How is nexus 4 battery life

Given Moto's new role, it sure seems like a very interesting coincidence, doesn't it? The new and improved Jelly Bean also features native widget support on the Lock Screen and even offers multiple panels for additional widgets. Our units didn't come with the feature, as it likely won't be available until the Nexus devices start shipping out, but this may very well be one of our favorite additions to Android.

We love the idea of being able to view emails, calendar appointments and other notifications without entering the home panel -- it may sound like we're too lazy to take an extra step and unlock the screen to see our widgets, but the ability to quickly glance at crucial information without entering your phone should not be underestimated. You can expect to see more cards popping up in Google Now. The service has been given more powers, such as the ability to find local events and concerts, nearby attractions and Photo Spots places for photo opps.

The card for Photo Spots shows a grid of thumbnails, each of which can be clicked for a larger picture, details and directions. There's a whole new series of cards that digs into your Gmail inbox and finds relevant information: when you get a flight or hotel confirmation email, Now will automatically pick it up and remind you about it. The same goes for packages, event bookings and restaurants.

Voice search, which we used with mixed results in 4. You're now able to schedule meetings, check to see your next appointment and launch apps "open app [name of app]" will do the trick. Google also says that when you ask questions that may not have a definitive answer, the service will do a comprehensive search for your inquiry, see what the general consensus is and provide you with an answer based on what it found. Additionally, we found that it was able to pull up more information than before.

For instance, we asked what year "Back to the Future" came out, and were given the specific release date as well as a card with information about the movie.

Indeed, Google's made a decent amount of effort to make the voice search experience more of a natural interaction, rather than let it feel like a machine dictating search results. By the way, Jelly Bean users don't have to wait for the Android 4. Google has also thrown in "Gesture Typing" to the stock keyboard which makes it much easier -- and appealing -- to use.

Taking a page out of Swype's book and, perhaps, some of the wind out of its sails , 4. It's incredibly accurate, too, as the keyboard rarely had a hard time understanding what we were trying to type. It's even capable of predicting which word you're attempting to type via the swipe gesture. As you start spelling your word, a box will appear next to your finger with a word prediction.

If you lift your hand off the screen, that predicted word will pop right into place and you can continue with the rest of your message. The experience is now much more intuitive and enjoyable to use. Gmail also received a small facelift, now boasting pinch-to-zoom and automatic formatting so the entire message can fit on the screen.

You can also swipe left or right on a message in your inbox to quickly archive it. Next, you can magnify whatever is on the screen by triple-tapping it. From there you can pan around by using two fingers or even pinch-to-zoom to adjust the amount of magnification viewed on the display. The Daydreams feature is also new to the stock Android experience. This is the smartphone equivalent of screen savers.

It displays content on your screen when the phone is docked or charging. You can view a selection of images as they float around, check out the latest feeds coming through Currents or even burn time by flicking around jelly beans.

Unfortunately you won't find any flying toasters. It adds very little in the way of functionality, but it's a clever trick if you aren't using your handset and want to have something to peek at while it sits on the coffee table.

We briefly mentioned earlier that Miracast is now natively supported in Android 4. Still, if you can find one or if you already have equipment capable of picking it up, you'll at least have one more solid reason to pick up a Nexus 4. We'll admit that we always hold Nexus devices up to the highest of expectations -- each one carries the burden of being the latest Android flagship, and they're held up by Google as an example for other Android manufacturers.

That's why we were extremely disappointed in Samsung's decision last year to include a paltry 5-megapixel sensor in the Galaxy Nexus. A year later, LG made sure to stick an 8-megapixel camera into the Nexus 4. On the spec sheet, it's not the best in the market -- but remember, megapixel count never tells the full story. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, though, let's discuss the user interface in the camera app.

Even if you've used Android devices in the past, the Nexus 4's UI might throw you for a loop at first. It's very basic at first glance, consisting only of a viewfinder and a sidebar with a shutter button, settings button and a toggle for camera modes.

When you choose settings which can also be selected by long-pressing the viewfinder , you'll be shown a large circle with various choices lining its outside. Just drag your finger up to each one and you'll be shown more options; you can also pinch-to-zoom up to 4x on the viewfinder.

You may also be thrown by the lack of a gallery thumbnail, but don't panic -- just swipe to the left and your gallery will show up, a gesture similar to iOS or Windows Phone , which allows you to swipe to the right for the same result. Exposure and focus lock are also available by tapping and holding the screen. We wish we could say the Nexus 4's camera was decked out with all of the trimmings think of the list of settings you get on a Galaxy S III , but the selection is pretty limited here: HDR is now natively supported, and you can also adjust white balance, select one of four scene modes and change the resolution and flash setting.

