Nexus 4 - a great piece of hardware

[Bluce Ree]

I gave my wife a Nexus 4 for Christmas. I managed to find one in spite of Google being constantly out of stock.

Beautiful device. The device is ergonomically similar to the iPhone with its flat edge in spite of being about the same size as my Galaxy S3. The back is plated with Gorilla glass for a smooth, sharp look and comes equipped with a quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor. Responsive and smooth as butter. Nexus products are generally not bloated with carrier-branded crap, which makes for a more pure, streamlined Android experience.

There are some down sides to a stock Nexus 4. The battery sucks, generally not lasting the day, and it heats up too quickly. Within ten minutes of talking or playing with apps, the phone becomes uncomfortably hot. Another annoyance is Google's decision to lock the ringtone and notifications volumes together.

So, after a few days of use, I decided to fix it. I rooted the phone and installed a custom ROM called "Xylon 4.2", based on the Nexus 4 stock source code. The ROM added a whole whack of features, including splitting the ringtone and notifications volumes. Battery life increased a bit but the heat problem was still there.

To solve the heating issue, I started exploring various Android kernels. I ended up with one called "Matr1x", which I installed over the Xyon 4.2's default kernel.

Result? Success! No more heating issues and exponentially better the battery life!

To summarize, the Nexus 4 is a fantastic, flawless phone once rooted and flashed with:

- Xylon 4.2 custom ROM
- Matr1x kernel.

You end up with a fast, responsive experience that NEVER heats up and has amazing battery life.

My question, then, is how did the Nexus 4 with a ROM/Kernel having such poor battery life and heating issues ever make it past Google's QC?

 

[shavedape]

I didn't understand a single thing you said in your post other than "I gave my wife..." but your use of happy emoticons tells me that it's something positive and upbeat so I say well done sir!

 

[Bluce Ree]

I didn't understand a single thing you said in your post other than "I gave my wife..." but your use of happy emoticons tells me that it's something positive and upbeat so I say well done sir!

 

[Overmind One]

I gave my wife a Nexus 4 for Christmas. I managed to find one in spite of Google being constantly out of stock.

Beautiful device. The device is ergonomically similar to the iPhone with its flat edge in spite of being about the same size as my Galaxy S3. The back is plated with Gorilla glass for a smooth, sharp look and comes equipped with a quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor. Responsive and smooth as butter. Nexus products are generally not bloated with carrier-branded crap, which makes for a more pure, streamlined Android experience.

There are some down sides to a stock Nexus 4. The battery sucks, generally not lasting the day, and it heats up too quickly. Within ten minutes of talking or playing with apps, the phone becomes uncomfortably hot. Another annoyance is Google's decision to lock the ringtone and notifications volumes together.

So, after a few days of use, I decided to fix it. I rooted the phone and installed a custom ROM called "Xylon 4.2", based on the Nexus 4 stock source code. The ROM added a whole whack of features, including splitting the ringtone and notifications volumes. Battery life increased a bit but the heat problem was still there.

To solve the heating issue, I started exploring various Android kernels. I ended up with one called "Matr1x", which I installed over the Xyon 4.2's default kernel.

Result? Success! No more heating issues and exponentially better the battery life!

To summarize, the Nexus 4 is a fantastic, flawless phone once rooted and flashed with:

- Xylon 4.2 custom ROM
- Matr1x kernel.

You end up with a fast, responsive experience that NEVER heats up and has amazing battery life.

My question, then, is how did the Nexus 4 with a ROM/Kernel having such poor battery life and heating issues ever make it past Google's QC?

The Google Nexus is the developer device. It will always be the first device to receive the latest builds, patches and major releases. It is 100% pure Android from the source with no added UI enhancements or carrier junkware. It can be rooted very easily and if you purchase from Google it will already be rooted (ours have come rooted). The Google Nexus 4 is still made by Samsung as were all the Nexus phones before it, but I suspect with Google's acquisition of Motorola, the next Nexus may live on a Motorola device. Ditto this for all Nexus devices and especially the tablet. Our company has ordered the Nexus 4 and we have been waiting for two months!
--- merged: Jan 10, 2013 at 6:20 PM ---

I didn't understand a single thing you said in your post other than "I gave my wife..." but your use of happy emoticons tells me that it's something positive and upbeat so I say well done sir!

 

[Bluce Ree]

The Google Nexus is the developer device. It will always be the first device to receive the latest builds, patches and major releases. It is 100% pure Android from the source with no added UI enhancements or carrier junkware. It can be rooted very easily and if you purchase from Google it will already be rooted (ours have come rooted). The Google Nexus 4 is still made by Samsung as were all the Nexus phones before it, but I suspect with Google's acquisition of Motorola, the next Nexus may live on a Motorola device. Ditto this for all Nexus devices and especially the tablet. Our company has ordered the Nexus 4 and we have been waiting for two months!

The Nexus 4 is an LG device and doesn't come rooted. The Nexus 4 had to be rooted before I could do anything on it. In spite of it being pure Android, the Nexus 4's stock version of Android was a battery drain and a portable cooker. It got too hot with 10 minutes of use, whether talking or browsing or whatever. I found forums loaded with complaints about heating with some having theirs exchanged to no avail.

Just a heads up in case Google hasn't yet fixed their firmware issue by the time your company receives them. That was the combo I had to use in order to extend the battery and eliminate the overheating issue.

 

[Overmind One]

The Nexus 4 is an LG device and doesn't come rooted. The Nexus 4 had to be rooted before I could do anything on it. In spite of it being pure Android, the Nexus 4's stock version of Android was a battery drain and a portable cooker. It got too hot with 10 minutes of use, whether talking or browsing or whatever. I found forums loaded with complaints about heating with some having theirs exchanged to no avail.

Just a heads up in case Google hasn't yet fixed their firmware issue by the time your company receives them. That was the combo I had to use in order to extend the batter and eliminate the overheating issue.

So it lives on LG hardware? Interesting. The last one was a Samsung. Im hearing rumors about the next Nexus being a 5" screen (Nexus 5?) and will be living in Motorola hardware. Also that the name Motorola may change. And it does not come rooted? No problem, it is a snap to root Android.

 

[Bluce Ree]

So it lives on LG hardware? Interesting. The last one was a Samsung. Im hearing rumors about the next Nexus being a 5" screen (Nexus 5?) and will be living in Motorola hardware. Also that the name Motorola may change. And it does not come rooted? No problem, it is a snap to root Android.

The design is distinctly LG. I find LG knows how to make solid, slick looking devices lately. I actually prefer how my wife's device looks and feels over the Galaxy S3.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the Motorola version of the Nexus. Owning the hardware is going to give them a whole new playing field.