Hardware

The Nexus line has always been a solid indicator of the state of the smartphone industry. While these phones aren't guaranteed to have the absolute best components available, they're still highly competitive and, in recent times, have offered some of the best value, dollar for dollar. This leaves us even more impressed, then, that the LG-made Nexus 4 has been endowed with state-of-the-art silicon and is backed up by some of the best components on the market.

The Nexus 4 is one of the most elegant devices we've played with.

Once it's available, Google's newest Android smartphone flagship will be one of the most exquisite devices you can buy. In many respects, it's the lovechild of a Samsung Galaxy Nexus and an LG Optimus G: it features the sleek curves of its predecessor along the edges, along with a unibody back cover and scratch-resistant glass. At 4.9 ounces (139g) and 0.36 inches (9.1mm), it's slightly lighter and thicker than the Optimus G (5.2 ounces and 0.33 inches, respectively), but the difference in these two areas doesn't make it any more or less comfortable -- what does help your hand-holding experience, however, is the tapered edge that adds an extra place for your fingers to naturally rest.

You may be wondering why we've talked so much about the Optimus G already, and it's because it shares many commonalities with the Nexus 4; both use a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset, 2GB RAM and sport the same 4.7-inch True HD IPS PLUS with 1,280 x 768 resolution. They even pack the same 2,100mAh battery. Indeed, a close look at the two devices side by side should be enough to convince someone that the two are blood brothers, perhaps even fraternal twins. If it weren't for the Nexus 4's gentle curves, we'd wager they were born of the same chassis. Keep in mind that this isn't a harsh comparison: we were quite fond of the build quality and materials used in LG's top-of-the-line smartphone, and having a similarly specced device with comparable build and a vanilla version of Android 4.2 sounds like a killer combination. Gracing the front of the phone is the IPS PLUS display mentioned earlier, dressed with a full slab of Gorilla Glass 2. The glass itself curves down a bit as it meets the left and right edges, which certainly adds to the feeling of elegance. The idea here is actually to add more of a natural feel when swiping back and forth on the screen. (HTC did something similar with the One X.) Our only complaint with this is that it's easy for dust and other tiny particles to get stuck between it and the chrome lining the edge. Continuing on, there's a 1.3-megapixel front-facing video cam on the top right and sensors on the top left. Below the screen sits the pulse notification light, which brought back memories of what's found on the Galaxy Nexus, and there are no capacitive buttons since LG added virtual navigation keys to the screen.

The left side houses a volume rocker, while a secondary mic and headphone jack sit up top. Moving over to the right, you'll see the power button just barely above where your index finger naturally rests -- this is nice because you won't accidentally bump it every other second, but it's still within easy reach. The bottom is where you'll find the micro-USB / Slimport socket. Let's talk a little about that last one: Slimport. It appears that Google and LG have chosen to use Slimport for tethered display sharing, rather than standard MHL. Neither company has shared the reasoning behind this decision, but whatever it is, you'll need to buy a special adapter if you want to take advantage of this capability. It's not the only way to mirror your phone's display on your TV -- Android 4.2 has now added native support for Miracast's wireless display standard -- but if you don't have equipment compatible with Miracast, Analogix's $30 Slimport adapter is a cheaper alternative to purchasing Miracast-certified gear.

Moving on to the back, we already mentioned briefly that it's covered by scratch-resistant glass. It's not a removable cover, which means you won't be getting access to your battery unless you're willing to be adventurous and start removing screws. On the top left you'll see the 8MP rear camera and LED flash aligned vertically, with the famous Nexus logo sitting just below. LG added its own stamp to the bottom of the back, right next to a speaker grille on the right side. But the most interesting part of the whole thing is its checkerboard-like decor that looks like a cross between "The Matrix" and the iconic tile-like live wallpaper made famous by the Nexus One. When we first saw the device in leaked photos, we worried that it might look too tacky -- on the contrary, it not only adds to the subtle aesthetics, but it helps the Nexus 4 stand apart from all those other bland, rectangular phones.

You'll probably want to avoid concrete at all costs.

With all of our praise about the phone's design and build, there is one potential hazard: that glass-laden back. We haven't had any terrible luck in that department yet, but it's worth noting that this part of your phone -- while sleek and gorgeous -- should probably avoid the concrete at all costs. Now, onto the portion of the review that you'll either love or hate, depending on where you live and what network you use. The Nexus 4, like the Galaxy Nexus before it, is a penta-band (850/900/1700/1900/2100) HSPA+ device, but this one goes up a step by offering 42Mbps speeds. It's also quad-band (850/900/1800/1900) GSM / EDGE, which means this phone will work with virtually every GSM and HSPA carrier in the world. Unfortunately, the one thing truly missing from the Nexus is LTE compatibility. In many parts of the world, this won't be an issue; people using a carrier with LTE service may feel frustrated, however. We'd love to see a special edition come out down the road, but we're not going to hold our breath for it.

Finally, the Nexus 4 also fully supports the Qi wireless charging standard, which means you can use any Qi-capable charging pad to refill your battery -- we even took it for a spin on the Fatboy recharging pillow sold by Nokia, and it worked like a charm. So what else does this beauty have, and how does it compare with last year's model? Check out the table below for all the details.

