By 
We’ve all heard or seen the Nexus 4 horror stories. An Android device so fragile, even quick changes in temperature could cause the glass on the back of the device to crack. It appears that Google too was listening, addressing some of these issues in a small hardware revision that added little feet to the Nexus 4 (or as Kevin puts it, nipples) in order to keep the glass from laying completely flush on flat surfaces. Yeah, that’s going to help. I remember when Apple first introduced the world to a phone with glass covering both the front and back. Me and my Android-loving friends used to scoff, laughing as our less wise friends’ iPhones fell victim to hard pavement. I guess karma’s a b*tch cuz all that came back to bite me in the ass. Hard.
What you see before you is my shiny, new, once immaculate Nexus 4. Since day 1 I’ve been babying this thing, buying a little bumper for it, ordering screen protectors for both the front and back of the device. I knew what I was getting into. The Nexus 4 is fragile. Nearly every single one of my friends that owns the device has the back cracked. To say that it’s made me paranoid is an understatement. Never once have I ever cracked the screen on any smartphone I’ve ever owned, but now I had to worry about the back. I would wake up in the middle of the night dripping with sweat, quickly grabbing my Nexus 4 to make sure the temperature of the room didn’t suddenly drop, and that the back glass was still pristine.
The crime scene, where the victim lay fallen
Yesterday night the unthinkable happened. While driving my car to make a sketchy Craigslist purchase I went to shift my car with Nexus 4 still in hand. It fell about 2-inches into the center console area. The resulting “bang” from the drop was loud enough that I immediately feared the worst. I turned to my friend without even looking at my phone and said, “I think I just cracked my phone.” It was like I had a flashback sequence. All these weeks of babying the phone, windexing it, never once setting it onto anything that could scratch either the front or back (easier said than done), came screeching to a halt. Terrified, I picked up the phone from my center console and after taking a look, let out a groan from the depths of my soul. Crack-free since ’93… no more. For those that are wondering, yes the bumper was on the device and didn’t do diddly squat to help matters in the slightest.
I’ve said all that to say this: under no circumstances should a smartphone manufacturer ever release a device that can shatter from a 2-inch drop. I’ve eaten hard boiled eggs that were harder to crack. This isn’t just poor design, this is an actual hardware flaw. Sure LG touted the Nexus 4 as coming equipped with Gorilla Glass on the front and back, but after what I’ve seen, it might as well be pure egg shell. That being said, I will never — ever, again in my lifetime recommend anyone ever purchase a Nexus 4. Because of the law of physics and the transfer of inertia or something, I don’t even think anything less than a 1-inch thick smartphone case will protect the back from cracking on impact. It’s ridiculous.
So, while I patiently await my HTC One to arrive — which, I hear is constructed out of pure adamantium (or maybe it was aluminum?) — I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally have a device with a build quality so strong, it can suffer maybe a 3-inch drop without shattering.
Now, I mentioned before how nearly all of my personal friends with Nexus 4’s have cracked the back glass on their devices (rarely ever the front), and I’m wondering how many of you with Nexus 4’s have suffered the same fate. I’m not judging. Bad things happen to good people all the time. I would just like to see if me and my buds are alone in this, or if cracked Nexus 4’s are running rampant around the world. Remember, Nexus 4 owners only. For everyone else, let me know if the fragility of the Nexus 4 is enough to detour you from making a purchase, or if it doesn’t matter (Nexus’ are all about the software anyway, right?). Cheers.
[polldaddy poll=7031525]
Whine much… how about you just be more careful next time.
It was 2-inches, man… TWO INCHES. :O
That’s what she said
Damn that was perfectly timed, well done lol
ha!
That’s what she said. But on a serious note…I have had a few gasp moments with my N4 only to be saved by the my Ringke Slim case. It’s nice and thin and you can’t show off the back, but man it protects very well for how thin it is.
Yeah, definitely doing for the Ringke once this thing gets repaired.
The Ringke Fusion is bulkier than the Slim, but the clear polycarbonate let’s you show off the back.
You could have bought (as I did) a rubber back cover. I know it hides the beautiful back of the phone, but it better be hidden than cracked, right?
whine spread fud and get paid for it ..nice Chris..its a glass for Christ sake get a case
Must have been some fall, or the way it landed… It’s made of glass, nothing much to expect when you drop it… Although LG could have used a more stronger glass
But yet again, it’s a $300 phone…
I’ve dropped my Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, LG Viper onto solid concrete — none of them ever cracked. The thing is, it’s the only the BACK of the Nexus 4 that’s so fragile, not the front. The front is thick glass. The back is egg shell.
Ooohhh wait… I read 2 feet instead of 2 inches…
Damn. I take it back… lol
Maybe you dropped it on a pointy rock…
Center console area. Right next to my shifter (in the above pic). :/
Yeeaahhh…. That’s messed up…
Hope LG redesigns it for the Nexus 4s/5, or HTC picks up the mantle of the Nexus line.
HTC Nexus One 2 = sex.
Dude, the black HTC One with pure Google?
Sex is the HTC Nexus One 2
You guys need to stop talking about a Nexus One 2… ^_^
Holy crap, what are you doing with these phones?! Maybe you, personally, should stay away from glass-backed phones.
They were all accidents. That’s why I put my phones in a case.
Thankfully, I’d only have to avoid the iPhone 4 and Nexus 4 if I wanted to say away from glass backs.
That’s why you put your phones in a case? Except for the Nexus 4 of course!!! Man at least get your stories straight when you are going to lie.
I was using my S3 as a flashlight looking for a coaxial cable I had just fished to my basement… holding it up in the rafters. I dropped it onto the concrete basement floor… no scratch, no dent, no broken screen. Just a popped battery cover. Even the battery stayed in… I just needed to change my undies. ;-)
I dropped my old iPod two dozen times, my Droid a dozen times, and my RAZR 5 times, sometimes on solid pavement, with and without cases, and not once did any glass shatter. I see no reason to put glass on the back of a device. It serves no purpose but to make it shiny, and it creates another break point.
Looks like you are pretty careless with your phones, maybe get yourself a pager
I’ve got the Ringke fusion hybrid case on mine, its a case with a clear back on it. I really like bumpers and no screen protectors but I settled with this case because of the stories I’ve heard.
Yeah, once I get this thing repaired, I’m not settling for anything less than full protection. Even then, I’m STILL going to be super paranoid. :/
Yeah, it seems like the camera and speaker cut out are real weak points too. I’ve only dropped my phone on carpet so far, so no problems……..yet
I used to be like you paranoid about my N4 but no more I removed the front protector its incredibly scratch resistant and I have a case similar to ringke fusion but it has a clear back everytime I dropped it it was ok in general though somehow I have 2 small dings in the chrome but thats covered regardless
I have the Ringke Fusion also. Great case.
Both Mine and the wife’s N4 are pristine. This is surprising considering the 2 trips my took from lap to the concrete when getting out of the car. I’m rocking the poetic bumper and font/back screen protectors, and she’s got a snap on case from ebay.
Yeah, I was never worried about the front cracking. It feels like a thicker glass. The back is paper thin, however. :/
the front also doesnt have two holes cut into it
Didn’t even think about that…
Would you ever care to give us some sources for your so called knowledge of the thickness of the glass, or is this something else you are making up/exaggerating
Precisely why I have a case that protects the back of the phone…
Mine is absolutely fine. So is my GFs, two of my cousins, and two of my friends.
Do you guys have any cases on yours?
Me and my GF have the bumper case. One cousin has a wallet case, not sure if other cousin is using a case. Two friends not using cases.
Two friends: YOLO
lmfao
Still better than a Samsung
you die hard nexus fans remind me of iPhone fanboys. You have become that which you hate.
You can quit trolling now
mad bro? that i offended your oh so precious Nexus cult?
If you don’t own the phone and are not considering it, why are you here, “bro”?
I used to have the Galaxy Nexus, and might consider the Nexus 5, if it’s not complete dog doodoo.
You have offended my GNEX!
I demand reparations!
lol samsung fans are far worse than nexus fans.
Don’t rip on other android users! *in a hushed whisper* That’s what Apple wants, dissension in the ranks! We must stay united!
what about galaxy nexus? im confused.
So with all your trolling, I must know, what is this perfect phone that makes people not sheep or fanboys, and satisfies nightscout?
see other post…..
and how is that? aside from your orgasm inducing pure Android, what does it have that the S3 or Note 2 do not?
Android 4.2.2 and every other version when 6 months later they stop supporting Note 2 or S3 with software updates. Additionally Lock screen widgets access about everything from the lock screen. Sphere. More advanced notification system. Practical size for most. Stock Android > Everything.
my work phone is a S2 skyrocket. i installed a jellybean launcher cuz samsungs UI is so hideous. my wife’s phone is galaxy nexus. i definitely prefer the nexus. just sayin. doesn’t really have much to do with the hardware.
exactly Its not completely hardware that makes a top notch device though the specs are too bad hardware wise neither. 4.5 in screen check 8mp camera still good as a matter of fact its a great camera, great processor the snap dragon s4 pro all good specs but really it shines software side
It doesn’t feel like it was made by hasbro lol
Heavy skins that cause the phone to lag even when it has insanely superior hardware. The s4 is going to lag, its inevitable. Samsung and HTC write bad software, don’t know what else to tell you.
The One may not crack, but it’ll hardcore dent. Aluminum is a soft metal. But I’m sorry for your loss.
I’ll make sure to never leave the house without a case on it.
The problem with the Nexus 4 is it has double the chances of cracking since the front and back are glass.
Absolutely, the Nexus 4 is horribly designed. The One may scratch and dent, but a thin case will always save it. You’ll need a thick TPU case to save a nexus 4 from shattering, HOPEFULLY.
With aluminium it also depends on the alloy and if it’s heat treated.
mines fine. bought at launch. dropped more times than i can count. no case or screen protector ever,
high caleb
Had mine since day 1, no cracks yet. I’ve dropped it onto hard surfaces from abdomen-level a couple of times, with the LG bumper on it. I have screen protectors on the front and back. Only one person I know has cracked his, by dropping it onto a hard surface without the bumper. I prefer plasticky Samsung build quality, just seems more rugged.
Worst part is my screen protectors for the front and back were getting here next week. I think those might have helped.
Wait…..it’s an automatic transmission…..Why are you shifting?
It looks to have a sport shift mode.
Still…..A car for girls.
Sure maybe if you live in the stone ages. You can’t shift faster than a computer I will tell you that. That Automatic won’t ever miss a shift and In my experience of driving Auto w/ OD its fun and convenient.
Does your husband know you are on line and not in the kitchen?
I’m Jealous of you, you must be the only man to see the dinosaurs before they went extinct. Is this your family? http://worldonline.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2012/06/06/cavemen-food-nutrition.jpg
cmon now, be honest guys, if you want to shift your car, buy a manual.
Unless you have to deal with stop and go traffic every day… that was the only reason I got a slush box instead of stick. Nothing like having to constantly shift gears first thing in the morning to give you a good old leg cramp! -_-
I miss my old manual though, so much fun to drive on back roads! :D
I suspect that cramp is not a leg cramp but a menstrual cramp.
I deal with it every day. I bet I stop and start 30 times to and from work each day. If you can take 30 steps a day, you can start and stop 30+ times a day.
*slow clap*
You sir are a road warrior, a whole 30 times? My goodness, that can obviously compare to my commute, and how heavy the clutch was in my car.
Come back when you’ve driven an old cantankerous GT with a heavy aftermarket clutch, with stop and go traffic in a 3 hour commute. Sounds like yours is a warm up. ^_^
That’s why I have my slushbox as a daily driver. Kept the old GT as a track car.
Really? You brag about your cumbersome travels, yet admit to driving a womans car? Hell yeah
Yep. I used to commute using 3 pedals, now I commute using 2.
I’m enjoying the chauvinism shtick you’ve got going here, but there’s one flaw with your insult. Women drive manual as well, so you also drive a woman’s car.
Have a wonderful day, friend! :)
Name one.
Exactly…..You can’t heel & toe with an automatic. The pure essence of shifting gears is the heel and toe.
Who cares about heel toe?
I can see why it bothers you as it is nearly impossible to heel and toe wearing high heels.
You would know i bet you do it all the time in high heels.
Wow….You win. You really dealt me a humiliating insult there. Ouch
You can’t heel and toe with an automatic. Manual transmissions are lighter and less complicated to repair. Mostly, you don’t look like a girl.
You say heel toe as if its some relevant feature a majority of people care about. Its nice to know that YOUR car is the only thing people have to tell the you aren’t a girl. Maybe you should dress more like a man and people won’t have to question you nor your sexuality, sorry driving a manual doesn’t make you look like a man.
^ somebody is worried about the size of his manhood.
Oh really? A car for girls… do you mean the actual car or automatics? I’m sure my automatic will beat plenty manuals. (INCLUDING YOURS…that is if you even have one.) I got your back Chris!
Your mother’s mini van?
You didn’t answer my question just resulted to being childish lol… and no not my mother’s mini van. MY 600whp Infiniti g35. Now if you would share what you drive if you’re the man you say you are. Also I can give you a history lesson on automatics in racing so you wouldn’t making ignorant comments anymore lol
I have a crack in the front on the corner, not big enough to notice (and not on the screen itself, thank goodness). I’ve dropped the phone several times, including on the back, and haven’t suffered so much as a scratch on the back yet. The back of my screen, however, is most definitely plastic, not glass.
Man you got unlucky, i have a bumper on mine and its fell a few times
girlfriends has nothing and its fell ENOUGH times from higher than your heigh, even once she chucked it at the carpet
nothing; both still mint
Wanna trade? O_o
Stories like this remind me why I have no problem with a plastic based Samsung phone. That, and a Trident Aegis case.
Or the other brands with durability and without cheap plastic bodies. Why not the metal or polycarbonate of an HTC or the metal kevlar combination of a Motorola
From experience, those are not indestructible. Everything can be damaged.
