Google’s much awaited Nexus 4 seems to be all set to revolutionize the market. Announced last Monday, the flagship phone touting Android 4.2 Jelly bean has managed to stir up the market for good with its solid specs list and unbelievably low price.
What Google has done may be called as brilliant on more than one level. Though Google did initially plan a high profile launch for the latest iteration of the Nexus smartphone series, they had to cancel the same due to the hurricane Sandy. It was expected that Google would be announcing another date for the major event, what they did was unexpected, yet ingenious; it quietly let out a few press releases letting people know all that they needed to. Although this was done just moments prior to Microsoft launching Windows Phone 8 and was initially frowned upon, the lack of fanfare associated with typical Nexus launches belied a sense of confidence in the platform’s strength. Google packed all that was needed to into a press release and then started the pre-order process quietly.
What’s surprising is that quite a few websites have slated the Nexus 4 as a mid-range device, which makes sense as it places with devices like the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini as well as the HTC Desire X in terms of specs, but also comes with features like an 8MP rear facing camera, 2GB of RAM, and Google’s latest mobile operating system. The Nexus smartphone series is fast developing into a series which establishes the benchmark for Android devices; not in terms of raw specifications but essential features for a great Android experience, not least of which is timely updates (with the Nexus is guaranteed to receive).
In a market where mid-range smartphones typically cost £400 to £550, the Nexus 4 is treading new ground by being available for a measly £239 off-contract, almost £300 less than the iPhone. It still remains unknown whether Google is operating at a loss, but it can be expected to recover its losses, if any, through purchases in the Android ecosystem, which is how companies like Amazon are choosing to operate with its Kindle line of tablets (hook the customer with low prices for hardware and then profit from in-house purchases via the OS). As for now, with the price they’ve set, Google has given us some food for thought about cost and worth.
November 5, 2012 at 1:01 pm
What?
“…quite a few websites have slated the Nexus 4 as a mid-range device, which makes sense as it places with devices like the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini as well as the HTC Desire X in terms of specs…”
The only portion of this phone that could be considered ‘mid-range’ is the internal storage. Every other portion of it matches or surpasses every high-end phone currently on the market, except when one of those phones specializes is one specific area (for example, it has a smaller battery than the Droid RAZR Maxx HD).