[Nexus 4 General] Metsuna:
Hey guys I just want to let you guys know my experience with the Optimus G and the Nexus 4. My situation was a bit funny as I didn't get both phones at the same time so my usage for each phone was very exclusive. I spent a week with the Optimus G (2 Optimus Gs in one week LOL) and afterwards a few days with the Nexus 4.

Optimus G Experience

I first got the Optimus G because the Nexus 4 wasn't available and I really liked the look of the phone, it was sleek and the buttons were really great to press. LG put some effort into their UI and it had some pretty great features like the multi-window and the quickmemo note taker.

I would've kept it but there were some funky problems/bugs with touchscreen responsiveness. I don't think it was an issue with sensitivity but I think it was the way some of the UI elements were designed. Typing was fine but when navigating and swiping, you weirdly lose a swipe or two. Enough to be annoying. There was one point where the touchscreen stopped responding completely to my touch. That was weird. I don't know if it was a static charge thing cause I was wiping the phone down quite a bit and plastic was all over it, or a defective touch screen but after doing a recovery using the KDZ LG update thing, it fixed itself. Needless to say that freaked me out so I went and returned the device and got an exchange. The second device never had that issue but it still had the issue with missing a swipe here and there. The great thing though was the performance in games. It gave me a consistent experience through NFS: Most Wanted and other intensive games. The screen was also damn great.

The visual design of the Optimus G is awesome. It looks awesome and premium. Doesn't feel too awesome though, it actually sorta feels gross. Everything about the phone was glossy, therefore oils would totally cling to it and cause a really slippery, gross feeling phone unless you wiped it down every hour or so. The buttons were pretty darn good to press and felt solid. The phone was thin but that caused me to feel the back a bit too much and usually the back was really warm. So the whole holding experience of the phone is warm, oily, and smudgy. My hand is usually dry but the phone still oiled up like a sumo wrestler. Sounds great doesn't it?

In conclusion with the Optimus G, looked good, performed great, but its UI hampered the usage, the lack of users prevented a large following thus reducing development, and the holding experience of the phone was really bad. In the end, I did return the Optimus G.

Nexus 4 Experience

I managed to get my hands on a Nexus 4 a couple days after returning the Optimus G. Was extermely excited to use it. The one I got was defect free it seems with no yellow tint. After the Optimus G however, the design of it was a bit weird with the curved glass and it was definitely bulkier than the OG. Using it for a couple days here's what I noticed:

Man that stock android experience is just too smooth and there is really nothing that can compare to untouched Jellybean. It was just really responsive when tapping and swiping. So I couldn't fault the OS here, despite the lack of built in features such as multi-window (Q-slide in Optimus G) but there's probably an app for that. 4.2 does have its share of bugs though but nothing too crazy.

Visually the phone looks good but again, I did not like the curved glass that much as it sorta promotes scratching on the edges as screen protectors usually can't cover it properly. At first I didn't like the wider and a bit bulkier Nexus 4 compared to the Optimus G but after using it, the phone feels REALLY good holding it. The soft touch plastic was thick enough and curved in a way that the hand was not always on the back of the glass and allowed the hand a bit of breathing room so that it wouldn't get too warm. The soft touch plastic is not oil prone so you don't feel as icky. So the holding experience was great. The buttons on the other hand is a different story and I wish it had the same clicky feeling of the Optimus G but I don't think it's that big of a deal.

The performance of the phone was good but not quite as good as the Optimus G due to, yes, throttling. Although I like to have my phone as stock as possible and performing properly out of the box, I know the community for the phone will help it in the long run as it is a Nexus device and work out some of the issues.

In conclusion, the Nexus 4 has great software, great community, and feels great in the hand. The things I wish it did better are: buttons, some performance issues, and hopefully the edges of the screen won't scratch in the future. Otherwise it's a great phone that I think I'll be keeping.