Yes, but not as easily as GLASS smh
I guess no other phone uses glass anywhere huh? Smh
I am inclined to agree. They use glass on the Nexus 4 and the Xperia Z because it looks awesome! We know we take a risk by buying them but that is just it, know what you are getting into. For me, I don’t put cases on my phones because I think it ruins the industrial design, only skins. I personally dropped my Nexus 4 on ceramic tile from about 3ft and it was fine. I think this can be chalked down to bad luck.
Of course everything can. However, you are less likely to dent, crack, or even scratch metal and kevlar than the cheap plastic put on the Samsungs. Yes, they won’t shatter but they also will scratch fairly easily.
That’s what you get for driving a girls car.
Drop mine from 4 inches onto carpet. Cracked the screen. Really pissed me off it was so fragile.
CARPET? :O
warning possible sarcasm or troll. No possible way to break a Phone on carpet unless its thrown. It would defy science altogether.
what if it was low pile? And they installed it themselves, so they forgot the underlay? and it’s in a basement on top of concrete?
I dunno, just grasping at straws here, haha
Haha that would be an extreme case in the matter. I still think even the slightest bit of carpet though without underlay should still protect it because the top would still be soft enough cushion the fall and absorb shock at least thats what I would believe.
Dude you sound like such a whiney baby, woe is me. The Nexus can and has survived drops from 4 feet on video. I love mine and don’t worry about it one bit. If it scratches or breaks oh well, but complaining about how fragile and weak it is does nothing. Fact is for $300 you get a top end premium phone that would cost $600 plus if not for Google.
Yeah…..Get the thing fixed. When I was your age, we didn’t have affordable cell phones to whine about.
I spent $400 on my Nexus 4. I know by comparison that’s cheaper than off-contract devices, but I wouldn’t exactly call that “affordable.”
Did you ever pay 50 cents a minute on a plan and thought it was a bargain? On a phone that cost $800?
$800 with no subsidy option available either ;)
If you couldn’t afford it then you shouldn’t have bought it in the first place.
Obviously I could afford it, or I wouldn’t have bought it. I’m saying $400 — for most people — isn’t a simple impulse buy.
how many people buy cellphones who would disagree?
amount: most people.
top end??? no, top end phones have removable batteries, card slots, LTE and don’t break in a 2 inch fall. He ain’t whining, he’s had an eye opening experience and dropped out of the Nexsheep crowd
First off this is Googles flagship device whether you believe it or not this IS top end because of the Software alone and the fact that this was on par with alot of devices when released it is TOP end. Sure it doesn’t have ACTIVE LTE but for GSM that is hardly an issue the main carrier didn’t have LTE till just a couple of days ago (T-mobile is who I’m addressing) A lot of devices lack sd because frankly it causes a lot of lag apparently as far as removable battery thats a non issue there are other alternatives. and Chris didn’t say he wasn’t going to buy another Nexus he said Nexus 4 specifically I doubt Chris is turned away from Nexus altogether .
You obviously don’t understand the Nexus program. Google sells the Nexus contract to the lowest bidder. If you can’t understand that, then don’t speak on the matter.
Citation required
Where do people like you get such bulls*#t? We get it. You don’t like Google/Nexus devices. No need to make up lies to do so. Grow up.
Anyways, it should be pretty well understood that most high end smartphone devices cost around $400 naturally. The reason we pay so high is because manufacturers (Apple, Samsung, HTC, etc) make their profit from the hardware sales. Google, on the other hand, does not and as a result, can take a hit there. The nexus 4 is in no way cheap. Aside from it’s camera, the processor, screen, and materials were all high quality/top of the line. I don’t think that’s the problem that Chris is upset with. I think the problem is that it’s not durable.
With that said, I’m still kind of skeptical of this story. I’ve dropped my nexus 4 multiple times now from 3-4 feet off the ground and the only marks that show up are around the reflective ring. I literally just dropped mine from 2 inches just to test it, and nope. Perfectly fine. And Bang? What device goes bang from 2 inches without you forcibly throwing it down? Something’s fishy here…..
Yes the N4 is more fragile than other devices. But this scenario here’s a bit too fragile.
No 2 drops are alike. There’s no question that my Nexus 4 SHOULDN’T have shattered from a 2-inch drop, the problem is that IT DID.
Why don’t you back up your claims or stop trolling? how about both?
HTC gave the lowest invoice for building the first Nexus. The next 2 Nexi, were Samsung, and they gave the lowest invoice. In 2012 LG gave the lowest bid. Why do you think you can buy the phone for $300? Because it was built as cheap as possible.
I’m sorry, but the Nexus one was $549 which is the same price as every other phone out at the time. And I don’t care what you think, the Nexus One was by FAR the best phone out when it came out.
Except you still didn’t provide any source nor viable proof.
What about the fact that the Nexus 4 was based on the Optimus? That they share internals? Were you not even aware of this? The fact that you have to ask for proof, means you know nothing of the Nexus program. LG built the nexus with left over parts from the Optimus. Ask any knowledgeable Android fan, they will tell you.
But it still had better specs than anything else out when it came out… The only bad point was LTE and low storage. Outside of that, who had better hardware on the day of n4’s release? Who?!
LTE and storage are a big issue for many people, and that is why Nexus sales are getting crushed by phones with more options.
Not for as many people as you think. Why on earth do you think it sold so many so quickly? obviously it wasn’t that much of a concern that despite all of what you have noted it still sold well.
LG is WAY behind Samsung and Apple in sales.
the only time i take my battery out of my galaxy nexus is when i drop it and the back pops off. maybe the nexus 4 needs an inertia cushion like a removable battery.
I cant agree with you about what makes a top end phone. I think the HTC one is at the top of the top end and it lacks micro sd and removable battery
Lacks a decent camera
The HTC one has one of the best cameras
Every review has slammed the camera.
AnandTech think its pretty sweet http://anandtech.com/show/6747/htc-one-review/7
If that’s your definition of “top end,” I think my good ol’ HTC Hero is begging for a new owner
Really? What’s this, 2011? Removable batteries might matter to the three people using their phones who actually like to swap batteries. Us humans keep a USB cable handy and a spare charger. Card slots are a must for ANY phone, not only top end ones though.
Did you really say “Nexsheep” wow Ive heard it all now.
Seriously! “Oh you like that device… you’re such a sheep”…
lmao at the nexhsheep. What phone comes out that people want that you can’t apply sheep to. Please tell me shooter, what is this awesome phone that people should be buying so as not to be sheep?
So HTC One, iPhone and any others without removable battery and card slots are not “top end”… Just because something lacks a feature you want doesn’t make it low end. Personally I think no phone with Touchwiz or Sense on it is top end because the software runs like garbage. But opinions are opinions, and everyone’s a sheep if you give it the right context.
All good points EXCEPT not many would have touched this phone w/a 10-foot pole if it were priced in the premium range of $550 & up.
Yep… the Nexus program, gets medium range specs at rock bottom pricing. This time around, LG gave Google the lowest quote for wholesale pricing. I think Google learned their lesson, and will NOT use LG again.
I wouldnt say medium range specs….
the cpu/gpu is a beast and nice screen but the camera & sound are sub par
LG isn’t the problem, it’s just the design which I’m sure was LG and Google
Overall I think it’s a big improvement over the Galaxy Nexus.
I think the lesson is don’t follow apple and use a glass back, that’s all.
The specs are high end, S4 Pro, 2GB of ram. I’m even satisfied with the camera, the LG Camera app from the play store seems to take great pictures.
Only middle range spec is the omission of LTE, which doesn’t matter much to me as neither T-mobile or AT&T have lte near me and probably won’t before the next nexus comes out. But the fact that they left out LTE is arguable I admit.
Nexus 4 was based off of an LG Optimus, same internals. That is why LG was able to manufacture the Nexus 4 cheaply, cause they already had a design in place. They just changed the outer shell, and screen.
In my experience, LG cuts WAY too many engineering corners to achieve their price points.
I would not recommend an LG to a friend, unless and until they clean their act up, and I have no reason to believe they will.
I probably still would have… I’ve had enough time with Sense and Touchwiz and I have no intention of going back. I’ll just buy another Nexus next year (assuming they ditch LG). They just never should have went with LG and everything would be fine.
@Cary Allen
I think you missed the point. “Complaining” about how fragile a phone is DOES do something: it warns people who are worried about the build quality of their devices to think twice, and those that already own the device to be very careful. That was the point of this post.
Unfortunately, I ignored the warning signs from the broken Nexus 4’s my friends have, but still made the purchase anyway. Had I known it wouldn’t crack from a 2-inch drop, I would have wrapped my phone in bubble wrap from the start.
No, a $5 case from Amazon would have done the job. Dope!
Stay Classy.
My $10 Amazon case protected it from a fall several feet in the air. No scratches or cracks on either side.
It’s not the fall in the air that does the damage though. It’s the impact afterwards.
Yes, because every phone needs a case to protect it from 2-inch drops.
Dont let the haters bring you down, its got cheap glass, everyone should expect better than a phone shattering from falling from 2 in.
Maybe the haters are jealous that he can afford to write off a phone simply for a cosmetic blemish, that would likely be fixed under warranty if he bothered trying (not to mention slapping a case/vinyl on it).
Or are just critical in general not for love of the phone, but because the author just sounds like a whiney, spoilt rich kid crying because he got a scratch on Daddy’s car.
Or of course they’re fanboys who can’t handle the obvious fact that glass is an idiotic material to make phones out of.
Maybe all 3.
The letters LG should be enough to avoid buying it. They never built a good android phone. So Google can’t do magic about it. I really like the nexus brand and also the htc one, but I will give Samsung my next buy (probably a note 3). The teardown from ifixit of the One finished my decision, that thing is a glued mess that can’t be repaired.
They’re not calling it the Galaxy Note 3, they’re calling it the Galaxy Mega.
The Mega isn’t the Note 3. The Mega(s) don’t come with s-pen. They’re more like a giant S3 or S4 than a Note.
So agree with this… LG is terrible. Just looking at the companies history is enough to expect nothing but crap from them.
log user of the LG Optimus line was my first phone has survived drops from my roof caseless and survives i dotn actively use it anymore but its there
Perhaps its a sign you shouldn’t have had your phone in your hand while driving.
I was placing it in the car dock.
That’s Ok then, because that isn’t in any way distracting or unsafe…
who said he was actively driving, I guess you put your phone in the car dock before you get in the car?
He said he went to shift his gear with phone still in hand.
you can see from the picture it’s an automatic, so he probably was shifting his car into park or reverse or drive with his foot on the brake while he was stopped. Not something i would do but I don’t think it warrants taking out the “jump to conclusions” mat.
So was he shifting gears or putting the phone in the dock?
I’m not saying making a phone out of glass isn’t a stupid idea… it is. But this story is starting to sound fishy. Exacerbated by his obvious tendency to exaggerate/uptalk: “no other phone in the history of devices would have shattered that easily”, “Nearly every single one of my friends that owns the device has the back cracked.”
And even so, kinematics and materials engineering are complicated sciences… mine survived a 3′ drop onto tiles, his broke from 2″.
You stated in your story that you were shifting and it dropped. Just sayin
To be honest any phone in general would crack from a 2 inch drop depending on the way it dropped. Just be happy that it was only the back and not the front because thats what really matters
I think your phone hit a corner or something else that focused all that energy of the fall into that area. It would have cracked from the edges if it fell on a flat surface. and probably wouldn’t have cracked since it had a bumper. Still pretty fragile though.
I don’t have a case on mine. Just a carbon fibre skin on the back. Have dropped a few times from 4ft plus with nothing to complain about. I think maybe a longer fall could possibly shift the weight of the phone so it lands on an edge rather than the glass. This could be why your 2 inch drop had a worse effect?… Or I could be talking nonsense
I cant see why google went with a Glass body on the phone, ugh. Its like Apple and Google traded places, we got the glass phone without LTE and Apple got the Aluminum LTE phone instead.
Yea it’s like twlight zone, I hated the iPhone 4 and loved the Galaxy Nexus. Now the iPhone 5 hardware is clearly superior to the Nexus 4 in every possible way (hardware, not OS).
I hardly find the iPhone 5 superior in every way. First, where is the NFC chip? I don’t see one on the iPhone 5. Oh yeah, that 4 inch screen looks kind of small next to my Nexus 4. As I recall, the iPhone 5 scratches very easy and pictures in sunlight have a purple haze – hardly clearly superior to the Nexus 4 in every possible way.
dude seriously dont talk about the camera its another reason i didn’t buy the nexus 4. iphone 5 camera is only beaten by HTC One and nokia lumia. HTC one x , One S, galaxy S2 and many more all have better cameras than nexus 4
There’s a trade off there too, admittedly the aluminum has the better flaw… I remember when that iphone came out people were complaining it already had nicks in the edges before it came out of the box. Aluminum is soft and dents easy. That’s the trade off though, nicks and dings or broken glass. Nicks do less to damage the use of the phone so aluminum = winner here.
Maybe when your phone fell, some edge/corner of the centre console came in direct contact with the glass instead of the phone falling on its side, so the bumper case couldnt protect your phone. Maybe a cheap, clear/transparent TPU case would have been able to absorb the impact on the back a bit better, while not covering the beautiful pattern on the back.
Anyways, Im sure when you hold the HTC One in your hand, you’ll all but forget about the cracked N4 :)
Yeah, the center console area around shifter is slightly convex, and my Nexus must have slammed against it at a weird angle. Still, there’s no other smartphone in the history of devices that would have shattered that easily.
Wrong…
My GF phone is a Galaxy s3 and the plastic back cover broke by falling from the couch… So about 1½’. The only bad thing about the Nexus 4 back (I beleive) is that it’s not as easy and cheap to replace if needed that a plastic phone.
I myself own a Nexus 4 and I already dropped it twice and it’s still intact. But now I have a bumper with the back made of polycarbonate… Just in case ;-)
My 2¢
He said 2″ drop, not 2′
Sure there is. It was called an HP iPaq. I busted at least three of them. One was just sitting in my shirt pocket.
That’s pretty ignorant.
