Google cuts Nexus 4 smartphone price to £159 (US$199)

by Mark Tyson on 28 August 2013, 11:26

Tags: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), LG Electronics (066570.KS), PC

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Google has taken the axe to its Nexus 4 smartphone prices. In the UK that means a cut of £80 of both the 8GB and 16GB versions of this LG manufactured Android smartphone, in the US $100 has been sliced from the respective prices. The latest cuts mean that a Nexus 4 8GB will now cost £159 (US$199) and the Nexus 4 16GB will now cost £199 (US$249).

This is Google's current flagship Nexus phone and the price cut is expected to have been implemented to clear stocks before it is succeeded by a newer model. The Nexus 4 was officially announced at the end of October last year and was a great success but Google/LG made were caught by surprise and didn't make enough to satisfy demand.

In July we saw that stock of the Nexus 4 was not being replenished, the white version ran out of stock with no replacement stock forthcoming. That was the first sign of an impending successor, the Nexus 5. Now it seems like there must be quite a large stockpile of black versions of the smartphone left in warehouses as this swingeing price cut is implemented.

With the upcoming Google Nexus 5 we expect several upgrades on the Nexus 4 spec with the most significant of those being support for faster 4G/LTE networks, a bigger screen of over 5-inches in diagonal and to launch with Android 5 Key Lime Pie pre-installed. We still don't know for sure who Google's manufacturing partner for the Nexus 5 will be.

It's not just UK and US customers who will get this latest Nexus 4 price cut. Google Play  Tweeted that "We've lowered the price of #Nexus4. Get it for 25% off or more in Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, Korea, US, UK".



HEXUS Forums :: 22 Comments

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Posted by jnutt - Wed 28 Aug 2013 11:29
Guess the new one will be here soon, need to get rid of old stock! :D
Posted by Hicks12 - Wed 28 Aug 2013 12:19
Very Very tempted to quickly get rid of my nexus 4 for £190, very tempted to then just buy a new Nexus 5 when it comes out.

Love my Nexus 4 but this is rather tempted haha.
Posted by Rob_B - Wed 28 Aug 2013 12:20
How did you find the N4?

I'm thinking of getting rid of my iPhone 4 and getting a cheap N4 as I want a bigger screen (but maybe not THAT big?)
Posted by Tpyo - Wed 28 Aug 2013 12:34
Rob_B
How did you find the N4?

I'm thinking of getting rid of my iPhone 4 and getting a cheap N4 as I want a bigger screen (but maybe not THAT big?)

To be honest, I thought the N4 screen was a bit too big at first but it has grown on me and I don't have any issues with it. Any bigger though and I think it would be uncomfortable to pocket.

My biggest issue as with most of these modern smartphones - no buttons (touchscreen) works great, until you're in sunlight and the screen becomes unreadable (making a call to a non-presaved number is pure guesswork!). Either add some key functionality buttons back (and I can see many reasons why people may not want that) OR use something like a transflective screen so it can stil be read/used outdoors!
Posted by Hicks12 - Wed 28 Aug 2013 12:38
Ill give you the no bs version :P

Screen quality - Brilliant, if you like OLED then I wouldnt advise this as they are totally different beasts… OLED is saturated and IPS is much truer to source but swings and roundabouts! However the screen quality on any ROM before Android 4.3 is horrible due to the lack of calibrations (very washed out colours), in 4.3 google have calibrated it better but custom roms allow you to do this yourself :).

Performance - Cant fault it, very snappy and the only thing that holds it back is really is a fair few apps in the android eco system that are coded so poorly :( (small niggle for me… i dont use facebook app!).

Camera - Its OK, wont say its bad or amazing its satisfactory for my standards as I only use the phone cameras when I really need to but for pictures I want quality for I will use my DSLR, if you are looking for the best phone camera then this isnt the phone for you.

Battery Life - Again its ok but its nothing to shout about, I can get between 1 to 2 days (normally a day and a half) with music streaming some web browsing and general phonecalls and texts but as we all know usage varies person to person and each phone is slightly different.

Phone calls - Brilliant, cant fault it I can hear them fine they hear me fine and the noise cancellation works well

Speaker - Average, nothing great about the external speaker… love my dads HTC One with regards to speakers as Stereo really does make a night and day difference but its still ok and similar to most other mono speaker phones :).

Build quality - Almost perfect, people jumped on about the glass back but really its nothing… I have dropped mine multiple times and its undamaged and it feels great in the hand :) however I would make two adjustments, remove the glass and put in the nonslip rubber coating on a plastic back instead as that would be better along with the fact that glass transfers heat better it means that the phone can feel fairly warm when in use(nothing to worry about), also the chrome bezel is just plastic I would rather it not be included tbh as mine is fairly scratched but you cannot notice it unless you are using it as they are very light scratches, should be replaced with something else :P.

Screen size is also almost perfect for me, if the bezel was thinner by a mm or so I would be able to 100% all the time use it with one hand without making an effort, I still do one handed now but i do have to think a bit more and stretch but my hands arent the largest, personally wouldnt have a screen any wider than this.


Think that covers it :P.

Actually there is the price… for £160 you arent going to get a better android phone period! If you want 16gb then its still very good, I would consider the HTC one if it was the same price but this is the best under £300 :). And since its not a contract you can get some decent sim only deals, if you use alot of data and Three have good signal in your area you can pickup the one plan for £15 a month (12 months) with £65 cashback (quidco/topcashback) so it works out ~£9.59 a month for unlimited everything :D.

Opps one more thing, lack of 4g(in the uk…) is this an issue? Not really the networks need to sort themselves out first tbh! I was with virgin mobile for a couple of months but i was getting less than 6Mbits everywhere it was generally less than 2 in most places (sometimes it was 50Kbits….) whereas with Three I am getting a pretty solid 22Mbits and a 70ms ping, amazing really I tethered my laptop to it at my old house where I had no internet and it was blazing fast :).

Love my Nexus 4 but the opportunity to pay £100 and have a the next one is quite tempting! Hopefully the new Nexus comes out at the same price mind.

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