Panorama mode makes a return appearance as well. Yep, that's about it. If you crave any other clever filters for your Nexus, you'll want to start checking out what options are available in the Play Store -- fortunately, there are plenty to choose from.

There is one other neat camera mode you can take advantage of with Android 4. You could call it a type of "Panoramic Mode 2. Then, after a minute or two of stitching, your picture is ready for viewing and it shows up with a natural sphere-like curvature; when looking at the finished product, you get a sense that you're actually looking from left to right as if you're really there -- often, you'll need to scroll around the entire image in order to see the whole thing, which adds a stunning amount of depth to our pictures of scenic vistas.

And, for an even nicer touch, the phone is capable of doing the scrolling for you so you can just sit back and enjoy the scenery. There's only one concern: we noticed that the phone had some problems stitching photos together. In one shot, the right half of a window was noticeably higher and had more reasonable exposure than the left half, a picture frame looked as if it had been sawed in half and one side of the bookshelf had far more exposure than the other.

This issue is more with the firmware itself, most likely, as we noticed similar problems on the Samsung-crafted Nexus We hope to see this resolved in a future 4. Now let's turn our attention away from the software and dig into the performance of the camera itself.

As we mentioned before, the last Nexus wasn't exactly what we would call a stunner in the imagery department, so would this year's model be any different? The quick answer is yes -- and in a good way. We did some comparison tests with the Nexus 4 and the Galaxy S III, one of the best 8-megapixel mobile cameras we've had the pleasure of using.

There are a few areas in which the Nexus 4 bests the GS3, and others in which it's still very good, but loses to its Samsung competitor. The Nexus appears to be slightly better in close-ups and when zooming in at full strength.

We also prefer HDR on the Nexus. Colors, however, seem to be more naturally saturated on the GS3 and the sky shows a more realistic blue hue. The LED flash on the Nexus 4 is bright -- in fact, it's almost too bright. This is a rare problem to have on a smartphone, no doubt, but many of our shots taken with the flash on end up washing some of the color out. The GS3's flash, by comparison, is softer, but at least we were able to see all of the colors the way they're supposed to look.

In general, low-light performance was acceptable on the Nexus, but we noticed more noise and less light than on the GS3. Lastly, the shutter speed seems to vary, depending on if it needs to focus before the shot is taken, but it still comes in under less than two seconds most of the time.

There were a few occasions in which our subjects came out blurry because they moved before we could finish taking the shot. Overall, it may not be the best performer among its peers, but the camera is still an asset to the Nexus 4, whereas it was a detriment to the phone's predecessor. And that's exactly what we were hoping to see. While we always prefer to have the best possible performance -- we're just picky that way -- it's nice to at least see more love and attention being paid to this aspect of the Nexus lineup.

The camcorder is capable of taking p movies in MPEG-4 format, and records footage at an average of 22 fps with a 9 Mbps bit rate. This resulted in noisy, slightly choppy videos that didn't really convince us that what we were watching was of true HD quality. One positive takeaway is that you're still able to take images as the same time you record video, much like you could on the Galaxy Nexus.

The Google Nexus 4 camera collection made up of two parts, with a 1. On the whole, the 8-megapixel rear-mounted camera found on the Google Nexus 4 is somewhat lacklustre.

Whilst focus speeds and shutter speeds are impressive, and you can quickly open the camera app direct from the lock screen, ensuring you will always be supported when trying to capture that fleeting magic moment, in terms of overall results, images frequently prove below expectations. With snaps appearing excessively flat, contrast ratios leave much to be desired with block colours offering little gradient or subtlety in shading.

An exaggerated version of a panorama shot, the new Photo Sphere functionality lets you take degree snaps in all directions, stitching together a collection of stills into a single scrollable image that offers an immersive and rounded picture. Despite being one of the most high-profile additions to Android 4. Easy to use and with largely strong results, assuming you have a steady hand and considerable patience, it is possible to create some quite impressive and enjoyable shots that can be explored on screen.

Further enhancing the Google Nexus 4 camera capabilities, the LG manufactured handset comes pre-loaded with a selection of editing features including a host of post-production filters and a raft of tools allowing you to alter expose levels, effect levels and of course, crop images to desired content and sizes.

