch IPS WXGA (1280x768) LCD, which is of course home to an RGB stripe and in-cell touch, or as LG calls it, "zerogap" touch. LG Display unsurprisingly knows how to make LCD displays, and the Nexus 4 display looks subjectively very good. At 320 PPI I can’t see any pixels, and don’t think we need to get into the whole visual acuity discussion again, it’s very good on the Nexus 4. The added width over straight 720p is something I noted was actually very refreshing on the Optimus G when playing with that device in Korea. Most apps scale appropriately and take advantage of it without any issue, and the extra width definitely is noticeable in Chrome, Plume, and all my daily drivers.
The Nexus 4 display goes very bright, at 466 nits, and achieves a contrast ratio of 1352:1 at that maximum brightness setting. This is a huge step over the barely 200 nits that the Galaxy Nexus could eek out.
| CalMAN Display Comparison | |||||||||
| Metric | iPhone 5 | iPhone 4S | HTC One X | Samsung Galaxy S 3 | Samsung Galaxy Note 2 | Google Nexus 4 | |||
| Grayscale 200nits Avg dE2000 | 3.564 | 6.162 | 6.609 | 4.578 | 5.867 | 7.686 | |||
| CCT Avg (K) | 6925 | 7171 | 5944 | 6809 | 7109 | 8506 | |||
| Saturation Sweep Avg dE2000 | 3.591 | 8.787 | 5.066 | 5.460 | 7.986 | 8.517 | |||
| GMB ColorChecker Avg dE2000 | 4.747 | 6.328 | 6.963 | 7.322 | 8.185 | 7.531 | |||
I’ve mentioned that Google continues to struggle at calibrating their displays. The truth is that everyone except for Apple, HTC, and occasionally Samsung, struggle at calibrating mobile displays. This continues to be the case with the Nexus 4, and the result is that accuracy could be better. I’m convinced the results that we’re getting out of the Nexus 4 basically represent no attempt at calibrating the display, and as a result the numbers suffer.
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Fx1 - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
My God why is the battery life so crap? How does the HTC X manage to beat it?IKeelU - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
I also would love to know the answer to this.amdwilliam1985 - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
I say you need to take battery life test with a grain of salt. My SGS3 didn't have the best battery life tests on paper, but in real time it's a champ. My gf shoots me with her envy look while holding her iphone 4s. She can't go through a day with a charge while I can easily do 2 days ;)uhuznaa - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
Yeah, but this is about the Nexus 4 and the battery life DOES suck.yipwssg - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
Your gf must be checking her faceBook account constantly :)If not, the bettery must be aged . Ask her to get a new replacement from Apple if her set is still under warranty.
kmmatney - Wednesday, November 14, 2012 - link
it must be about the settings. I can easily go 2 days, and sometimes 3 with my 4S...phillyry - Thursday, November 15, 2012 - link
Are you sure that's not cause she does more with it / uses it more?Mbonus - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
"My God why is the battery life so crap? How does the HTC X manage to beat it? "I wonder if it has to do with HTC One-X overly aggressively killing background apps . As I recall there were a lot of complaints about no multitasking on the One X. I bet that would improve battery life.
Impulses - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
That wouldn't diminish power usage by memory a whole lot, and HTC actually went back and addressed it with a patch so it behaves much much closer to other phones. I think the biggest issue is they 're cramming a tablet-bound SoC into a phone (see the thermal throttling issues) without even giving it a larger battery.Strk - Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - link
Why do the speaker volume test at just 3" away? How about normal browsing distance? (k, that's subjective, I guess, but for a typical person browsing the internet/watching a video) Cupping the speaker vs not cupping the speaker etc. Watching a clip on youtube, netflix or whatever on my Galaxy Nexus is such a pain if there is even the slightest ambient noise.