The Nexus 4 is a hot high-end quad core phone in the mobile phone market recently. It has the top configuration and the latest Android version exclusive to "My Son". The most important thing is that its price is very affordable. The 8G version only sells for $299, which is less than 1900 yuan. It is believed that such configuration and pricing will lead to a price war for high-end Android phones. What is the highlight of the Nexus 4 phone itself, the latest product of the Prince Nexus series? Let's discuss it in depth.

Profile

From the appearance, the Nexus 4-way style can be said to combine various fashion elements. First of all, it has a pure black design on the front, without any buttons or signs. And the edge of the screen adopts arc cutting, which makes the whole machine much higher grade, and of course, it also makes users who need film face many problems.

The back of the iPhone 4 uses a whole gorilla glass, which has a very delicate feel and looks very fashionable. Although gorilla glass is used, it is not very wear-resistant when actually used. For example, the one on the hand of the author has been scratched, so it is recommended to put a film on the back.

The glass outside the camera and the back of the screen are integrated, which is very novel, but the LED light below seems to be out of harmony with the lens.

The horn is in the lower right corner of the back.

The side is made of frosted texture, which has a good feel. There is a sim card slot on the left side of the fuselage, which is similar to the design of the iPhone.

From the perspective of the overall design of the fuselage, the Nexus 4 has achieved the standard of simplicity and fashion, However, because gorilla glass is also used at the back, it may be weak in scratch and fall prevention. Users should be more careful when using it.

The Nexus 4 is also at a very high level in terms of screen performance. It uses a 4.7 inch 1280 * 768 screen. The panel is now the industry leading LG True HD IPS screen. The ppi reaches 320, which is at a very high level in terms of color, visual angle and fineness.

Screen Macro Performance

system

The author is in Android 4.2 experience text The new version of the system has been introduced in. Android 4.2 is at a high level in terms of ease of use and smoothness. Of course, it would be better if there were more personalized functions. The system will not be described in detail here.

Take a look at the video introduction

The usable capacity is only 5.67G

Nfc function demonstration

Because the screen scale is a bit strange, some software will be stretched.

Performance measurement

The Nexus 4 uses the SoC of Qualcomm S4 quad core APQ8064, 2G RAM, and the graphics processing chip of Adreno 320, all of which provide powerful hardware support for the Nexus 4. Of course, what we can't ignore is the high level of optimization brought by Google native system.

CPU test

The CPU is the focus of this evaluation. The author will focus on testing the performance of the Nexus 4 in various situations. In the previous test of the Nexus 4 conducted by Anandtech website, it was found that the frequency reduction of the Nexus 4 was very serious in both CPU and GPU runs. And what will be the result of this real machine test?

Last time on Freezing test of millet 2 Many netizens questioned that automatic frequency reduction is a good thing, which is the performance of CPU "intelligence". The author explains here that, Many netizens say that the "frequency reduction" is actually the CPU changes according to the frequency of the task load. What we mentioned here is that when the CPU reaches the critical temperature value, it automatically reduces the frequency to reduce the temperature. The two concepts are different. The latter depends on the frequency adjustment mechanism of the CPU and the system core, which is the weakest aspect of the Nexus 4. It is often found that when it needs to run high frequencies, it automatically reduces to 1.2G or even 1.1G, resulting in poor performance.

First, let's take a look at the preview version of Anthare 3.0. Although this software can not be used as a measure of SoC performance, the comparison between the same SoC can still explain many problems. Xiaomi 2 and Optimus G (the "sibling" of Nexus 4) can both achieve 20000 points in this software. What about the performance of Nexus 4? We will first conduct the "ice" test.

Here are the scores of Nexus 4 in the refrigerator

The result is disappointing. After many tests, the Nexus 4 can only reach 18000 points at most, and more often 16000 or less, which is not consistent with the level of APQ8064 we are familiar with. Let's explore the problem through CPU SPY PLUS. The following is the normal temperature run.

Pay special attention to the frequency distribution at this time. There are reasons for low running scores.

During the test, we used a more rigorous method to place the machine until the temperature returned to normal and restart it, and then used the SetCPU software to lock the CPU frequency to the highest frequency of 1.5G. At the same time, the time count of CPU SPY PLUS software is cleared to zero before the test.

After the test, check the frequency distribution from the CPU SPY PLUS software, and the result is quite disappointing. When the Nexus 4 needs to run high frequency, it often drops to low frequency. Not only does the professional software display the frequency reduction, but also it is frequently "exposed" in the test of Anthare. Note the CPU frequency.

Observe frequency distribution

The Geekbench test showed that the Nexus 4 played well and reached a high level.

Of course, the author will also conduct other CPU general performance tests to see the capabilities of the Nexus 4. The first is Sunspider. Since the high-speed kernel of Baidu Browser, which is known as Sunspider's "divine oil", does not support Android 4.2, the built-in Chrome is used for testing. Nexus 4 performs generally under such conditions.

Google V8 Javascript test, The score is also average.

GPU performance test

In the unpacking of Nexus 4, the author tested the GLBenchmark with big problems in the Anandtech test, and the actual performance proved that, Adreno 320 of Nexus 4 works normally and reaches the required performance level 。

In addition, we tested Nenamark 2.4 again, and the results showed that Adreno 320 can handle the resolution of 1196 * 768 (caused by virtual keys) with ease.

In addition to the GPU theory test, the performance of the GPU cannot be measured without games. Because the FPS Meter does not support the Nexus 4, So it is a pity that the test on frame number is deleted in this test 。

The tested game item is only Top Speed 17, In addition, wild blood and hardware killer N O. V. A 3 cannot enter due to compatibility problems.

Decoding performance

The author tested three videos. The first one is an mp4 file with 1080P 60fps ref=16. Although there is a hard solution, But there are only more than twenty frames.

The second is the 1080P 23fps ref=16 mp4 file, Nexus 4 can basically achieve full frame hard solution.

The third one is the 1440P 30fps ref=3 mp4, which can only be soft solved, The speed is about 12 frames.

photograph

The Nexus 4 uses an 8 megapixel back facing camera, which is also a conventional configuration. Let's take a look at the demonstration of the photographing function:

The following are some live photos (click to view the large picture)

The Nexus 4's photographic performance is very ordinary, which is also the "tradition" of LG mobile phones. There is much room for improvement in white balance, noise control and sharpness.

summary

The Nexus 4 surprised us in terms of appearance and price, but it was not satisfactory in this real machine test. This is mainly because the problem of CPU frequency reduction is too serious. A 1.5G high-performance quad core processor often works at 1.1G, which is difficult to accept and directly affects the performance of the whole machine. As Google, I believe that it will respond quickly and launch system updates so that the performance of the Nexus 4 can be fully utilized and it will truly become a classic mobile phone representing Android. In addition, the current price of the Nexus 4 is relatively high, which is not worth buying for ordinary users. The Nexus 4 has several hard injuries besides its poor performance. One is that it cannot replace the battery, the other is that it has a small capacity and cannot insert a tf card, and the last one is that it does not support OTG. The last two are really inappropriate for a high-performance mobile phone.