Firstly addressing the new Nexus 4 which has been developed in conjuction with LG and is based on the Optimus G in a similar way that other Nexus phones have been developed in the past. Google must have gained some control over the pricing of their own branded devices since the aquisition of Motorola earlier in the year, as unlike previous Nexus phones the pricing offers great value for a device of this calibre, starting from only £239 on the day of launch. Whereas Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S were priced around £500 and £400. Then again they were both sporting SuperAmoled screens which bumped up the price of each handset. There had been an LCD version of the Nexus S for around £300. The pricing shows the sacrifices OEMs are making so Google doesn’t press off Motorola Nexus devices and helps keep the android playground more fair.
The Nexus 4 has a Qualcomm made Snapdragon S4 Pro Chip powering it, Google claims it is the fastest phone on the planet, with four Krait-Cores clocked at 1.5GHz, Andreno 320 Graphics, 2GB RAM and the latest 4.2 software update, there is no reason to doubt them. The software is still on JellyBean, however it has increased stability and added more features, such as swipe, a gesture wheel for the camera, photo sphere, revised GMail app, improved Google Now and a faster and improved search. Dispite all this there is one thing that has become more and more mainstream over the last couple of years LTE (Long Term Evolotion) essentially known as 4G, which bring with it faster connection rates. 4G networks have recently been made available in the UK to all Orange and T-Mobile customers through EE (EverythingEverywhere) although this isn’t such a big deal here or in Europe, where 3G networks have already proven themselves to be quite good. In American where 3G networks often have bad reception it can be a deal breaker especially on Verizon which has the largest LTE network in the US. This brings us back to the Nexus 4 and how this one limitation in hardware is giving the LG Optimus G and other flagship devices a chance within the crowded smartphone market. Then again the Nexus devices were always aimed for developers creating software, so at least this time it’s got the very latest hardware available and as always with Nexus devices the promise and guarrentie of timely software updates.
On the other hand the Nexus tablets have a different game in mind. The Nexus 7 has been offering great value from the start, with a Tegra 3 Quad-core processor and priced from £159 and the most recent option for more storage and 3G, the tablet is easy to pick out for those on a budget. It’s Google solution to Amazons Kindle Fire and both these value tablets have caused Apple to eat their words and launch the iPad mini. All three of these tablets have their pros and cons, however it’s noteworthy that the Nexus 7 will always have the lastest android software on time and also has the better hardware. Having said that the iPad mini has exclusivity to the Apple App Store, although it’s running on the same dated processor as the iPhone 4S and iPad 2.
The Nexus 10 also brings better value to the bigger screen. It has the highest resolution on a tablet thus far 2560×1600 going beyond HD and with 299ppi has more clarity than the 3rd & 4th Generation iPads ‘Retina’ displays although when comparing screens like this side by side the difference is negligible. The Nexus 10 is powered by an A15 Dual-Core Exynos-5 processor at 1.7GHz, this is the next generation of ARM chips manufactured by Samsung and they have a better performance rating per core than A9 chips and even have better performance than Krait Cores. There is a Mali-604 GPU which helps run the android software with such a high resolution, Google also claims the Nexus 10 to have the smoothest experience on a tablet, which many would doubt considering the exceptionally high resolution of the display, however it is buttery smooth thanks to the latest hardware. Battery life is said to be excellent too and could possibly last longer than the latest iPads, even though the battery is only 9000mAh the software and hardware coincide perfectly in assistance for this.
Okay so it’s got the latest Android software available and a ‘Retina’ quality display perfect for detailed browsing and the latest processor. The only problem is there are still very limited tablet apps for Android never mind high resolution ones, therefore there will be pixellated images until deveopers hop on board and update their app or create new one specifically for such tablets. It’s all very exciting but lets not forget the competition has already had a ead start in both these cases… Retina touting iPad and the Kindle Fire.