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Comment by phyalow | Hacker News Reader

What a poor review, I personally dont get the hype surrounding LTE (sure it's a great protocol but hardly widely adopted), or understand the need to spend the 1st 2 paragraphs bleeting on about it. HSPA+ does everything I need (and probably more).

This and the accompanying video are a much more informative and entertaining read. http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/29/3570034/inside-android-bu...

Regardless I will be picking one up! Cracked my Galaxy Nexus's screen this morning.

(NB: In New Zealand things might be different elsewhere).

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I'm in the US and I share your thoughts. Having seen LTE (on an AT&T phone), it's quite nice, but not noticeably faster than HSPA+ (T-Mo US) for general usage. I have no issue waiting until the various LTE networks are more fleshed out and the LTE chips are a bit better battery-wise.

I was perfectly happy with the 3G service on my iPhone 4, and the HSPA+ service on family members' 4Ses was nice, but I didn't expect to care much about the LTE service on my iPhone 5.

I've gotta tell you, it's very nice, and pulling up pages feels like you're on WiFi. But the first time I really noticed it was when I was sitting in a parking lot and asked my phone to pull down a 1/2 hour podcast. I pressed the little download button and watched in amazement as it downloaded in a couple of seconds. I pulled down the Speedtest.net app (also quick) and was stunned to see that I was getting 20 Mb/s down, nearly double the speed of my home connection.

It's a bit like the retina display. No one actually needs one, but it's just so much nicer than what you had before that you can't help but love it. Given that the power draw on the newer chipsets means battery life isn't gone, it's turned out to be a surprise great feature.

The thing is, I get about that speed on T-Mo's HSPA+. Sitting in my apartment, also running the Speedtest.net app, I'm getting 16 Mb/s down. The tiny extra oomph isn't worth worrying about for me.

I totally agree that the Wired review wasn't all that it could have been. It did answer some of my basic questions though (like 'how does the battery life hold up?' and 'is it a lemon or not?')

I can't really say the same for the Verge video, though. It felt to me like Google's PR video, made by a third party. The only even vaguely critical question was "so it's like Swype?" IIRC the interviewer doesn't even get to hold the phone. Surely tech journalism can do better.

Read the article, it answers your questions, and better than the Wired article did.

I went and reread it, because I'd skipped the Nexus 10 section last week.

At least the article describes the author's experience of holding the phone, if not actually using it.

But I didn't feel my two questions were answered. The only part that came close as the Google person saying that LTE increases battery usage. I want to know more than just what the manufacturer says about it, ideally based on some hands-on experience. Which is what I at least appreciated about the Wired review.

I do agree the article is better than the video, but it's still mostly just repeating what Google said on launch day.

Oh, I just realized the parent didn't link to the Nexus 4 review: http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/2/3589280/google-nexus-4-rev.... I assumed they had, as that seems like the reasonable thing to do.

Ah, that is a very good review. Thanks. Maybe the parent meant to link to it, too. :)

HSPA+ runs about 8mbit from what I understand. LTE is in most major cities now and people regularly pull down 35mbit (I have witnessed this myself on Telstra in Melbourne). Pretty big difference.

I was awaiting this new phone but severely disappointed at such a blunder on Google's part. Phone is basically dead and obsolete on arrival. Shame.

HSPA+ can theoretically go to 168 Mb/s but most networks run it at around 42 Mb/s.

When I used an LTE device, it was the first time browsing over cellular felt like a WiFi connection. It was definitely really nice, though I think you can blow your data budget pretty quickly.

> Cracked my Galaxy Nexus's screen this morning.

Are you sure the Nexus 4 is the best phone for you? From almost every review I've read, it's described as a glass sandwich - gorilla glass breaks when you drop it too.

My phone is due for replacement as well (also cracked screen), but I've put off picking one up until I can find one that I'm convinced is reasonably durable - I have a two year old son.

It had a pretty bad fall about 5 meters down concrete stairs! Digitiser and screen still (mostly work)! Coped fairly well all things considered. Wouldn't be worried about the little fella! Let him at it!

I get the hype surrounding LTE, I'm just not that excited about it when (here in Canada) I have a monthly 5GB cap.

I pay $40 a month for 500MB Yay!

I pay 10$ for 3 GB in India :D

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