All relatively standard fare but a welcome addition nonetheless. As with the stills offering the Google Nexus 4 video recording capabilities are acceptable without setting the world alight. On any other handset priced at the mid-range market, this 8-megapixel would be more than satisfactory, on the Nexus 4, however, it feels like a small chink in an otherwise all-encompassing and impressively strong armour.

With the Google Nexus 4 being made available in just 8GB and 16GB storage forms, neither of which are compatible with microSD expansion found on most Android handset, for some, the limited storage capacity of the handset will mean that it is not ideal for the multimedia heavy user.

If you can put the potential storage issues aside, however, the handset is a multimedia loving joy. Thanks to the expansive 4. Whilst some handsets are limited by slow refresh rates, poor colour management or tinny sound, the Google Nexus 4 shrugs off all of these issues, lining up as one of the most visually impressive devices on the market, at any price point.

The inbuilt speakers found on the Google Nexus 4 are surprisingly strong making movie playback and out loud podcast absorption not only possible but a largely enjoyable experience. Elsewhere, thanks to the heavily stacked Google Play Store, the Google Nexus 4 can quickly and easily be brimmed with high-quality music, video and of course app based content. Those not looking to splash the cash through the Google outlet, however, a simple drag-and-drop method can be used to fill the device with high quality video and audio content.

Despite featuring a hefty 2, mAh Lithium polymer battery, we found the Google Nexus 4 battery life left a lot to be desired, with the expansive 4. With the Android 4. With a charge from 15 per cent battery to per cent battery pushing the three hour mark, daily overnight charges are a likely outcome if adopting the latest Nexus handset.

What the Google Nexus 4 loses in battery life, it more than makes up for in its connectivity options. Packing NFC connectivity features, thanks to Android Beam allows users to wireless transfer details and data between compatible handsets simply by bumping them together. Whilst the current potential uses for integrated NFV are currently fairly limited, in the very near future this technology is expected to explode with handsets replacing the likes of bank and travel cards as a contactless means of low value payment.

On top of this, Google has confirmed that the Nexus 4 is compatible with wireless charging, a feature that although we have as yet been unable to test, will be made possible in the near future with compatible accessories. With a specs sheet rivalling, but not eclipsing, some of the leading high-end handsets currently on the market, but with a SIM-free price tag more akin to a mid-range device, the Google Nexus 4 is a device that is pushing the boundaries of smartphone capabilities, bringing hugely impressive performances to a wider market.

Featuring a screen that is nothing short of stunning, a processor that will keep things running along quickly and smoothly, and an operating system that is a simplistic joy to use, the Google Nexus 4 is a highly recommended handset for those wanting to join the high-end handset revolution.

If other manufacturers are forced to follow suit with high-end, low-priced devices, the Google Nexus 4 will truly have changed the smartphone market for the better, in consumers eyes at least. We test every mobile phone we review thoroughly. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly and we use the phone as our main device over the review period. Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.

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Today, we have 9 million users a month around the world, and assess more than 1, products a year. Home Reviews Google Nexus 4. In this article… 1. Verdict 2. Pros and Cons 3. The Nexus 4 is a great handset for those who want Android in its purest form, but you're better off with the Moto G. Speaking of accessories that aren't yet available to buy, the Wireless Charging Orb looks to be an essential bit of kit for Nexus 4 owners. Built-in magnets hold the handset and orb together, with the soft-touch plastic surface of the orb providing a scratch-free base.

Visiting the official Nexus 4 Wireless Charger page currently displays a message that the "Nexus 4 Wireless Charger is not available in your country". Given that this accessory was already very delayed in the US and that the phone has suffered from stock shortages, it's looking less and less as though it will make it to these shores.

It's a shame, as the convenience of being able to plonk your phone on a charger and leave it on your desk should be underestimated. This managed a very respectable eight and-a-half hours in our continuous video playback test. It's a better score than most smartphones we've seen, but almost an hour and-a-half short of the Samsung Galaxy S3 - probably due to that handset's power efficient AMOLED display.

The Nexus 4 also supports NFC for easy wireless data transfer. At present that's limited to Android Beam, allowing you to share pictures, apps and contact details by simply tapping two such handsets together. It's the sort of hassle-free technology that will be great once everyone has it in their phones, but it's currently a bit of a gimmick. With its resolution of 1,x the Google Nexus 4 has a detailed display, with almost a million pixels.

When we originally reviewed the phone, there was only one other handset that could match it - the Nokia Lumia The 4.