[G2 and Desire Z General] KyraOfFire:
Hey guys,

It doesn't seem like a lot of us here is getting a Nexus. I just got one for myself, and it is fantastic, so I am just writing an opinion piece here for anyone that's looking for an upgrade

It is big

From 3.7" to 4.7" is quite a jump. After using the phone for just a few hours, the Vision seems to be tiny in my hand. By the way, my hand is not that big so I can barely manage to use it on one hand. They make the pattern lock screen smaller in ratio than normal, and the power button on the side, and it helps a little bit. Having to use the phone with two hands is annoying, but it should curb my cellphone use when I am driving,

and it is thin

I always feel that the Vision is too thick since the first time I pick it up. Feels like a brick that I can throw and kill people with. The Nexus, on the other hand, is really thin. In fact, it's thinner than the Vision's keyboard. Since the G2 has a concave back, which is nice for holding by the way, initially it feels like the Nexus's back is convex. Yet, holding the Nexus is not much more difficult, and the glass feels good.

Keyboard

My fear when I bought the Nexus was that I won't have a keyboard to use. I almost always use the hardware keyboard even though I type faster using the touch screen. I just like the mechanical feel. Even if I use the software keyboard, I use it in landscape mode because I want it to be spacious. However, the Nexus is so big that the software keyboard in portrait is still big and easy to type. It should be familiar with most people here because 4.2JB keyboard is almost the same as 4.0ICS.

About the Gesture Typing thing..... I don't use it. I don't like the notion of the computer learning what I want to type, telling me what I should type, suggesting me the word that I should use.... I decide what I input into my device.

Speed

It is fast. The Vision is almost unbearably slow for me these day. The Nexus is just fast and smooth. You'll love it.

Screen

The screen looks gorgeous. I don't know much about screen tech, but it looks much much much better than the Vision's. The glass is thinner so the screen appear closer to the user. It looks much more realistic. It is also darker, reflect less light so it appears as if the screen is almost the entire front face. Thinner side bezel also helps.

Battery

I have heard good things about the Nexus's battery, but those things haven't quite arrived on my phone yet. Granted, I haven't even charge it since I got it. After nearly 2 years of using the Vision with a lot of abuses, and with 4.0ICS on it, almost anything would have better battery anyways.

I am a heavy user, so the battery doesn't hold up to well. After 4 hours 20 minutes of usage, it went from 90% when I just got it to 17% ..... However, the screen was on for 2 hours, and I downloaded about 300MB of stuff via cell towers and 700MB of stuff via wifi. The phone also had to install quite a ton of stuff. So may be it will do better tomorrow. I'll update.

Update: I got through a day (12 hours) of medium use with 25% battery left. Not bad.

Camera

Haven't tried. I use a camera for shooting. But, in comparison with Vision's 4.0ICS patched camera, almost anything should be better anyways. I'll update this when I get a chance to shoot something.

4.2JB

It's great. Smooth (most of the part should be because of the quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM). Some new functions such as lock screen widget and day dreams. Lock screen widget selection is extremely limited (Gmail, SMS, Calendar, Soundsearch, Clock), we have better stuffs around. And the day dreams thing..... most Android phones don't even have a dock to begin with.

Space

On the 16GB model, you get 12GB for your stuff. The entire 16GB is ROM. So everything is in one place (which also means stuffs are faster than they are in SD card)

About that glass back

Someone said somewhere on the internet that the thing is also Gorilla Glass 2. Some other people said that it cracks within a day or so. Mine hasn't yet. The glittering dots is only visible when viewed with an angle. I don't know what is the deal with it.

And about that LTE thing

Edit: It is confirmed (youtube videos, news, etc.) that the Nexus 4 can work on LTE band IV (no root needed, just few touches). Rumors say that when T-Mobile has their LTE up and running, it will be LTE band IV.

I don't need LTE. At least a long as there a still a tiny cap for these expensive data plan.

However, HSPA+ on T-Mobile is not that slow either. I mentioned in my posts here and there that part of the reason internet feels slow just because the phone itself is slow. I also posted speedtest on the Vision a while back ago, 3-4Mbps something.

If HSPA+ is a highway, the Vision would be an old Honda minivan... towing a mobile home. It just cant utilize the full potential of the network. The Nexus, on the other hand, is a freaking 12-cyclinder Ferrari zipping around at max speed, only slows down because of traffic congestion.

And the wacky things

There's an IMEI sticker on the back. The shipped plastic cover even has a cut out for that space. Even a box painted for it there..... I already bought a full-body screen protector, hopefully the Skinomi didn't rush to make these plastic without space for the IMEI sticker. Weird f***ing decision....

Also, no headphones included.

Things that I forgot

I'll add later if you can kindly remind me.