LG and Google Announce the Nexus 4, Starts at $299
by Jason Inofuentes on October 29, 2012 12:39 PM ESTThis isn't how they wanted to do it, but LG and Google are going ahead with the announcement of the Nexus 4, and it's a steal. The lineage of the device is clear, with specs aping those of the LG Optimus G, but blessed with the latest update to Jelly Bean: Android 4.2. The Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro features four Krait cores clocked at 1.5GHz , the Adreno 320 GPU, and paired the requisite 2GB of RAM. The same 4.7" TrueHD IPS Plus display has a 1280x768 resolution, and the design is updated with a new back surface. Available in 8GB and 16GB configurations, the new Nexus will start at just $299, and top out at $349 unlocked and off-contract, through the Google Play Store on November 13th.
When Google's Galaxy Nexus was sold unlocked for $349 it was a stupendous bargain, despite somewhat dated hardware. With today's announcement, though, we have top of the line hardware being sold at prices that bend the price curve drastically against buying on-contract devices. We'll see how that all plays out over the coming months.
There's also some indication that announcements are imminent for the other devices that were in the works for today's canceled event, including the 32GB Nexus 7 and the new Nexus 10 slate from Samsung. We'll update as we hear more.
Update: And there it is! In addition to the Nexus 4, we'll also be seeing the Nexus stable expand with two new SKUs for the Nexus 7 and a brand new stablemate, the Nexus 10 from Samsung.
The first update to the Nexus 7 comes in a 32GB variant that takes the place of the original 16GB SKU at $249. The 16GB model now slots in at the $199 and both are joined by a new "mobile data" variant of the 32GB SKU that will be available unlocked for $299. The unlocked nature of the device indicates it may be 3G only, we'll dig in more in a second.
The Nexus 10 was first rumored just a few weeks ago, and piques our interest in a big way. Built in partnership with Samsung, the 10" tablet is powered by Samsung's Exynos 5 Dual (nee 5250) SoC, making it the first Android device powered by ARM Cortex-A15 cores. In this case, two Cortex-A15 cores, clocked as high as 1.7GHz, are mated to the Mali-T604 GPU and 2GB of RAM. On the front of the device you find a 2560x1600 10" display, making it the highest resolution Android tablet to date. The display is made possible by the Exynos memory subsystem that puts two-port DDR3-800 on the table for 12.8GB/s of bandwidth. The Nexus 10 will be priced at $399 (16GB) and $499 (32GB) and be available along with the rest of the line-up on November 13th on the Google Play Store. Interested shoppers can sign up for more information today through the store.
Source: Google
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lmcd - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
It's currently three versions behind. Ideally mobile Firefox or Opera gets used (as far as I know the fastest on Android).JasonInofuentes - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
This is a great comment, and those that follow are similarly great.There's a few things that we try to take into consideration when we look at benchmarks. Consistency is paramount. If we can't repeat the test and get the same (roughly) results then there's no point using it. There's also the matter of equity, if today a tablet was released that ran Honeycomb 3.0, we might not bother reviewing it, and if we did we'd smother the review with coaching statements like "we could easily expect better performance with updated software."
Today, there's Chrome and Browser. One has received it's end-of-life status. The other is the future and will be the only browser available on Android devices in the future. Are their cases where the original Android browser is the better performer? Maybe. Surely. But what would the point be of testing hardware with Browser when Chrome is the future.
This is something to look further into, though. Perhaps we'll consider a feature on the two.
glynor - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
Does anyone know how that GPU compares to the (assumed) quad-version of the A6 in the A6X?Based on the typically underpowered GPUs in previous Android devices, I'm wondering how well that is going to be able to power that high-res display.
lmcd - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
It probably isn't quad-core in the A6X since the A5X was already quad-core. It's probably hexa-core, or could possibly be a really clocked-up quad-core.And it should be fine, as it has to be an upgrade from the GSIII GPU which edged out the SGX 543MP2 in the A5 (ignoring the gaping failure in GL ES Benchmark 2.5).
ssiu - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
"Dual-core A6X with quad-core graphics", http://www.apple.com/ca/ipad/specs/so A6X GPU is either running at twice the Mhz of A5X, or different/improved GPU design (less likely)
A5X GPU is ~twice the performance of A5 GPU, and A6X is about twice of A5X. The Nexus 10 GPU is likely a bit faster than A5X, but slower than A6X.
Krysto - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
Should be 72 Gflops for Mali T604 to 64 Glops for A6X GPU. But we'll see the GLbenchmarks soon enough.Mali T604 will also support OpenGL ES 3.0 standard (compared to the 4 year old OpenGL ES 2.0 that A6X still supports). Not sure why it doesn't support it right out of the gate though, but it should with a driver update. Or maybe ARM just couldn't get the Khronos certification in time for launch and they can't officially say they support all the features yet.
ahar - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
...piques your interest in a big way.GokieKS - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
When the 8GB storage rumors became obvious, my reaction was "the only way that would really make sense is if they were going for a low price - maybe $300". And looks like I was right. It's still too low for me to personally consider it, but for people like my parents, the 8GB model would be a great choice. The 16GB model though will be one that I consider against the iPhone 5, One X+, and Lumia 920 once the Nokia is available. I'd prefer a 32GB model (for $399?), but oh well.Oh, and a minor bit of editing nitpick: "peaks our interest" is wrong - the proper word is "piques". :-)
ssiu - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
I wonder if Google increase the storage ~3 months later ($299 for 16GB, $349 for 32GB) like it did with Nexus 7?RollingCamel - Monday, October 29, 2012 - link
Any word about the Nexus 4 bootloader? the Optimus G was locked.