Wow there are some crazy ass comments in here…
I “graduated” from an SGS2 to the Nexus 4 (and will continue to buy Nexus in the foreseeable future), and from my experience in reading forums on XDA and other Android / tech blogs – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Nexus fanboys are the absolute worst.
I agree, and I love my nexus phone because I love pure android. But I won’t pretend and defend every hardware choice in every nexus phone, glass backing was a huge mistake, despite how nice it looks, I feel for those with cracked backs regardless of how little or much they protected it. but it’s a phone for android purists, people willing to use a full case and people who need an excellent cheap android phone.
I totally agree Chris, people need to stand up and point out when there is a flaw in a product and this certainly is one. Some phone owners may bury their head in the sand when a design flaw is introduced such as: antenna issues when you hold the phone “wrong”, fragile glass backs, bending chassis’s etc but this seems like stupid behaviour. If a problems exists, let the manufacturer and other consumers know!
I agree the phone is fragile but after being around so many glass cracked Iphone cases what were you expecting? That’s the problem with glass.You could be lucky sometimes or not. Aluminum and glass look beautiful but one is fragile, the other one is scratch prone. Everyone complains about the Samsung plastic but those phones can take a beating. There is a lot whining in the article too.
Yea it sucks, i’ve been trying to convince my wife to get an Otterbox b/c she drops it constantly. I will say this though, i’ve watched her drop it from hand level at least 20 – 30 times, and so far hers hasn’t broken. Its going to though, she’s clumsy and this thing isn’t going to last forever, especially with just the bumper.
I on the other hand have no case on it, and carry it in a little leather pouch. I’ve dropped it from my lap to the floor while sitting down, but that’s about it. Lucky so far! On the other hand it took meer days before I started seeing the little micro scratches in the display because I didn’t get a screen protector on it quick enough. That kind of irritates me. Still love the damn device though, fragile as it is… I haven’t used a phone that ran so smooth before.
I agree, and see your point, how fragile this phone is, is no doubt a major problem in design and for those who like to carry phones naked or only use a bumper I wouldn’t suggest it.
The only point I differ on is never recommending the phone, I’d still recommend the phone, but only to those willing to utilize a full case. It’s still a great phone, at a amazing price, with pure android for us purists, just with a flaw that has to be accepted and protected against.
Then buy a case like everyone else who doesn’t want to break it?
thats why love my motorola razr maxx dropped it on full concrete (case on).. not even a ding XD
I bet you dinged the concrete though :p
Chuck Norris had sex with a square meter of carbon fiber. The DROID RAZR line of phones were born.
Chuck Norris was one of the guys on broke back mountain
mine’s naked, but not even a scratch on it. I just put it in my pocket whenever possible.
Don’t be stupid while handling your phone, your F’n driving your car!!! I hate when people trash talk a product and blame it on the phone when they are being stupid, its not a toy! Don’t toss it on the table, don’t set it at your dinner table while eating, don’t use it while doing activities. Be smart and use common sense, gosh, seriously!
so when should he use his phone? You’ve excluded so much he might as well mount it on a wall.
1. Don’t use your phone while eating
2. Don’t use while doing anything
Guess we should just about never use our phones -_-
Well to be honest the use of it during driving is one that should not occur connect it via BT if you don’t have BT in your car you should get it then you would just let the phone be in your car and no dropping happens…
I believe the point is just be aware and use it in the right situations obviously not while running or working out unless you have the armband
The original comment said to not be stupid with the phone, like I was drunk driving, while texting, eating, and making a phone call. Not the case.
I grabbed my phone to place it into the car dock. You know, to be safe. While grabbing my phone to place it into the car dock, I went to shift my car. The phone fell 2-inches onto the plastic center console and cracked.
The point was a phone shouldn’t shatter when merely dropped 2-inches. If it does, people should be warned and they can choose for themselves to still buy the device, or avoid it.
That was the WHOLE REASON why I included my poll. To see if it was only 3 people out of a thousand, or a couple hundred.
I thought you lived out by Rancho Cucamonga…so technically it’s illegal for you to use you phone while driving. California recently expanded Texting tickets to include all phone use that isn’t talking. Even Google Maps is off limits…
(Yes, I speak from experience of becoming $159 poorer)
Who said I was making a call when this happened? Since I already wrote it out to another person, I’ll copy/paste here:
I picked up my friend from his house. I just finished with a call when he hopped in and we started driving out of his cul-de-sac.
I took the phone out from in between my legs to set it in the car dock but forgot my car was in manual mode. I quickly shifted my car into automatic mode with my phone in-hand. The phone slipped from my hand and into the center console area.
When I stopped, I looked at my phone and it was cracked.
I don’t make calls while driving. I don’t text while driving. That is all.
I’m glad to hear that you use your phone in safe ways. I also did not say you were texting or calling :P I said “using”. See my Maps bit for an example of non-text and non-call use. I was also informing you that Texting laws were expanded in January to include all interaction with phones that is not calling. Calling gets it’s own ticket price. Also, they can issue a non-moving violation if you interact with your phone while your car is on, but in park or stopped on the side of the road. I’ve only heard of the non-moving ones being issued in Pasadena and Santa Monica, but that does mean that it happens and yes judges declared those people guilty when they used the excuse that they were in park in parking spaces on the side of the street.
Also, I do sympathize with you on the phone damage. It should have survived that short fall.
BTW I got my ticket for me moving my phone from my lap to the center of my car. The judge didn’t care when I brought in my Verizon bill that highlighted a 4 hour gap in texting where I was driving from San Diego.
TL;DR:
Interacting with you phone while your vehicle is running is now illegal. I was sharing that change and reminding you of the law. I’m glad you are safe about your phone use.
Dang look how many times you have to repeat yourself…It’s almost as if the audience are…..SHEEP
If it stops you writing rubbish articles like this I agree YOU should never use your phone.
In cases other than those stated.
So, objectively, if you dropped your phone 2-inches above a pastic table and it shattered, you wouldn’t say there was a hint of shoddy build quality? You’d blame yourself?
My car has carpeted floors, with floormats. My phone was never supposed to be in any danger. I wasn’t doing backflips with it and it fell onto concrete. There was absolutely no reason to expect a phone to completely shatter from a 2-inch drop.
they make hands-free devices while driving mandatory in many regions for safety.
Perhaps you missed my review on this: https://phandroid.com/2012/12/03/review-ngroove-universal-cd-slot-mount-video/
I was placing my phone in its car dock, but shifted out of first gear when it happened.
1. Sorry your phone cracked. 2. LG never said there is gorilla glass on the back, because there isn’t. 3. “I’ll never buy another” … Do you usually buy the same phone twice? 4. You drive an automatic.
1. Thanks.
2. LG has said Gorilla Glass is on the front and back of the LG Optimus G (Nexus 4’s cousin), so it would make sense to use the same materials on the Nexus 4.
3. This is my 3rd Nexus 4.
4. My car is a sport shift.
1. You’re welcome
2. Show me the evidence there is GG2 on the back.
3. Well then this article is especially petty and makes very little sense since you’ve managed to own two of them without any issue and you get a crack on the back of your third and you write this crapola. On top of that you made it through 2 N4s without buying any bumpers or cases, unless you keep selling those too. Sounds like BS though that this is your third based on what you’ve posted recently and in the past. Also, I said “buy”, doubt you’ve spent $1200 on Nexus 4s.
4. It’s an automatic. Drive it like one.
lol sport shift. learn how to drive bro.
Do you lift, bro?
hahahaha COTD. Do you even lift?
2. A Google Play CSR doesn’t count. And it doesn’t even matter what kind of glass is on the back, the fact is it’s glass and it sucks.
3. The first 2 Nexus 4’s I owned I never dropped. This is the first Nexus 4 I’ve dropped and because it was from such an insignificant height — the article was written. And yes, my first 2 Nexus 4’s all had bumper cases.
If you’d like, I can post my receipts showing 3 purchased Nexus 4’s since it was released and we can end all your doubts right here.
4. It’s a sports shift — and I drive it like one.
2. Why did you buy three of them then?
3. Interesting. On Jan 29th when a Phandroid article titled “Nexus 4 back in stock at the Google Play Store” was posted you commented, “so torn, not sure what should do”, implying at this point you had not owned one. Other comments you’ve made have also pointed to you not owning a Nexus 4 previously. So in a short two months, or less, you have bought three of them and three bumpers and got rid of two of them? Right. Taking into account N4 shortages and bumper shortages, that is quite hard to believe.
https://phandroid.com/2013/01/29/nexus-4-available/#comment-782288369
Also interesting you would buy the same phone three times (in two months) after writing the most critical N4 review ever written: https://phandroid.com/2012/11/23/nexus-4-review/
4. It’s an automatic transmission.
Oh, dear god. Now look what you made me do. Wasting my time as if I’d really lie about something like this. *sigh*
Day 1: http://i.imgur.com/U9PNCqb.png
Most recent: http://i.imgur.com/Cay3xdk.png
Chris, why are you wasting your time proving anything to anyone? Let them believe what they want to believe.
It’s just so frustrating.
So you purchased two on the first day, obviously not both for yourself, and maybe neither. Technically you have purchased three Nexus 4 but you have been misleading nonetheless. Receipts for the other two bumpers? Never mind. I don’t care.
Ha you changed the title of this post too. Glad I could help.
Cheese and rice, I can’t believe you’re still going on about this. If you’d like, I can also pull up my receipts for the other 2 bumpers but I’ve completely forgotten the whole point of this conversation. Also, the title was changed to be more concise (it was too wordy).
I was done but since you responded … again …
You replaced:
“and I’ll never again buy another”
with
“and I won’t bother replacing it”.
They both have six words. Whoops. More BS.
If the fact it is glass and sucks is the problem then why did you buy one let alone 3?????
You took the words right out of my mouth ;-P except that you said it better.
This is your third? Jesus what do you do to your phones? Honestly?
And 2 inches resulting in a bang and crack? How? I’m so comfortable with the durability of my N4 that I literally just tested this myself and it’s fine. By two inches did you mean 4 feet?
Anyways I’m sorry for your loss, but it feels like this article was written immediately after experiencing it. Some things don’t seem to add up.
Sidenote: stick shifts rock. They’re the only way to drive.
I didn’t break every Nexus 4 I’ve owned. Just the one I have now.
And the incident actually occurred last night but if I would have written this article then, it would have had a much different tone (needless to say, I was heated). But yeah, 2-inches and sport shifts ARE awesome :)
here, this was from a email with google play support team
Thank you for contacting us.
I understand that you’d like to know whether the back side of Nexus 4 is made of Corning Gorilla Glass. I will certainly help you.
AdaptiveMesh, only front screen of Nexus 4 is made of Corning Gorilla Glass not the back. If you come across any other information that you’d like to pass along, please feel free to reply to this email.
Thanks,
XXXXX
The Google Play Support Team
Yeah, I’ve seen that on XDA. It’s Google Play’s customer service. I wouldn’t rest too much on that. If LG used Gorilla Glass on the front and back of the Optimus G, I’d expect them to do the same for the Nexus 4 although, it’s entirely possible they didn’t — I’d only believe LG’s official response. And what does Gorilla Glass have to do with anything?
Why wouldn’t you rest too much on that? It came straight from the horse’s mouth. If Google says that the Nexus 4 doesn’t have Gorilla Glass on the back, then why wouldn’t you take their word for it? Yes – of course asking LG would be the best bet, but considering they both spent months collaborating together on this project, I’d have the confidence that Google knows what their own phone is made out of. Just sayin’….
A Google CSR didn’t collaborate with LG. They just look up your order number, and that’s it. We actually posted an article once from a CSR that mistakenly sent someone a free Nexus 4. She didn’t know what she was talking about.
LG’s the source. They manufactured the phone. They’d be the ones to know.
Why we are even talking about whether or not the back is made of Gorilla Glass, I do not know. All I know is it shattered from a 2-inch drop. *shrugs*
Yeah because you know more details about the phone than Google, get a grip child
This is the biggest problem with google fans. No they do not know what they are doing and the info is more likely to be wrong. You foolish people keep sucking the google “D”
Your 3rd Nexus 4 in less than 6 months?? I reckon the problem is with the owner and not the phone
Umm technically it IS a toy lol its primarily for entertainment with functional capabilities
Ok then nukes can be toys too. They are entertainment for blood thirsty imperialists. Nukes have functional capabilities as well. It’s subjective…..
that was stupid -___- You can’t just relate a phone a nuke A nuclear bomb’s sole purpose is to be used as a weapon.
yeah, it was pretty stupid.
Again, subjective.
everyone appears to believe it was stupid of you to compare and I agree with them. What the hell does nukes have to do with anything?
Lets define toy, An object, esp. a gadget or machine, regarded as providing amusement.
Now tell me what a smartphone does and tell me how thats not a toy in any sort of the word. I feel as if you are just disagreeing with me to disagree aka trolling.
Do you understand what the word subjective means? Look it up.
Of course I do, not that it matters what it means because it was still idiotic of you to say regardless Mr.Troll
Subjective means that something that has a meaning to you, can mean something else to another person. And that you can’t expect all people to have the same opinion on something.
No sometimes stupidity is clear for ALL to see
Your ignorant mind just cannot grasp the concept, can it?
I’m sorry but a phone should not be as durable as a wine glass, especially when everyone phone seems to be durable enough to handle normal situations. A phone should never crack from putting it down on the table too hard. I have a Nexus 4 and i actually have a case on it because im terrified of it breaking. I hate cases, my phone is big enough i dont need to add an inch of stupid rubber all around. My HTC phones would handle drops easily without a case, so there is no excuse for any other phone to not be able to.
