The Google Nexus 4 is a powerful phone with a great screen -- but it has even more up its sleeve. A teardown by iFixit reveals that LG's Nexus phone contains an LTE chip -- the gubbins required to get 4G super-fast web connection speeds on your phone. Unfortunately, it's turned off.
That's because the Qualcomm chipset that powers the phone has the 4G kit built-in as standard. Other phones with the same Qualcomm WTR1605L Seven-Band 4G LTE on board can access 4G, but they need a special amplifier, which the Nexus 4 lacks.
Because the chip is missing a vital component, there's no way it can be turned on with a simple software update.
4G hardware is a complicated beast, because of the different frequencies used by phone networks to beam their fast Internet into our phones. Heck, even here in little ol' Blighty we have two separate flavours of 4G: EE, which launched last month, and everyone else, expected next year -- and that's not to mention the different 4G networks in the US, Asia and Australia.
That means a phone must have various sets of 4G kit built in, as it's a costly headache to manufacture different versions of a phone in different regions. The iPhone 5, for example, has only one set of 4G kit -- the EE flavour -- but the Samsung Galaxy S3 has both.
LG is cagey about whether it'll ever offer the Nexus 4 on a 4G network. Adding the requisite hardware would drive up the cost of this bargain of a phone, but if half the hardware is already built in, then why not?
Although LG and Google haven't made a massive deal of it, the Nexus 4 also has all the bits and pieces required to charge the battery wirelessly, without plugging into a power source. Although the Nexus 4 doesn't come with a wireless charger, the Nokia Lumia 920 does -- and, as Omio reports, the Nexus 4 will start drawing cable-free batteryjuice if you drop it onto the 920's Qi charging pad.
Would you buy a 4G Nexus 4? Is wireless charging the future? And what secret feature would you like to have in your phone? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
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CaptainPicard 22 November, 2012 16:12
I think Google and LG should have included 4G on the Nexus 4 and hope they release a 4G version soon. I know 4G deals and coverage in the UK are crap at the moment, but this is not any phone, this is a Nexus - it will receive updates directly from Google for the next 2+ years, so it will essentially feel like a new phone every 9-12 months. So people who buy this phone will use it for 2+ years, longer than the usual 2 year life cycle of a smart phone and hopefully by then, the UK 4G market will have better deals and coverage. Plus, surely the rest of the world doesn't have 4G deals as crap as the UK??
anonymous 22 November, 2012 16:32
You're assuming an LG phone will last 2 years?
anonymous 22 November, 2012 16:47
eurrghh they're awful and look so ugly.
CaptainPicard 22 November, 2012 17:39
Well yes. This is not just an LG phone, this is a Google phone,they are subsidising it, this phone had to meet Googles specification and requirements to be called a Nexus.
And this phone is ugly, rubbery and might even smell weird, but it's a powerful device, it's the inside that counts, I'd swap my beautiful One X for that any day.
anonymous 22 November, 2012 18:50
I would not swap my S3 for it. For a start it does not have a removable battery so when the battery starts to get older it will last less time and it will cost a lot to replace that battery. Then Google stopped supporting flash so on my Nexus 7 I can not access many videos on my browsers which I am able to do on my S3 which is frustrating (I follow many websites which use flash)
Gwyn Kemp-Philp 22 November, 2012 20:09
Everyone hangs out a promise of lasting longer than the others then includes an element that tears that down to the same as everyone else. My point of principle is - If I can't change the battery, then I don't want it. Pretty much the same with cars too, I'm not going to be held to ransom by a battery.
anonymous 23 November, 2012 00:02
"Would you buy a 4G Nexus 4? Is wireless charging the future?"
I'd like to buy a Nexus 4 but I want a, Galaxy note II sized device, I also want the feature on the, Note II that allows you to watch video while doing other things, I'm not sure if the Nexus has that kind of multitasking ability.
As for wireless charging, it would be great if it actually wirelessly charged from a distance, but having to place it on a charging surface is probably worse than a wire. You can't sit back comfortably and use the device while its charging if it has to be flat on a charging surface on a table somewhere.
anonymous 23 November, 2012 08:12
4G capable chip that actually works!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXOY9EVZ4vA