I’ve had my Google Nexus 4 on Straight Talk for about two months now, and I wanted to follow-up on my previous article. This is actually going to be a pretty simple and straightforward update.
First off, I want to give you my feelings about the phone itself after having had it for eight weeks. Simply put, it is incredible. Off the top of my head, I have not come across any drawbacks with the phone itself (hardware and software). I’m not really a phone dropping kind of guy, but about a week after I got the phone in the mail, I dropped it all the way down the stairs at my house. And these are not soft, carpeted stairs either. The stairs in my house are hardwood, and I could see how easily things could break after tumbling down the WHOLE stairway. I’ve read some early reviews about how delicate some people thing the hardware is, but I have not experienced this in the slightest. As it stands, I don’t see any hairline scratches, dings, dents, or cracks at all. Again, I’m usually nice to my phone, but I have my times. Still, not a single blemish on this thing. I’d call that impressive.
Software wise, Android 4.2.2 is heads above previous Android releases. Google Now is a feature that I knew was going to be fun to use, but had no idea just how much I would like it. I use it all the time. It feels kind of like this phone knows me — kind of like a personal assistant. It will tell me, “Church is in 20 minutes. Leave within the next 5 minutes to be on time.” Did I have to tell it that? Not really. It just knows (based on my calendar, and driving habits). The user experience on the phone is super smooth. I remember one time that I rebooted the phone, and that was just because I updated the software to 2.2.2. One small downside I have noticed is the battery life. I wish it were a little more efficient, but it’s no worse than I expected. For moderate use, I usually have to charge it once every 36 hours or so.
The camera has good quality, as well as the video. I did my first photosphere about a month ago, and was amazed by how easily it stitched all of the images together into a 3D “sphere.” It can be viewed on Google Maps. Think of a photosphere as a 3D panorama.
Straight Talk has been a solid performing carrier for my Nexus 4 as well. The coverage has been solid. Speeds have been reasonable (not THE BEST, but still good), and I have not had any issues with data caps(maybe because I only use 500MB a month or so). Unfortunately, it looks like Straight Talk has stopped selling AT&T sim cards for the time-being. They have not specified why, but all I know is that I am still fine. The problem would come for new customers wishing to use Straight Talk’s AT&T sim. It looks like T-Mobile sim cards are the only ones being offered now. Hopefully they will have them back in a reasonable amount of time.
So, I will say that all my expectations have been met and exceeded. I still recommend the Nexus 4 and Straight Talk’s sim program (as long as you can get T-Mobile coverage in your area). As a side note, my wife has had a standard Straight Talk phone (one where we didn’t need to buy a sim card), and it has been great as well.
What if you already have an AT&T phone and want to switch to a Nexus 4 with Straight Talk? Can you just swap the SIM card? Wondering if you can get around Straight Talk not selling AT&T SIM cards anymore.
I’m not sure about that. My guess would be no. I think that AT&T gives Straight Talk a certain range of SIM cards for Straight Talk APN settings. If you try to put an AT&T SIM on a Straight Talk phone number, you might run into some issues.
You’re probably on v4.2.2, not v2.2.2 lol.
…and soon to be v4.3, since Google will probably release the latest version of Jelly Bean later this month.
Thanks for the followup. My wife and I have a year to go on a Sprint contract with our Galaxy Nexus, and I’ve been doing a bit of way-early online research about the costs of moving over to a Walmart plan, and just purchasing new unlocked phones outright when it’s time to replace.
Lord knows what the next iteration of the Nexus will be at that point, but it seems Wally World and the Google store is the route we’ll take, too.
…our experience with the Galaxy Nexus is similar to yours btw (I moved to the ‘droid from an iPhone 3GS): a simply brilliant end-user mobile device.
You’re right, 4.2.2 is the version :). I definitely wasn’t thinking straight there. I edited the article to reflect this. I would recommend T-Mobile with Straight Talk since it looks like ST is not selling with an AT&T option for the foreseeable future. I would go for that option if T-Mobile wasn’t so spotty in my area.
So you are on straight talk and you can update your software? Mine wont I did the BYOP, I have a sony ericsson xperia and of course…they sent me an at&t SIM card. I keep trying to do a software update search and it just cuts off after 3 seconds. Do you have any idea how I can get it to update? Its on 2.1, as you can imagine I am STRUGGLING with this phone hahaha but when I call straight talk they just help me update the APN and say goodbye… -_- any info you have would be greatly appreciated!
Do you mean a operating system update? Have you tried searching for an update on WiFi? If it works on WiFi, then I’d say it has something to do with the mobile network configuration. If it doesn’t work either way, then it sounds like a phone issue – perhaps there isn’t an OS upgrade? I hope this helps some!
Yes it did! Thank you (years later haha) It was the phone because it didnt work either way. The phone I had was good as dead anyway-got a new one. Thanks for your help tho! =)