Exactly. I don’t understand how so many people are simply “cool” with a phone this fragile?
people seem to need to validate their choices and proclaim that their phone is the best and flawless in every single way
*sigh* Apparently so…
People know the risks and adhere by protecting their investments
I have the same phone and I have not damaged it in any way, shape, or form. I keep it protected and use it as I always have. I know the phone is glass on both sides, so I toss it where it won’t cause any damage. And as for being “cool” with a fragile phone? I know what can happen when I don’t take care of something I paid $300 plus taxes plus shipping for…
This is what happens when we cry out for more “premium” phones. It feels great in your hand, until it slips out and kisses that ground, then how premium is it? lol oh and Mr. Chavez? have you heard of any Xperia Z phones cracking yet? I still have it on my radar but can’t seem to find that many drop tests. I also feel like if none have broken, then it’s a shame Sony isn’t getting more credit for making a durable, glass phone.
It’s what you get when you cry out for CHEAP phones. You want all the features but none of the price, and now you learn what gives. I’ve dropped by RAZR MAXX HD a number of times (no case) and aside from a few small dents in the floor, no damage done. Gorilla glass, metal and kevlar housing FTW.
That’s also true. We really couldn’t expect a top notch product with top notch internals. something had to give.
My N4 w/ LG bumper has only a small nick on the front bezel, other than that it has survived more than a few falls and is perfectly fine. My girlfriend has the same setup but her front glass was cracked when she dropped it while standing on stadium seats while watching an LSU game. It’s not a bad crack, but it’s cracked. It’s a fragile phone no doubt, but it’s pretty awesome.
You had to purchase an all glass phone and experience it first hand to realize it was a disaster waiting to happen? Really???
I thought you said you knew what you were getting into?
Just saying…
I agree it’s not good enough, and I too thought it was a dumb idea to have a glass back ever since the iPhone 4, so I wasn’t too happy about that design choice LG made! If (or should that be when) this happens to me I think I’ll cover it up with one of these: http://dbrand.com/submodels/nexus-4 but please…. no more glass backs!
I think that anyone who has a nexus 4 should get a case for it. I love the styling of the back of the phone but not keeping a case on a phone with a glass back is just asking for trouble. I would recommend the ringke slim hard shell case or the diztronic case if you want something flexible.
Im not an owner of the Nexus 4. But I am an owner of the so-called “Plastic-Fantastic Galaxy S3”. Let me say that before this phone, I owned the S1. I beat the ever loving **** out of my S1. I tend to get mad at my devices and throw them.
Yes, my attitude towards my devices may be childish. But, non-the-less I never expected them to last as long as they did. My new S3 has a very sturdy UAG case on it. I drop it probably once or twice a week on accident. I also toss it around onto the desk or nightstand instead of setting it down. But, thats the wonderful world of good cases. It protects your phone!
Tl;DR – Buy a GOOD case to protect your $450+ smartphones. If not….then its your own damn fault!!!! You chose not to try to protect your investment, thats your bad!
The glass back is one of the reasons why I didn’t go with the Nexus 4. It’s a stupid reason, but hey… I guess I’m stupid :l
I use the Bumper Case and a Skinomi Techskin to cover the glass. I like the skin because now the back of the phone isn’t a fingerprint magnet.
The worst part is that the single piece of back glass covers the camera as well, so any crack in the area takes out your camera.
Or maybe the worst part is that an Android phone copied even Apple’s stupid ideas.
Yeah, if you’ll notice from the picture, the LED is actually surrounded in metal to the cracks to affect it.
If the same thought was put into the camera area as well, it would only be cosmetic damage. Unfortunately, my camera is now shot. :/
For a device that’s intended to be carried everywhere, and taken out and put away with great frequency, any unnecessarily fragile components represent a design flaw. If a device isn’t designed to withstand the rigors of its intended use, then shame on the manufacturer, and on anyone who buys the device knowing its weakness.
Put a proper case on it..there isn’t a device made that won’r crack, shatter, break..The joy of the Nexus4 is that it looks and feels like no other,,,
There are plenty of phones that wont shatter, break, or crack from a 2-inch drop.
….and looks and feels like no other…. there are plenty of phones that dont look and feel like no other. lol
Handsome is as handsome does…I’ve never dropped a phone… and never seen a phone that didn’t bruise or shatter under the slightest duress…
I don’t care if it was 2 inches or 22 feet. It has a glass back and you expected it to NOT crack and spiderweb all over the place? That’s pretty much the defining quality of what makes glass glass: brittle. smh
Yes, the Nexus 4 is a fragile device but so are most phones, how you as an owner choose to protect the device determines its longevity. Being paranoid of glass phones after having an iPhone I decided that my Nexus wasn’t leaving the house without a good case on it. I opted for the Seidio Convert, since I am a construction electrician I find myself in all types of phone destroying activities throughout the week. This case has provided good protection and has lowered my stress level considerably.
intelligent comments do not receive replies. so, here ya go.
dude get a better case no issue on friends n4 but i am getting S4
Finally Chris! I’m glad you can see the light!
So far so good with my Nexus 4…I love it and keep it in a case….just like my blackberry and old iPhone. Only my tank of a Lumia 900 went without a case.
ill give ya 125$ as is. ;)
Treefiddy
isnt it 350 brand new?
Thats why I always buy a case! This case for my N4 is best I had saved me so many times http://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Google-Nexus-4-Ringke-Fusion-Premium-Hybrid-Hard-Case-Cover-Eco-Package-/271163370688?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item3f2298acc0
I think Apple moved away from glass for the same reason. I’ve seen so many co-workers with cracked backs on iPhone 4 and 4S’s that it’s not even funny. I will go out on a limb here, and assume the Nexus 5 will be aluminum just like the iPhone 5. Bring on the downvotes. Aluminum is superior in every way to glass.
Well not every way but many ways. Your extremism doesn’t counteract theirs.
now this comment was sensible
Ok, i’ll admit you’re a good looking chap and all, but i have to call you a mook on this one. Yes, the phone is fragile, which is all the more reason you should have had a CASE on it rather than a bikini bumper (which has got to be the most useless thing i’ve ever seen on a phone).
Get a frigging case next time, a CASE. You knowingly bought a phone with a GLASS back and all you got for it was a stupid bumper that protects NOTHING of said glass back. But hey, we get to have you moan and whine about how it’s the phone’s fault. Definitely first world problems. And yet all these “elitist” bloggers take a wheez on Samsung for using “cheap” plastics. I have a nice ZooGue CASE on my S3 (total cost $6), and it is as right as rain, thank you good Sir.
Want some cheese with that “whine”?
Ok, here we have another Nexus fanboy, who REFUSES to accept the fact that LG made a mistake with choosing glass.
troll
That wasn’t even a question anywhere here, fact of the matter is glass needs protection always, cover it or risk it, if you risk it don’t complain.
I’m sorry but NO phone should even leave the assembly line if it can shatter from a 2-inch drop. Not a Nexus, Samsung, iPhone, anything.
You can’t win this one Chris. You’re trying to talk rationally about a NEXUS to guys who shoot their wad at the mere sight of any Nexus. I mean what the heck makes people buy this phone?
It’s fragile. No card slot. No removable battery, no LTE, but by God, it runs pure Android, so nothing else matters. Jim Jones would have loved these sheep. I mean the same people who trash iPhone fans are even more blind than their Apple counterparts.
In my opinion, if your buy a beautiful and thin phone, you shouldn’t have to put some ugly as f… case on it to protect it. The last 2 nexus phones sucked, lets say it like it is. The previous Nexus was a buggy piece of junk and the nexus 4 is lacking so much its hard to call it “high end”
But I digress. The Nexsheep will never see it for what it is. My phone, the Note 2, may be plastic but it has everything thats missing from the 4 and it doesn’t break in a 2 inch drop.
Nexus fans are hippie purists. They go hand-in-hand with iPhone hipsters.
It isn’t just the pure android, it is the developer support. Everything always comes out on and is tested on a Nexus first and custom roms tend to be more stable. On top of that they are far easier to root and unlock the boot loader. Finally, not all third parties allow for unlocking of the boot loader, limiting customization in terms of the kernel.
Will it have KLP next month?
I like this comment. So many times I want to tell these blind nexus sheep to pull the google “D” out of their mouths!
what is a good alternate no contract smart phone?
shhh, don’t confuse them with facts.
I have a Nexus 4 8 GB. I don’t need a card slot. I don’t need LTE as I have fast TMobile service a.t.m. My phone lasts 2 days without charging as I run Matr1x kernel. And coming from a TMobile Comet, my phone looks and runs great. I’m happy with the choice that I made. Nuff said…
people buy the nexus phones BECAUSE of the pure OS and timely updates. that is the whole point of the series. why you gotta bash your fellow android lovers?
There is nothing rational in this article, are you sure you read it?
Pretty bad article, he is clearly mad because he broke his phone and went on crying with a very sensasionalist headline… Man don’t make me stop visiting this site…
Fact: the back of the Nexus 4 can be cracked from a 2-inch drop.
Those that are thinking about buying Nexus 4 should be warned.
Those that have the Nexus 4 will hopefully be even more careful.
I sympathize with your situation Chris. And honestly yes, it’s glass, it can break from falling a few inches…under the perfect storm of circumstances. So can the front of your new HTC One. It’s glass too. Other than the fact there is more glass on the Nexus, which everyone knew when buying it, I don’t see any reason to bash it now, after your glass broke. Warn yes, but this? A little bit alarmist.
This would have never happened had the Nexus 4 fallen on its face from that height. The front is a much thicker Gorilla Glass. The back is a thin piece of glass that can apparently shatter from a 2-inch drop. The post was meant to share my experience, to possibly warn others, and find out how many other people had similar experiences (hence, the poll).
I know dude, and I voted in the poll too. Had to be honest, mine doesn’t have a crack or a scratch, but I feel you. You may be right about the front being a little thicker, but if it is, it’s not by much. I’ve watched some tear down videos, and the front looked as thin as the back to the naked eye on video. I’m still not sure about the front not breaking, in most of the drop tests I’ve seen it was the front that broke, if anything. Even with the guy from Pocket Now, it was his front that broke. Yeah that was from higher up, just saying it seems the back is no more fragile than the front.
be happy that your front glass isn’t the broken part its easy to get a new back off ebay.
Who gave you the dimensions (thickness etc.) of the glass on the front and back? Google or LG or Alice in Wonderland????
Honestly you shouldn’t have even bothered responding to his post.
If this is true for the back of the Nexus 4, it is true for the FRONT of every other phone. The moral is to have third party insurance because smartphones are expensive, frail devices in general. As for me, I knew what I was getting into going when I saw the scratched up display model at the TMo store. All you can do is be careful, hope for the best, and insure expensive things that are likely to break.
Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.
Totally agree. This is my first visit to this site and the first article I have read and it does not encourage me to return. What a whining stupid article. It reads like is was written by a 10 year old.
I dropped my N4 at least 5 times now from much higher than 2 inches. No bumper. Aside from a few minor scratches on the back, everything is just fine!
Everytime this happens I feel like it was my head banging against the ground, though.
I have done the same, I even dropped my nexus 4 from 5 feet up onto a concrete floor, with a simple poetic bumper, and i was terrified. On the bottom left corner it actually separated a bit between the chrome and the plastic, luckily it popped back together and the back and front screens were still flawless. Cracks from drops are completely dumb luck but you can do something to prevent it.
I narrowly escaped a cracked back, but I learned my lesson, bumpers don’t do jack s*** to protect a phone, I switched to a full case that covers the back as well. I’m not super careful with my nexus 4 with a full case and it’s fine. The pretty glittery back and nexus logo aren’t worth the risk, nexus owners buy a full case.
You are funny.
I really like my Nexus 4 but the glass (not Gorilla glass) on the back really made it feel fragile. The bumpers don’t provide much protection so I bought a Ballistic SG Series case (Otterbox alternative) and the phone feels more secure and protected. $21 from amazon.com is a small price to pay for piece of mind.
p.s. I like that last name of yours. ;-)
Actually the back is gorilla glass, it’s just thin
thin glass of any kind is fragile glass
Exactly. What I was getting at.
That’s the case I have, works great !
Now I am more compromised with my Galaxy phones…
3 Galaxy S and a Note 2 that has been dropped many times and still working and in perfect condition.
Glass and Aluminum are premium… yeah… what ever you say…
My Note 2 cracked like an easter egg just days after I got it. My S1, S2, and Droid Incredible 2 have been treated the same way and never once cracked. I think it’s a combination of negligence and bad luck.
I smacked mine off the bathroom counter….no damage whatsoever
Sorry for your misfortune w/the NEXUS4 CHRIS.As I’m looking to switch to T-MOBILE in a week or so,I was contemplating getting a NEXUS4 & using it for a couple months before getting the HTC ONE or SONY XPERIA Z(WHENEVER/IF THEY GET IT).
I consider myself to be mindful of how I handle my phone,but I don’t baby it either.If having the NEXUS4 is half as nerve-wrecking as you described,I hope you can take some comfort knowing that you possibly kept me from making the same ill-fated purchase.
LG can’t (w/a straight face) market this as a beautiful phone if you have to cover it up to protect it from minimal daily bumps,etc…..
I was almost fooled by the OOOOOH PRETTY PHONE bug.I’ll continue to sit out of the NEXUS game until someone gets it right.
Yup. I purchased the Nexus 4 to hold me over until the One was released. I’m just like you. I don’t abuse my phones, by any means (I resell them on Craigslist when I’m done with them), but a 2-inch drop cracking the back glass? That’s just plain absurd.
I’ll just wait until the X-Phone.
If T-MOBILE drags their feet on the ONE,the MOTOX will be on my list as well.along w/the SONY Z.
Sony Z is also really nice but now I’ve become wary on buying any phone with glass on the back :/
I agree with you man. There is no reason to have to treat a phone like a faberge egg. I have never been more afraid of screwing my phone up ever
I mean, they’re smartphones. They literally go through quality control tests where they get tossed around in dryers and all that. Manufacturers expect their customers to drop them, and for them to survive.
The thing is, mine was barely 2-inches high and got destroyed. Arrrgh…
Yeah that has to set a new standard for fragile smartphones. Im sure they tested in, Im just not sure how many really survived. I cracked my phone and my wife just shattered her back from probably about a 3 foot drop with a tpu case. I think people who dont crack there nexus from a drop should consider themselves lucky and immediately run out an play the lotto
Do you plan to get it fixed with the one so close to being released.?
If that is your concern then why are you considering an xperia z? It also has a glass back
Fair enough question,gmanivan.
On the chance that it’s a better build quality than LG,which wouldn’t be a stretch.
Hey, I was the biggest LG critic out there but the Nexus 4 in my hand is a fantastic piece of hardware. I wouldn’t read too much into this, I have bumped mine around plenty with no issue.
Glass backs were stupid on the iPhone and they’re stupid here. Get a decent case and it’s the best phone on the market, don’t and you’re going to be paranoid all the time.
Plus when I got mine the first thing I wanted to do was cover up that cheesy glittery back.
A lot of what happens to your phone during a fall is luck/ and the angle at which it falls… My one x had fallen plenty of times (no case) from arm to shoulder height with just scuffs on the back and no screen damage but the one time it fell about a foot, the screen shattered. (It fell on its side, not the screen)
While I 100% completely agree with that, this was from 2-inches above plastic. Not a 4-foot fall onto concrete. Guess I was just unlucky or my Nexus 4 heard I was getting the One, and committed suicide. -_-
2 inches above plastic is ridiculous in many ways…I wonder if they’ll replace it since this is bound to draw attention. I hope that they do.
Honestly, why wouldn’t they just go with a shiny clear plastic on the back? Glass makes absolutely NO SENSE what-so-ever.
While I agree glass is a bad idea… I can’t get down with the plastic statement. No matter how awesome Galaxy phones are they still feel cheap as hell because of that glossy plastic. Shiny clear plastic on the nexus would have just cheapened the thing even more… as if the stupid glitter pattern didn’t do enough to cheapen it.
Then don’t buy them, simple as that!! 80% of the poll have no problems
I’d bet money that your phone committed suicide.
It happens to me all the time. It seems every time I decide to but a new phone, my phone ‘randomly’ cracks or gets lost. They know when they’re getting replaced and they do not appreciate it!
LOL!
Sadly I have to agree with this article.
I’ve had three friend buy nexus 4’s on my recommendation, and all of them have cracked the back glass. One of them cracked it by just nonchalantly placing his keys on top of the phone after getting home and walking in the door. I wouldn’t have believed it had I not seen it happen myself.
THANK YOU. Apparently people think anything negative said about the phone is like talking about their mother. The phone is fragile. A simple Google search will show anyone that. I didn’t know it was 2-inches fragile and wanted to share my experience, but apparently that pissed a lot of people off.
Why were you using the phone while driving? That is unsafe and stupid. It is also illegal. I hope next time you don’t kill someone instead of just damaging your toys.
Completely irrelevant but I’ll go ahead and explain…
I picked up my friend from his house. I just finished with a call when he hopped in and we started driving out of his cul-de-sac.
I took the phone out from in between my legs to set it in the dock but forgot my car was in manual mode. I quickly shifted my car into automatic mode phone in-hand. The phone slipped from my hand and into the center console area.
I don’t make calls while driving. I don’t text while driving. You shouldn’t make assumptions.
You were holding the phone with the car in motion, that is bad enough. Please don’t drive near my home or loved ones.
You’re telling me the cupholders in your car are always empty? You never drive and take a drink of water?
Not even close to the same thing. Keep your eyes on the road.
It is, in fact, close to the same thing. A distraction while driving is a distraction while driving, whether it’s a phone, a cup, changing the radio station, picking your nose, or even scratching an itch on your leg.
No, i it’s not as bad as texting, but then again, that’s not what he was doing.
I keep change in mine, lol…
Troll
You’re hurt that your dear nexus 4 is a flawed device.
Ooooo i see, you’re a troll. Nevermind, I see you’re to be ignored.
dismissing me as a troll will not give the Nexus 4 better build quality.
Yep, but you offer absolutely no opinion on what is better. Are you afraid you might be called a sheep too? Let’s hear it, what’s the superior device Nightscout? I think you just like to troll thats all, and troll opinions mean very little.
There is no 1 phone that is better. Every month, things change in this industry, so the title gets passed on all the time. I don’t think any 1 phone is superior to the rest. But here is a list of top devices in my opinion: Note 2, GS4, RAZR MAXX HD, HTC One.
But again, that list changes all the time. There is no such thing as “the one and only” with phones. That’s what Nexus sheep fail to realize.
Oh Steve, i’m sure you never do anything distracting while driving. No radio, no nothing for this guy. Just hands at 10 and 2 and absolute concentration. Thank god there’s people like you who are so much better than the rest of us.
Do everyone a favor and get yourself sterilized. we don’t need you procreating.
I think you might be a minority bud based even on your own poll. I have personally dropped mine on the second day of ownership three feet onto a tile floor with no case and it came out unscathed. I’ll admit that I thought the worst but it was fine. I think it is a matter of it hitting at a specific angle. You also need to be aware of the fact that you are walking around with a glass smartphone and there is some risk. You knew this when you bought it. Mine has even bounced around in my car a bunch of times. The only thing I can think of that might be different is the skinomi skin on the back might have helped maintain the integrity.
The other thing to consider is that it isn’t a big deal thanks to the people at dbrand. Just stick one of their cool patterned skins on it if it cracks and it becomes unnoticeable. I ordered the leather one just for the hell of it yesterday since my skinomi somehow got stuck to my gym pass on the treadmill yesterday and ripped off.
I mean, I didn’t expect to be in the majority. Still, going by our poll — 100 out of 500 Nexus 4’s have cracked glass on them. That’s actually REALLY bad.
And yeah, I knew it was fragile to begin with. That’s why I stressed out every time the phone left my house. The only part that surprised me is that it didn’t even survice a 2-inch drop.
Once I get mine repaired, I’m definitely getting a full case for it, along with screen protectors.
What I’m saying is save your cash on getting it repaired and spend eight bucks on a dbrand skin for the back. They are cut to fit within like half a millimeter or something and cost eight bucks. You won’t even notice it was damaged and you won’t need a bulky case.
If the camera wasn’t shattered, I’d simply throw a case on it and call it a day :/
Oh in that case ya. From the picture it looks like the lens is ok.
The ones with cracked glass could have been dropped off a cliff for all you know. The poll is worded very badly, much the same as the so called piece of ‘journalism’.
I really personal think that you’re really cutting this s*** out of the Nexus 4 I personally think that the Nexus 4 is the best damn phone in the world and you know what my opinion of a galaxy s4 an HTC One S you don’t want to know it you’re just cut the s*** out of the Nexus 4 because you probably abuse didn’t you don’t want anybody to buy it well maybe a better find another line of work
Wow tha’s really hard to read. Ever heard of punctuation?
His phone broke, and he’s pissed about it. I don’t blame him it shouldn’t have broke that easy. Chill out man.
The Nexus fanboys are up in arms today…..I’m gonna laugh-MFAO if the Nexus 5 comes out with no LTE, no 3G, just first gen network!
i would buy it. i want a non-smartphone nexus. lol
Nexus 7? Nexus Q?
It won’t come out with those specs.
’twas sarcasm.
Of coarse you think the Nexus is the best new thing since sliced bread. You’ve been successfully brainwashed.
Sorry to hear! I have to be honest and tell you I have dropped my Nexus 4 quite a few times from a much higher distance. Actually just yesterday I forgot it was in my lap when I got out of the car and it flipped up and hit the pavement. I always have my bumper case on and I have yet to crack my front or back.
Well, I too was once a crack-free person… Until this morning.. My dear old nexus 4, clipped out of my pocket while i was standing up and hit the ground hard. back corner fractured out and nearly went through the camera… Was not a good start to my day. :(
Crack kills
That’s what you get for buying a stick shift. F THAT.
Only real men drive manuals.
I have a n4 since november, never used any kind of bumper or protective film on it, both glasses are still in one piece, since I’ve never dropped it, but they are completely scratched, both of them. I’ve had all nexus phones, this is the one I took the most care, and it’s the first one to get a scratch. I’ll buy the next nexus phone given its not made by LG, it scratches just by looking too hard at it
Did that happen with the bumper on? I have had a few 1-2 foot drops and got lucky and I am like “I gotta get a bumper soon”. But if yours shattered with the bumper??????
I’m actually wondering if the back-side glass is a rather ingenious design feature. Had that larger piece of glass been there to absorb the shock, I’d wager the glass over your screen would now look like that. Just my theory…
I skipped the Nex 4 and kept my Galaxy Nexus due to the build of the Nex 4. Turns out I was right.
Exactly, kept my Gnex for the same reason.
Not according to 80% of the poll here
its the back of the device… just put a full case on it :P
Camera is shattered :/
No case here. All glass still intact.
I treat mine like it’s a live grenade without the safety pin — death grip at all times.
The most dangerous thing I do on a daily basis is pull my Nexus 4 out of my pocket while I’m *walking outside*. I’m not even joking.
At this point, I consider it a personal challenge to keep it naked and unbroken. Bring it on!
LOL! *insert wolf meme*
I don’t have words for this bumpers suck had mine in a case since day one. And I worked in a glass shop for a couple years and I call bs on the temp busting my glass doesn’t happen that’s just some clumsy person making excuses for dropping their phone. LogcatOr it didn’t happen
Chris save your breath man. There’s always going to be an idiot or 3 telling you that you did something wrong when it’s clearly the product with an issue.
I don’t get it. It was never meant to be a debate. The Nexus 4 is fragile. Everyone knows it. But some people don’t know how fragile it really is. I was just trying to edumacate people ._.
the idiot has clearly been defined in the article.
When I first got mine it was sliding off EVERYTHING! My nexus has survived at least 7 hard chest high drops (on marble twice). In general it has fallen more times than all my past smart phones combined, ten fold. No cracks to speak of.
It seems my Nexus 4 is built well as it has survived numerous drops. With that being said, I am super nervous dealing with it and that should never be the case with something you use so often, like a phone. My friend had his crack from the infamous change, allegedly. It’s just a disaster.
Ladies and Gentlemen, here in the comments today, the true Nexus cult have emerged. These are blind sheep that refuse to believe anything Nexus can be flawed.
you just said you would consider a nexus 5…. what is wrong with you man! :) i wanna join YOUR cult. :X
I’m open to the idea, but only if I like the phone. Nexus purists on the other hand, will buy the nexus regardless of it’s merits.
I’m actually kind of surprised you didn’t get downvoted into oblivion. But you do speak some truth there.
Thank god someone came out to point at people and call them sheep… whatever would we do without it? I absolutely love my Nexus, but i’m just fine admitting that LG makes garbage. The only saving grace of this phone is vanilla android.
The fact that you admit LG made a low quality device, makes you open minded, and not a sheep. Nexus sheep refuse to believe that anything is wrong with the Nexus4.
I love Nexus but I cringed inside when I heard LG. If it wasn’t for a low price I might not have bought it… but too much time with Sense and Touchwiz and I can’t buy anything but Nexus if i’m going with Android. Rooting isn’t a good enough solution to my manufacturing skin woes.
I’ve dropped my nexus so many times and I’ve not had a crack or chip but then again I have the ringke fusion case which is amazing only downside is it’s very hard to keep clean due to it being invisible obviously
Certainly one of the reasons that I didn’t buy it. Hopefully i/o really delivers a solid device that isn’t so fragile.
Cool story bro… And good luck with the HTC one… I hope you don’t start whining again about the “year old” os and lack of updates…
Why would I complain? Jelly Bean is awesome. If Key Lime Pie is better, it wont make Jelly Bean any less awesome. Just gives me something to look forward to. :)
You miss the point. Or choose to ignore it.
Boo Hoo. How about using a nice case instead of a useless bumper? I’m just using some nice TPU hybrid cases from eBay and amazon that don’t really add any uncomfortable bulk and they’ve done their job perfectly. I’ve never understood why anyone would buy a nice expensive device such as the phones that are available today and then rock them practically naked, then wonder why they break when we drop them. “Oh it just takes away the experience, so I have to go bare!” that’s just a bunch of crap. I wouldn’t walk around New York without shoes on my feet or clothes on, so why would I not put my phone on some clothes too. (absolutely horrible analogy, but at least you know exactly what I mean)
Rearth makes a great case, the back is clear so the back of the phone is still shown.
I cracked mine just from charging it and setting it on a cold counter
Nobody is going to believe you.
Its not that nobody believes you Chris its that you ARE blowing it out of proportion. At some point it is a YDI case because you decided to go with a bumper case instead of a actual case.
i actually agree i had a very minimal drop that all of my past 15 android phones withstood and then some and it shattered front and back !
It serves you right. I bet you and your friends didn’t have a real case on it.
Wait- so you’re saying everyone in the world should buy a case to protect their phone from 2-inch drops?
And my Nexus 4 had the bumper on it to protect it from, you know.. bumps. 2-inches is classified as a bump to me.
If you are aware your phone has glass on BOTH sides common sense would tell you that Chris. Even more so you had a bumper obviously when it fell on the back bumpers only protect the sides.
This is the exact reason I skipped the Nexus 4.
It wasn’t a good idea when Apple did. It wasn’t a good idea for LG either.
and stop whining atleast yours is still useable i have to turn mine sideways to unlock it because the bottom half of screen is dead
Can’t take pictures. Camera is shattered :/
Camera looks fine in the pictures … *yawn*. Pretty easy to see to with the nice hi def pics. The camera wouldn’t be shattered anyway, just the class on top of the camera. Looks like a little crack over the flash but that’s pretty minor and shouldn’t really affect pictures. Holy dramatic batman! FYI back replacements go for around $40 on eBay.
oh that sucks then …cam sucks anyway cant wait for the one and its amazing camera
I was thinking about getting the Nexus 4 because of its pure Google experience and the fact that it was a GSM phone… And for $300! But the glass back. I’m not abusive to my devices but the glass back was too much… Its a beautiful phone though.
I don’t know what’s so appealing about the Nexus. Pure Google. Whoohoo…? Pure Android is ugly as much as I love it. Plus it’s LG, my crappiest phones were ALLLLLLLLL LG.
Sorry to hear about your troubles though, I freaked OUT when I dropped my Galaxy S3 and chipped it the first time. Like was late for work so I could smoke 6 cigarettes to calm down freaked out.
Have you used a pure Android phone post Honeycomb? ICS and Jellybean are far from ugly. Touchwhiz on the other hand….
I do think they look better than they used to, and it does look better than TouchWiz. The only manufacturer skin I like is Sense but I’ve been using Nova Launcher without any problems, plus I like the way I’ve gotten it set up, looks at least 20x times better than stock Android to me. Took me a while to optimize it to run as flawlessly as I can get it to but it’s made me enjoy my phone much more.
I agree…Sense is the only one I like. I’m curious to see your set up. Can you post any screenshots?
That’s one thing I always hated about Samsung, their brand is one of the most famous out there and they have the ugliest damn UI in the world.
Nexus phones have some of the best performance and are the first to get new features. Plus stock Jellybean is pretty nice, and you can make it look however you want.
Damn Chris, my condolences. I can understand how having glass on the back as well as the front raises the chances of broken glass. I don’t think it doubles it, considering most drops land on a side and not flush front or back. But this sounds like awful luck, just the perfect angle and impact point. If it hit the front, that would probably be broken too.
I’ve seen drop tests from 4+ ft where they survived perfectly, or just the front broke. One of the pocket now guys dropped his in his garage, and only the screen broke. So yeah, I would say the chances of broken glass after a drop are a little higher, because of the amount of glass, not because the Nexus is particularly fragile. If anything this should just serve to remind us all, with any phone, to be careful always. We all have glass covering at least one side of our phones, and glass is fragile.
Chris…why would you buy this phone after you and your “Android-loving friends used to scoff, laughing as our less wise friends’ iPhones fell victim to hard pavement?” The fact that this phone has a glass back made it a definite no go for me. I will NEVER buy a phone with a glass back. Period. I don’t like bumpers or cases on my phones, and glass backs are just plain dumb as a design decision, considering how and how often these devices are used. And as for the back, it is actually NOT Gorilla Glass, so I’m curious as to where you’re sourcing your info that LG touted it as such. In fact, only the FRONT of the phone, ie, the screen is Gorilla Glass. LG was even reluctant to call the back of the phone “glass” when it was released, so as to distance itself from creating confusion or misleading consumers into assuming the back is Gorilla Glass just like the front.
Probably bought it because Nexus is usually the only way to go. It really sucked LG made it this time, that’s where the blame lies for this. But either way I still wouldn’t trade my n4 for any of the phones coming out. Rooting and hoping someone makes a good vanilla rom is too much hoping for me, and touch wiz and sense still lag even on top notch hardware.
I dropped my S3 from waist high and while the screen didn’t break the amoled panel went completely black. It cost me a couple of hundreds of dollars to get the screen replaced. Since the S4 is very similar to the S3 I won’t be purchasing it.
Galaxy Nexus is still the winner in my book: durable, fast, 4G, vanilla love. My phone frickin rocks 1 year later. But I’m gonna want the Moto X-phone.
I agree with you. The only part of the phone that sucks is Verizon.
HTC ONE eh ? You’ve come to your senses…lol
Omg I broke my phone!!! Sent from my nexus 4 with bumper case since the first batch revision 10.. I guess it sucks to be you!!! Buy urself a samsuck you’ll be fine hahahaa.
People are completely missing the point of this post… BTW, it’s understandable to be “whiny” if you spent good money on a supposedly well made device sporting gorilla glass and it cracks in this manner. And no, obviously this hasn’t happened to every N4 but it apparently happens enough to be a huge design flaw. So I don’t see the point in bashing Chris on an op ed that is supposed to be a warning for consumers.
Personally, I was never a fan of the N4’s design, or hardware. Google made a major misstep in going with LG. They had better learned from this experience for the next Nexus phone.
I will agree LG was a mistake. I wanted to puke when I saw LG announced (I tried to buy a G2x and had to return it 20+ times because of light bleed). Then I picked up my Nexus as at UPS, turn it on… what am I greeted to instantly? F’N LIGHT BLEED!!!! ARgh i raged so hard, punched my steering wheel and screamed… but I didn’t return it. It was during the first weeks when everything was out of stock and I didn’t want to deal with getting a refurb with the same problem. Everyone should learn not to us LG for anything imo… That said, n4 is awesome! Primarily because of vanilla android + regular updates.
Vanilla Android is separate from the N4, though. Other Nexus devices have it. When I’m talking N4, I’m strictly speaking hardware and design, especially since a lot of other devices could potentially have stock Android if rooted. The problem with LG lies in the hardware and that’s why I was never a fan of it, plus all of the device shortages. People can make excuses all they want and be slave to Google and their products, but one has to concede sometimes and realize that all companies make mistakes; in this case, LG and Google.
my i5 dropped from chest height and still survive. no crack or scratch.
Does anyone know if gorilla glass reacts like a standard tempered glass — Takes a blow to the face, but shatters easily if struck on the edge…. If so, I wonder if that’s what happened to Mr. Chavez’s phone…
Only had 1 drop between my drivers seat/center console and it made a very small dent on the right-side chrome trim. That was the one time I forgot to put the bumper on. Now I have the Ringke Fusion case so I’m a bit more at ease
That’s what you get for not using a real case.
A case should not be required.
then you can’t complain no device is indestructible.
so why is there such a large market for phone cases? should they all just stop selling them?
You seem to have a reading comprehension problem. I didn’t say that people that want cases shouldn’t buy them. I said, they should not be REQUIRED. Pay attention.
so airbags should not be required for cars? your logic is terrible.
Airbags come standard as a life saving device. Phone cases are not a matter of life and death and add cost. Comparing them makes me question your intelligence.
so do seatbelts…so why the need for airbags? I’ll tell you why. Because the more help the better tim..thats my point. the more protection the better. caes may not be “required” but if you care about your purchase then using one is simple common sense. that was my point.
Some people don’t like cases. I protect my purchase by not dropping it. Do we put helmets and knee pads on babies? You compared apples and oranges, so I just did the same.
“Do we put helmets and knee pads on babies”…No but we do put padding on furniture with sharp edges to stop babies from hitting them, its as simple as this, accidents happen, and expecting everything to be fine because you expect them to survive “as is” just simply isn’t true.
Good hustle Tim. I agree with you though, I hate cases on phones, but I do realise (unlike the author) that if I drop my phone, no matter from what height or angle that without a case im taking a risk I can damage it.
It sucks for something to happen to your phone, but at least you apparently have a whole drawer full of high end phones to get by with!
Plastic look good right now.
Not even an hour ago i dropped my nexus 4 and i picked it up and it was just fine, I ran inside to check for nicks or scratches and nope nothing happened to it…it was dropped from my lap to concrete and it survived,,,,
FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS, CHUMP.
I have dropped my Nexus 4 from chest high on ice cold granite Floor at least 3 times and no cracks. Once I even dropped it and my girlfriend attempted to catch it and flung it halfway across the room still no cracks.
Im not to worried about breaking the back glass, if i do, i will order a new back cover and replace it, its only like 30 i think
there is nothing more disgusting than people tossing around the term “sheep” at people who decided they want a nexus device. at what point did you think it was sheepish to purchase the (only) phone that google contracted with the best current specs on the market for the ability to have immediate updates?
just because some people think highly of having the first updates and are happy with the specs they have they are considered sheep? give me a break. the reason people call apple fanboys sheep are because they don’t care what they get, they just want a new apple product for the sake of having the latest one as if it’s a fashion trend. there is nothing trendy about a nexus phone, and the people purchasing them that i’ve seen are not going around giving anyone a hard time for owning a different phone. people like “nightscout” troll every single nexus post, posting multiple times in each, just to try to put people down for owning the phone… if you think that’s how an adult should act on the internet i feel just as bad for you as i do richard yarrell.
as far as my nexus 4 – it’s the highest spec’d phone i’ve ever used, i get a constant 15-20Mbps download speed, my battery life gets me through all day and i have no need for an sd card. the back is fine and i have not used a case for my phone since the first month of owning it. if it breaks, i’ll be sad about that, but at the very least i’ll know i didn’t go around pathetically attempting to put people down based on what phone they’ve purchased.
i needed a no contract GSM phone and was excited to buy the nexus 4. had to sell it because of changes in my employment. i’ve used several android phones. nexus is my choice. doesn’t make me a sheep for certain. I bought an iphone4 and hated it. if in the future nexus devices turn south, i reserve the option to change my mind. thank you severinj for an intelligent comment.
why not get a case? It’s made of GLASS…I got a case for mine and a front and back protector, dropped my phone by mistake and no break…its a beauty of a device, invest in protecting it.
I guess that’s the price one pays when they find a need to “sport shift” out of a cul de sac.
LOL
My Nexus 4 fell from 8-10 inches and nothing happened to it, I’m using the Bumper Case. I don’t know, maybe it’s just bad luck (How much time you had with the phone? ).
I don’t know if it matters, but my phone still has the soft plastic that comes on the back of the phone, I haven’t remove it and now I’ll never do, you know, psychological peace!
Sorry to hear about your phone cracking, I too own this gem of a phone. I have ghost armor on the front, got the Ringke Fusion case which is pretty dope if you ask me and almost everyone who has bought one. Anyways my phone has been dropped three times in my car from the dash to my center console pretty hard, and nothing. I’ve dropped it twice while walking at work, once straight down and another where it went sliding 8 ft. Knock on wood, but this phone has been pretty sturdy with my setup. Sounds like you babied it a little too much, the more you worry the more likely something was to befallen on ya. When I drop this phone I don’t care if I crack it, I mean I do but it isn’t something I worry about much. Whatever happens.
My wife has dropped her Nexus 4 to concrete at least 5 times. No breakage. She bought a case like a smart person who wants GLASS TO LAST.
Similar situation happened to me. Though in my case it was the front glass and the digitizer no longer functioned. Blog post here: http://blog.errorok.com/2013/01/29/285/
IT’S FRAGILE BECAUSE I BROKE MY PHONE…
Seems like this a pattern with EVERY broken Nexus post everywhere…
SURVEY SAYS…
Don’t defend the fact that you drive an auto, it’s an auto. It’s not cool but everyone drives them.
u know whats wrong with your post ? your Title ! “… most fragile smartphone ever constructed”
its sentimental unfortunately .its not suit your site subject and content ! u blow it up .. its not necessary .
if u chose better title then , im sure this forum would not against you !
when u have review site u should beware of what makes content of your post . lot of ppl cracking their phone and ruin it . my friend galaxy s3 without any even one hit has lot of old sign on the body !.
“if u are a guy who drop your phone then know yourself ! its not google one to blame , buy a very cheap case and keep phone in it .” really as a phone like n4 at this price your title is no use
Got mine day 1, and it is still in tact.
And I work in an auto factory 12hrs a day.
Well you might be unlucky – I owned a Nexus 4 for two months, then traded in for Xperia Z, mainly to get some additional memory (such is the Android world these days). Both phones feature glass construction front and back, and seem to be nowhere near as fragile as some horror stories might suggest. I have dropped the Z several times, twice on the hard floor – in many cases it has dropped from my bathroom shelf to the sink (yes OK I play games while on the loo – go away), and porcelain can be a hard substance, but did not even see a minor scratch.
I have the same fear, it’s been one month, also I keep my phone naked except for a back screen protector.
You guys are all being way too defensive about this. Accept that someone can have a different opinion than yours.
Also, Let’s be a little realistic. These are tools (or toys) we use constantly & I think it’s reasonable to live your life with your phone in your hand. The idea that he shouldn’t have had it in his hand is ludicrous. Chill.
It seems like there must be some very serious defects in a large portion of these nexus 4’s. I have 4 or 5 friends who have the phone and 3 of them have broken the back glass. I do notice on yours the point of impact appears to be to the left of the rear camera where it then spidered out. Could there have been any sort of bump on your console that would’ve struck that spot?
So what was the “sketchy Craigslist purchase”?
Chris FYI::: If you throw around stuff it breaks…TRY KEEPIN EM SAFE… NEXT TIME..:).
I am using the nexus 4 since launch with a full body zagg and nothing more. ZERO scratches, dents and breaks… and i just the followed what i wrote….
But it slipped :c
I’ve dropped mine. No probs to date. Glass is glass, it’s always a bad idea to drop glass stuff. Sometimes it survives sometimes it doesn’t. My gf’s iPhone smashed falling onto a carpet. OMG no one buy one.
Mine just wears screen protectors on Front and back (atm only back) … Crackless since 2012-12-19. Big sorry too you and your friends.
Aren’t we amazingly passionate about our phones?
I have a Nexus 4, and while I love it, I am the clumsiest person around, and it does leave me feeling a little fragile.
Without a case it does feel a little like you are dangling your unmentionables without protection and they could take a hit at any time, so I keep it in case at all times.
In truth I think perhaps Chris just had a hit at the wrong angle, as 2 inches is nothing at all, and my Sensation had similar once on the screen when dropped at a weird angle from about the same. Yet it manged to shatter across the whole screen.
Chris isn’t having a pop at the N4, apart from it being fragile. I guess really, N4, excellent phone, just protect it. And please Google learn something from HTC.
PS: Don’t we all get whiney if we break our phones, I know I do. It’s such an important thing to us.
Just go to Ebay and search “Nexus 4 replacement back”. You can buy them for less than $50.
Sure it sucks and all but it’s an easy fix.
I personally think the bumper is absolutely useless and pointless.
I bought some full back case on eBay for like…4 quid. So far, my phone has had a few drops and they’ve survived quite nicely..
Hey Chris I am gonna leave a mean comment are you gonna respond to me too?
I’m pretty content with my htc one s… As much as i wanna get the one. I think I’ll hold off for the x phone the fact that i might get to choose how i want my phone and as Google is usually pretty good about pricing I’ll hold off for that one. Maybe by then they’ll announce or release a htc one + or something got a simple hard rubber plastic sleeve case on my phone.. And I’m good have dropped it in both the screen, side, and back… Haven’t scuffed it in any way… Htc makes some kick ass phones. My first was the mytouch 3g..if not the x I’m sticking with htc
It’s made of glass, I mean what do you expect? If one really cares about the durability of their phone that much, they 1: don’t buy a phone made out of glass, and 2: if they do, wrap it up.
It looks like your phone hit a blunt point which is why it probably suffered this damage from such a short drop. Most glass phones would have done the same.
I refuse to vote in this for fear of bring down the wrath of karma on me
I can’t believe this blog has actually gone from a news site to a place for the authors to whine about cracking their phones. Especially while driving.
I’ve dropped my n4 plenty of times and the glass is intact. If you were so worried about breaking it then why buy it? Why not insure it? I know 4 people with n4, none have cases or bumpers and all are still fine.
I’m due for upgrade in a month and have been checking out the Nexus 4 and jumping onto prepay, or just upgrading and staying with Verizon and a Razr Maxx HD with the Kevlar back. I was leaning towards the Moto for just this reason (plus the battery life issue) this just confirms what I’ve been thinking. No glass backed phones for me.
Damn. This is some serious flaw. I’m sticking with my white galaxy nexus till next nexus, dropped all the time, not a scratch. Didn’t people talk about superior build quality nexus4 has over old ones, there you have it. People can complain about plastic Samsung phones, but they just dont break. So what’s better, a shiny glass (shattered) phone or plastic durable one :)
I’m not a fan of cases or bumpers, but one of the best things you can do for a Nexus 4 is apply a screen protector just to the back of the phone. You won’t notice it in the hand and it’ll prevent any scratches to the glass, maybe even adding slight padding against some drops.
the only phones which can survive the wilderness are motorola and nokia. LG have questionable build quality even though they generally look quite smart and expensive. The lesson is, don’t rely and put your life on a phone. People are stupid, the concept of having convenience of all these features in one device is all good until you break/lose/water damage the thing which in everyday life is a very real scenario if you are an active and social person, the same type of person who these brands are aiming these features towards.
Surprisingly, the perfect phone for me is over a year old and outdated in specs but it does the job, the motorola defy mini, lifeproof, does all conventional jobs, mp3 player, i can take the thing out surfing and take pictures to upload to my feeds whilst in the water, its small and rugged, good enough to search the internet, not fast internet but i don’t plan to spend all day on it anyway (because i have a life), the battery lasts forever, gps/maps work just as well as a more expensive phone and the phone only cost me £50 sim free so if i do break it i’m not going to be hurt that i put all my hopes on it.
Phone companies just don’t get it these days, with all the hype over convenience of all the features in one phone it seems they are losing the plot and forgetting the most important user aspects such as durability, battery life and size. I actually don’t know many people who own a high end phone and those who do regret it as they don’t use even half the features enough to justify the price tag.
I have a Nexus 4 and the back has been cracked after dropping it. I’m not particularly happy about it but the utility of the phone is not compromised at all (the front screen is perfect) and at the end of the day it’s the best phone I’ve ever owned and was an absolute bargain to boot. Phones are disposable assets with a 2-3 years life span. There just doesn’t seem any point in bulking them up with ridiculously ugly & cheap covers or compromising the beautiful screens with layers of sticky plastic in order to keep them perfect for when you throw them out or flog them on ebay for $20 in a few years. I’m wondering if you also still have the plastic on the inside of your car’s doors in order to ‘keep it nice’ and drive around with one of those laughable car-bras in order to avoid stone chips.
Who puts glass on a phone anyway
Google failed to make a good phone. It’s that simple. Even Apple realized you don’t put glass in the back. And Google finally realized it and added the little feet to the back. But it doesn’t matter bc this will continue to happen until they make a better product without glass on the back. A 2″ drop is ludicrous for something that costs that much to shatter. Even Kellen over at droid life shattered the back of his from sitting it on a marble countertop
The little feet were put there to raise the speaker up so you can hear it better when the phone is laying on its back, not to protect the glass from being broken…
Dropped my fone from last night from the bed…..it went flying on the floor but my 4$ case protected it……stop complaing man …this could have been avoided !
For what its worth, my RAZR MAXX HD has taken a few tumbles onto concrete, tile, and one fall from a 2nd floor Mezzanine and has yet to show any signs of damage. My Galaxy Nexus took one small leap out of my shirt pocket and shattered the screen. I’m sorry for your loss. Here’s hoping your htc (and the rumored moto x-phone) are much sturdier devices.
why do you even post, Chris? Lots of your stuff is misguided and basically anti-android ranting or completely devoid of facts.
Maybe you should go back to journalism school or something.
I always buy a case to cover the back and front. Never had an issue with my Nexus 4. I dont drop my phone either…
Why do people by phones and not buy full covering cases?
maybe because some people like the way a phone looks as feels without putting a case on it.
I just use a slip case generally for this exact reason.
Always good fun to see something like this as your about to unbox your new Nexus 4
Who puts glass on a phone anyway.
Lg & Apple. Next question please.
I just had to replace the front and back glass on mine. ugh. it was almost the cost of a new phone.
too bad about the Karma ;-) lol!
I droped my iPhone 4 once. Not happy it cracked the back. Wont buy a glass backed phone again.
A little dramatic but I understand. Mine fell a few inches and has a small hairline looking crack on the back at the bottom. Disappointing but I still love the device.
This thread has been enormously comical. Its like listening to religious arguments of how your part of the religion isn’t as good as my part even though we’re both Christians and pray to the same God. Wow. Nexsheep… HA hilarious!!! Didn’t even know that was a term.
I use a Ballistic case for my nexus 4… I’ve dropped it dozens of times even from 4 feet to the pavement. Never had it break. I think the flaw you are talking about is the fact that you used a bumper.
They had the same argument with the iPhone. Seriously though there is no reason for the back of a phone to be glass. It’s bad design.
I look forward to your review of the One, I really hope it does well as it’s a tremendous sounding phone.
Im curious as to how a bumper will help any glass part of a phone when you drop it on a blunt object? From the pics it looks like it hit something on your center console, right near the camera. A bumper will not help this obviously. Chances are this would of happened even to an HTC One if you dropped it on its screen.
It won’t and is the exact reason that I didn’t buy the bumper
I got one of the first ones, did not get a bumper, but got a full cover and then a Ballistic case, and I have no cracks or even scratches… I recommend the Nexus 4 to anyone, just don’t forget your protection.
Order a DBrand skin, slap it on and keep rolling like the rest of us! :)
The Nexus line is a disaster , no LTE and a fragile POS. It was previously the only phone I would recommend since it’s the only line that runs pure Android and receives updates. No more.
I just recommend the iPhone 5 to anyone now (not me personally but others) until Google releases a good phone again. My work phone is an iPhone 5 and I dropped it from ear level onto a concrete subway and it was completely fine except a tiny dent in the aluminum, and hell no I don’t use a case.
I hope this year improves the poor state of the Nexus line. With Key Lime Pie, and a solid well built LTE Nexus released.
The Nexus 4 is a pretty fantastic phone, but the lack of LTE wasn’t really Google’s doing. Both Verizon and AT&T block Unlocked phones from accessing their LTE, and seeing how horribly Verizon supported the G*Nex it isn’t a surprise that Google wanted to go direct to consumer only.
The glass back issue isn’t an issue if you use a case. Otherwise I still hate LG, but the N4 gets a bum rap for no good reason, it’s currently the best Android phone on the market.
Yup so no point in putting it in there especially since t-mobile didn’t have LTE up yet
Yep. Backside broke (but after about the 10th fall). Since the fall that did it was actually a four foot fall from a too full hand while the other was hunting for keys in my back pocket, I can’t complain too much.
What does really bother me about this thing though is how often it falls in situations that no ther phone I’ve owned would fall from. If you have no bumper and you place this thing on any surface that is not perfectly flat, it will eventually fall. It’s just so damned slick on the back that it can slide at even the tiniest angle. A glass back sucks.
i love it when people emphasize the length of the drop. if it falls 2in onto a pointy/hard object or surface its liable to crack. looks like it landed on a bolt or maybe your seat track rail between your shifter/seat. Smh. hardware flaw. its glass. lol. it cracks.
Looks more like he squashed it with his gear lever, and to make up for his stupidity decided to diss the whole phone. Maybe if Mrs Chavez gives him a lolly he will forget about it
I still think the gnex is the best of all
Awesome phone despite the fact LG makes shitty phone products, but it is fragile and glass backs are f’n stupid. If any phone was in need of an Otterbox this is it. What case was the writer using?
I dropped mine about 4 feet yesterday onto concrete, survived fine with a pretty basic TPU case on it.
I think its that glittery pattern that makes it so weak… the glass has to be thinner to get that pattern in there and have it right near the surface. Either way glass on the back was a bad idea, and that bedazzled back really irked me when I first saw it. However, I have yet to hold a smart phone that ran as fluid as my Nexus 4. I have never seen lag on it, nothing has crashed… its beautiful. Then I pick up things like the S3 and watch it stutter and lag and I feel good about my decision to stick with Vanilla. I know that as good as this S4 or the One is, they’re going to lag. Its inevitable, these manufacturers just can’t implement their skins without bugs or sucking resources.
I put mine in a Seidio Active case. I had it in my lap, got out of my truck, and it went flying. No issues, no cracks. Probably went 5′ away, from a height of at least 30″.
Maybe my post is more about how good that case is, then how poorly designed this phone is. I am the type of person who will spend $60 more to protect my investment, no matter how “pretty” the back is. No disrespect to the author, at all. I like to take my case off occasionally to look at the back, but that’s it. The original protective plastic is still on the back of mine from the day I opened the box. Keep resale value up, ya know
Proud Nexus 4 owner. Have a bumper, drop my phone lots (from 2 to 3 feet, almost weekly, off my desk at the office), and it’s scratch free.
PS, tell Kevin to take his “nipples” and “wall warts” and go back across the pond from whence he came :-)
It’s not only illegal to use a cell phone when driving in most states, its not safe. Its obvious that from your description of what happened along with the photos, that your phone broke when the stick hit the glass. So stop fabricating an excuse to make it seem as if it was the phone manufacturers fault for your stupidity.
He won’t get that point
exactly
Sorry about your phone and even more sorry people here are being buttholes about it to you. My phone has taken some big drops and my guess is that since I had it in a bumper case and had a skin on both the front and back is the reason why it never cracked
I dropped my Nexus 4 twice on a wood floor. It hit a nail once.
It’s perfectly fine. Though I was smart enough to buy a case before I bought the phone. When the phone got here, I put it in the case before even turning it on.
The bumper is purely a thing to make it less slippery while you hold it, it’s NOT a case and should not be treated as such.
Sorry to hear your phone broke though. You should’ve bought an actual case.
I was walking into the grocery store one day and dropped my N4 from about 3 feet up onto the solid concrete floor…everyone around me ooo’d and aaahh’d, I picked it up with a grim look…turned it over..and it was fine. Giving that it was completely naked when I dropped it, i was expecting a shatter. I guess i got lucky.
My friends have N4’s. The cracks or breaks even after multiple drops. Only one got moisture behind the glass from dropping in a puddle.
You deserve it for trying to shift with your phone in your hand. But the thing down while you are driving.
Why are you shifting an auto-transmission? Don’t drive in sport mode with your phone on the console?
wow, people need to chill out. he’s talking about a phone, not your mother.
sux that people are having issues with the phone not being as durable as it should. incasing the phone in glass may not have been the best idea.
I’ve had more scratches on the Nexus 4 in two months than I had on the Nexus S in two years.
Gorilla Glass? Completely overrated.
This looks like it hit something sharp. Or at least focused all the energy of the fall to one small area like a corner maybe.
But weren’t you and all the rest of the Android community swearing this was the most “premium” Android device that had ever been built? It dumped the “plasticky” feel of so many devices? This is how an Android device should be built?
Sorry but you all asked for it to me. The GNex feels great. So what if its plastic. Its hard and not creaky or flimsy. I don’t know how much more “solid” you’d want something to be which was another praise heaped on the Nexus 4. Why don’t we get over this subconscious urge to believe whatever Apple is using on their phones to be “premium” and just judge phones on their own merit. Plastic is fine. It doesn’t have to be the cheap looking stuff that Samsung uses on the GS3 and 4. That truly does look kinda cheap. But lets quit knocking all plastic phones the minute we know its plastic.
What’s the record number of comments for a Phandroid post? Here, have another. Might hit 600 by the end of the day. Exciting.
If the phone had been face down, this article could be written about ANY phone. Smart phones are fragile…use insurance. I can sympathize with your predicament, it sucks, however this “article” is more live journal rant than it is journalism.
My nexus 4 dropped from a wardrobe taller than me. Only a little deformed in down right corner. I use a screen protetor just in back.
You deserved it.
To quote a troll on here, you are a moron and this post does not deserve to be written.
I’ve had my nexus 4 for sometime now and it is still fine. It is still better than any phone I know of as the iPhone is still in the past with hardware and OS. I have dropped my nexus 4 in the kitchen and I have tiles on the floor. It did have the bumper on but I doubt that did much to help. For proof that the nexus 4 is fine look at the votes it basically says you have to be very unlucky to crack it in any way. Me and my mates recommended the nexus 4 as we haven’t found a problem yet.
This site is supposed to be for android news and it seems as though you’re abusing your power by treating it like your personal blog. We’re all of us Android nerds, we know about the fragility of the Nexus 4 (and the iPhone 4/4s before it). So while you excitedly await your shiny new HTC One I’d take a moment to consider your comments about karma if I were you. After all, aluminum is easily susceptible to dings, dents, and scuffs if dropped on pavement.
All I’m going to say is look at the votes and unlucky
Lol at.” I guess karma’s a b*tch cuz all that came back to bite me in the ass. Hard.” Good point about glass iphones
Luckily, I haven’t yet cracked the glass, but it isn’t in quite perfect shape. While driving, the phone fell from my lap about 6 inches next to my gear shift. No damage to either the front or back glass, but it did chip the chrome (perhaps?) rim just above the front camera. Nothing more than aesthetic, but it’s still depressing that it was so easily chipped.
Ballistic case
Bad idea to shift with your phone in hand. Dock first, then drive. So many accidents are caused each year because of distracted people looking at their phones. It sucks that it happened to you but it could’ve been prevented. That being said, generalizing because you’ve already moved on to the next best thing is ignorant on your part. Yes the phone is fragile but you get what you pay for and the nexus 4, glass or not is still an amazing value.
So why the 4 and half hour story about sudden cold with no proof etc? You dropped your N4 like all the other clumsy fools that have.
I bought a nice, thin, TPU case for mine in conjunction with protection front and back. I’m not taking any chances. Sure the case adds a little thickness to the phone, but for the peace of mind, it’s worth it.
Get it fixed, buy a damn case for it and call it a day. No phone, regardless of what it’s made from, without a case, is exempt from damage. Cases only help to mitigate the damage, and for the $5 I paid for the case (I can still kind of see the back too, big whoop), it’s worth it.
Also, a co-worker dropped his N4 from about 4ft onto concrete, the front glass was in-tact, but a bit scratched up.
what did you expect? bumpers dont do anything except protect the sides! you want a safe nexus 4? get a real case.
Do you know why you are racist? because you have just made that comment, shame on you. Our president is black do you assume he sags his pants too? Wow and Chris Chavez and this is who you agree with…..
So knowing the truth about why people sag their pants makes you racist? What does the president have to do with this? He’s half Kenyan, half white. He’s NOT an African American.
Nope, assuming that I do because I’m black is racist, and even more so you are STILL wrong because it has been proven that it was not trended for any sign of homo availability rather than incorrect fitment, and hahaha oh wow you just keep making me laugh anything to not have a “black president” I guess right? Is that how much you despise black people? what have we done to you? oh did we take your jobs or some other bull crap that is highly irrelevant as of the moment? Get real and get with the times fact of the matter is that if you currently live in America your president is African American. http://www.snopes.com/risque/homosex/sagging.asp
Shows how much you know about your own president. Let me give you a lesson boy: Barack Hussein Obama’s father was an Economist from Kenya. His white mother, Ann Dunham, was an economical anthropologist.
African Americans, are descendants of slaves. Barack Hussein Obama hailed from a different line of families, he is NOT African American. Get your facts straight boy. Also, your theory of proper fitment of pants, is false, because pants are sold as small as 26 at the waist. We see so many of these urban thugs with 80% of their underwear exposed, it’s disgusting.
I know a lot about the president and politics but you are obviously one of those ignorant “birthers” and I refuse to go in to a political debate on a non political web site your president is black deal with it or actually maybe this is your way of dealing with it just in general being in denial oh so sad. mm tsk tsk well theres a time and place to discuss this and its not here. And don’t call me boy I am not your slave not a slave at all. Don’t respond to me anymore you racist bastard. Get a life I will not be responding to you any more on this issue and If you continue I will report your comments for spamming and racism. Its not hard to see.
I schooled you just now, and you know it. Also, if you want to see a racist, look in the mirror, because you obviously have HATE towards non-blacks. Obama’s birth certificate was shown to the public, I have no reason to doubt his place of birth.
Flagged for spam
You know who flags for spam? the defeated. you must be a sore loser. MAD BRO?
Cover your stuff, it’s a glass phone, front and back..didn’t you know? Galaxy Nexus, stick it in your back pocket and sit down, bring band-aids.
Idk man, I’ve dropped my N4 a few times and nothing has happened so far. I get it that the thing is fragile and whatever, but I think its a beautiful device, and the only way to use the phone is without a case, bumper or screen protectors. Whats the point of getting a sexy wife and throwing a burka on her? ;)
Your problem:
“I’ve been babying this thing, buying a little bumper for it,”
im not sure which is worse, your writing or your lies
its clear as day you had the phone in your hand when you were changing gears and put pressure on it, there is no way in hell you get a fracture on it like it shows by dropping it, that ss from pressure being exerted on the phone.
maybe next time you’ll put your phone down when you’re driving and actually pay attention to what you’re doing chris. You deserved it.
maybe next time you’ll put your phone down when you’re driving and actually pay attention to what you’re doing chris. You deserved it.
I work construction and that phone wouldn’t last one day in my pocket.
I call bullshit on how your phone broke. It was not a simple fall from 2 inches. Maybe you had something hard and pointy in your center console area that the phone fell on. My phone has slipped out of my hoodie pocket a few times and no crack. The break pattern of the glass tells a different story.
Plus why are you blaming Google/LG for driving with your phone in your hand while trying to shift? You are lucky you did not get into an accident and crack your car instead.
i havent broken mine, but have a full case. Thanks for warning me how useless bumper cases are though
Wow. I definitely feel your pain guys but it’s a glass phone. I don’t know exactly what you had in mind but i was looking for a gorgeous looking phone and that’s what i got. I mean have you seen the Sony Xperia Z? Now that’s a fragile looking phone. If you don’t think the classy look is worth the risk, throw a case on there like the apple users did. Otterbox and fre literally became famous because of the fragility of those phones. These newer phones are stemming some interesting and risky designs. Sure there will be flaws and you’ve got to decide which risks your willing to take. I think the Nexus 4 is a nice, beautiful, competitive, and EXTREMELY AFFORDABLE phone. It’s not perfect phone but it’s definitely a nice one and I give Google and LG props for making a good phone that didn’t have me shuddering at the price tag. And good luck on the next one which should be no problem as the flaws have been made obvious.
I actually went to buy mine on Craig’s list. The guy got out of the car to meet me and dropped the nexus on the street. If it was as fragile as this article makes it sound it would have been toast but it was left with a scrape on the plastic basil and that’s it. No bumper or anything. The guy knocked 50 bucks off if I still wanted it, I took it and still no broken glass. By two inches do you mean 12 lol. Weird article and its a deceptive one for potential buyers…
Lex
are you sure you dropped it? what i am trying to figure out is how you can ‘shift’ a car with a phone in your hand as you probably would hold the phone with your thumb and you need your thumb to shift as well and when you squeeze to move a car out of park (as moving our of park takes more pressure than other gears and may be enough to crack the crystal and you may have smashed your phone with your thumb and dropped it.. i’m not saying you did this but is this possible do you think?
You shoulda put a complete case on it. Cruzerlite is my best friend
Could have been avoided your car is an automatic only time you would need to “shift” is when going into reverse or park, even then you could have just placed it down while doing so.
the pinnacle of customization.. no other nexus 4 has that back.. looks like a great crack design.. abstract, free moving and unrestricted like android..
I’ve recently just bought a brand new Samsung 55 inch display smart 3d TV with almost an edge to edge viewing (very thin besal). Samsung warns about not holding the screen due to the fact that you run the risk of damaging the display. I KNEW WHEN I BOUGHT IT, that with that thin besal I didn’t have much area to pick it up from out of the box, and carry, and hold while mounting it into place the risks. BUT its a very beautiful display of a TV. The besal is trimmed in clear glass/plexiglass.
Point being I too have bought 2 nexus 4s (previously and still own 2 nexus ones) (all phones still in good looking and working condition). I researched the glass breaking possibilities lol, and sometimes to have something for once that looks awesome is worth having and babysitting. And to compare iPhone glass to nexus glass as far as looks, nexus is way better IMO. You guys do realize that the industry is working on flexible bendable phones right? Just beautiful! IMO. You also may know that if it can bend it will crease or wrinkle or whatever too right!? Oh no they didn’t! Lol don’t you naysayers go for it. I for one am looking forward to it, and I will. But only if its a NEXUS. I just can’t see waiting for the updates. Im sorry but that’s my only grip against other phones. But, hey! I enjoy how androids phones have a wide veriety to choose from.
On my # 3 Pos Nexus 4 I’ve had both 16GB and 8GB models and yes LG you have proven to be the same if not worse! sleep of death on one and busted back on another! So I’m waiting anxiously on the HTC ONE!
Incredibly entitled whine. Why bother? It just ensures I won’t waste my time coming here again with stupid stuff like this.
Even plastic phones breaks, it’s how we handle them. Maybe someone should produce a solid steel casing and unbreakable bullet proof screens.
They need to come out with a phone case made of ceramite (not a typo) if it’s good enough for the sons of the Emperor it should keep that phone safe.
I don’t understand why people go so crazy to defend the Nexus 4. I haven’t owned one but it has always been a flawed device. On to the next “One”!
Mine is shatter and mark free despite plenty of ‘sudden changes in temperature’, no bumper or cover of any kind, no protectors added.
I will say, driving with your phone in your hand is rather stupid in the first place, so just be glad a piece of glass cracked and nothing worse happened!
Get a case for the phone and get over it instead of whining about this. I have five games of 2 GB size each that I play most of the day. I did not feel the heat nor did the glass break because of it. Whoever said it wanted the warranty to cover his carelessness. This is one of the best android phones in market. I am tired of looking at people who are whining about trivial things.
Hey guys…. All my friends who have I phones have a case on… So what God is paying 100 to 200$ more for better protection on the back of your phone?… I just put on a double layered Amzer case for 10 bucks and my nexus 4 looks better.. Is better protected and even had a stand which I can use for vertical and horizontal viewing.
Apologies for the English…. Morale of the story is that you should pay more attention to what the swype feature is accepting :-)
2 inches? Ha, i’ll best that with a 7 foot drop with no damage at all, was on a ladder and went to answer it and clumsy me dropped it, i felt my heart drop with it but surely enough when i finally got down to look at it, no broken glass,, either i’m very lucky or my N4 was made better than the rest, who knows but i love it
my droid 1 survived dozens of 6 foot drops on asphalt and concrete, without a scratch on its gorilla glass, my droid 4 screen unglued itself a month in, the plastic broke on the back all on its own(lost a retainer), and then my screen cracked bc i took a nap with it in my pocket, i venture the droid 4 may be the fragilest of them all! a terrible title
Get a case. You don’t need an otterbox but a nice slim soft case improves durability of any phone dramatically. Don’t case a dumb bumper though.
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All phones are prone to break, some if they fall from 2 inches and some if they fall from 6 feet. It’s mostly a matter of luck and how your phone lands. I take every precaution to not drop my electronics no matter how fragile they are. The only phone I ever broke was a Nokia N75 that I landed on while playing soccer, other than that my phones are always pretty much like new. There are occasional accidents and luckily none of my screens or backs (Nexus 4 and iPhones) have cracked. I see so many phones with broken screens and scratches when I am out and about that make me think that most people do not take really good care of their phones. It does suck when someone that takes so much care of a device has a “catastrophic” accident but life goes on.
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Two inces? Really? With bumper? Weird. Maybe you received a lemon? I’m pretty much babying my Nexus4 as well. Even though I have no screen protectors or bumper (I wanted to buy one, but since its been unavailable for months I never came to that and gave that a pass for good I guess). It’s holding up pretty well. Especially compared to all those scratched and beaten iPhone5’s around me. I dropped it a couple of times, and my heart always stopped. The worst one was when it dropped on concrete floor from about 2-3 feet. I had my earbuds wrapped around it (which probably helped to protect) and it didn’t even get scratched. I’m even more careful now, but there is only so much one can do – after all it’s still ‘just’ a phone (a pretty cool one though) but I can’t confirm that it’s a more fragile than other phones, especially compared to the latest iPhone.
i drop my phones all the time its 1 reason i didn’t buy the nexus 4.
IMO nexus 4 suck, other than the stock android experience, everything about it sux. weak camera, weak build quality, weak speaker, not enough internal storage, 8GB is a joke and 16GB is barely enough, battery suck, just so much suck compare to other phone out there such as HTC one, iphone 5, galaxy s3, galaxy s4.
theres people on xda who ditched nexus 4 and went back to their old HTC One S. Reasons: camera & audio.
The price is half of all other competing high-end phones. So it’s silly to expect the exact same experience. Besides, from my own experience, it easily equals other high-end phones in terms of hardware quality. I love my Nexus 4.
not really getting where all this fuss is coming from, whoever has owned an iphone 4/4S knows how it goes also. I’ve had a 4S and now have the N4, both have had invisible shields on them and I’ve thrown them both in Anger, left them in pockets while moving heavy appliances, when I’m sloppy drunk falling down, just normal use stuff. It’s just luck of the draw as with any device. If you treat it with respect because you spent you’re hard earned money on it, then it usually lasts longer. Just saying.
And now that I have, karma will bite back.
Hmm… lets see… Clear N4 Case… $15 shipped worldwide… Replacement back… $50 + Shipping…
YEP YOU MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE WITH A BUMPER!
The back of my phone cracked and i don’t even know how. I set the phone on my counter, and next time I picked it up it was cracked. I called LG and their rep said she wouldn’t put it in a pursue without a case covering the back. This was 10 days into owning the phone and google would not allow a return even in the 15 day decision window.
Mine has fallen onto carpet many times and survived. And once onto a hard surface from about 2 inches courtesy of my mother being careless and was fine. I’ve also ended up sleeping on top of the poor thing while listening to music in bed and dozing off too soon. No cracks or scratches yet. When I’m not using it I keep it in a leather pouch which seems to have kept it in good condition. Guess I’m just lucky *touch wood*
Sounds like operator error to me. Shifting gears with a phone in the same hand? Can’t blame build quality on your stupidity.
If you look at the point of impact and damage on that phone there’s no way that was dropped from two inches. I’ve tested my phone at 2 inches above the ground over and over and over and my phone is not cracked. I’m thinking there’s more than meets the eye here. also I’m not sure why anyone would simply not just buy a case. there’s so many classy cases that don’t have much bulk and offer more protection than zero. I think the only people who should be allowed to complain about their phone cracking when it drops are people who have cases on their phones. If you don’t have a case then that’s probably going to happen when you drop it. Seems pretty obvious. it’s like going out for a jog in your bare feet and then complaining that your feet got all jacked up because you didn’t wear shoes because it ruins the experience -doesn’t make any sense.