Nexus 4 LG Optimus G (Korean version) Samsung Galaxy Nexus (HSPA+ version) Dimensions 5.27 x 2.7 x 0.36 inches (133.9 x 68.7 x 9.1mm) 5.19 x 2.71 x 0.33 inches (131.9 x 68.9 x 8.5mm) 5.33 x 2.67 x 0.35 inches (135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9mm) Weight 4.9 oz. (139g) 5.11 oz. (145g) 4.76 oz. (135g) Screen size 4.7 inches 4.7 inches 4.65 inches Screen resolution 1,280 x 768 pixels (320ppi) 1,280 x 768 pixels (320ppi) 1,280 x 720 pixels (316ppi) Screen type True HD IPS Plus True HD IPS Plus Super AMOLED HD (PenTile) Battery 2,100mAh 2,100mAh 1,750mAh Internal storage 8 or 16GB 32GB 16GB External storage No microSD slot No microSD slot No microSD Rear camera 8MP, AF, LED flash 13MP, AF, LED flash 5MP, AF, LED flash Front-facing cam 1.3MP 1.3MP 1.3MP Video capture 1080p 1080p 1080p NFC Yes Yes Yes Radios HSPA+ 42 / UMTS: 850/900/1700/1900/2100; GSM / EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 GSM / GPRS 850/900/1800/1900; UMTS/HSPA+ 900/2100; LTE band 3 HSPA+ 21 / UMTS: 850/900/1700/1900/2100; GSM / EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 Bluetooth v4.0 v4.0 v3.0 SoC Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon S4 Pro Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon S4 Pro TI OMAP 4460 CPU 1.5GHz quad-core 1.5GHz quad-core 1.2GHz dual-core GPU Adreno 320 Adreno 320 PowerVR SGX540 RAM 2GB 2GB 1GB HDMI options Slimport (wired) / Miracast (wireless) MHL (wired) / Miracast (wireless) MHL WiFi 802.11 b/g/n dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n 802.11 a/b/g/n dual-band Operating system Android 4.2 Jelly Bean Android 4.0.4 ICS Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

Display

A quick review of the above spec list should indicate that the display is essentially identical to the one used on the recently released LG Optimus G, the Nexus 4's close sibling. Looking backward, it's also better than the HD panel the Galaxy Nexus bears. What we're looking at (literally) is a 4.7-inch, 1,280 x 768 True HD IPS PLUS display, with a sheet of Gorilla Glass 2 covering it. With the Nexus 4, however, the Corning-furnished glass plays a much more critical role than it does on other smartphones. LG has developed a technology that integrates the display's touch sensor into the outer layer of the glass. This not only makes for a thinner phone, it brings the pixels closer to the display itself. (If this sounds familiar, it's because Apple has done something similar to this with the iPhone 5 and Microsoft's Surface for Windows RT.)

The display is among the best that you can currently find on a smartphone.

Additionally, its WXGA resolution translates into a pixel density of 320ppi, but its RGB subpixel arrangement means it actually packs more of a visual punch than the PenTile Super AMOLED HD screen on last year's Nexus. There's less pixelation -- if that's even possible -- and the viewing angles are fantastic, providing us better opportunities to read articles and watch movies than most other devices we've used. Also, it's one of the nicest displays we've ever viewed in the midday sun. We could see everything clearly at right around 50 percent brightness, and it was still at least relatively easy to read with the settings down to about 30 percent. This panel is one of the best you can get right now, and is on par with the 720p displays we've played with on the One X and Samsung Galaxy S III. It ranks in between those two competitors when it comes to color saturation. The darks are as dark as you'll see on the One X (but less than the GS3), and the whites are brighter than on either rival phone. We also noticed that the Nexus shows off the darkest reds and magentas, as well as the lightest greens and yellows. As a result, your viewing experience may differ slightly from other 720p displays, but we've been very pleased with what we've seen on the Nexus 4.

Android 4.2

Aside from the inaugural Nexus (the HTC-made Nexus One), each subsequent version of the Nexus has ushered in a new era of Android firmware along with it -- Gingerbread for the Nexus S, Honeycomb for the Motorola Xoom, ICS on the Galaxy Nexus and Jelly Bean on the Nexus 7. And as we've come to expect from this precedent, the Nexus 4 comes loaded with Android 4.2. But there's something drastically different this time around: despite the new version number, this upgrade is still considered Jelly Bean. This is the first time we've seen such a move since Eclair was bumped up from 2.0 to 2.1. An incremental ".X" update without a new dessert-themed codename typically indicates a small refresh with just a few enhancements. We think there's enough of a change to justify jumping up to a treat that begins with "K," but most of the significant design shifts have to do with the tablet experience; in contrast, there have been few drastic changes on the phone side. We wonder if many of the features added to the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 were already on the drawing board alongside the rest of Jelly Bean and just weren't ready in time, but none of that really matters. What's important is that we have some new things to enjoy at the present time. Here's what you can expect to see in Jelly Bean, part deux.

Android 4.2 may still be Jelly Bean, but it still brings plenty of useful improvements.

First, we mentioned briefly that you'll see a larger difference on the tablet side than on the phone. This is because the Nexus 10 sheds both the settings box in the lower-right corner and app menu access in the top right. Instead, it offers two pull-down menus on the top: the left side acts as your standard notifications menu, while the right side features the new Quick Settings menu (more on that shortly). It also uses the standard set of three virtual navigation buttons that you'll find on the Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus.