Review: Google Nexus 4 - no frills Android power for the enterprise?

Cheap, cheerful and straightforward, Google's favoured smartphone is an interesting choice for the mobile worker

While it's been available since November 2012, the LG Google Nexus 4 is still the sort of phone that, if you pull it out of your pocket at a tech conference, most assembled peers will never have seen one before.

It's a shame that early component supply problems damaged the phone's wider popularity and availability, but it does mean that the Nexus 4's become something of a hidden gem for the bargain-hunting IT manager looking to set up a fleet of reasonably-priced but powerful Android devices.

The secret of the Google Nexus 4 is, of course, its heavily-subsidised price. There is literally no other way to get a completely unlocked GSM/UMTS/HSPA+ smartphone powered by a quad core, 1.5Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro a crystal clear 4.7" inch screen, NFC and two cameras for only £239 (for the 8GB model). Even the 16GB edition comes at only £279.

And while, like the Samsung Galaxy S4 or HTC One, this handset's on the larger end of the market at 4.7in, LG has spared no time or expense with the screen, either. The 1280 x 768 pixel display is pin-sharp, with 318 ppi of clarity that matches and may even better Apple's Retina displays. This is a device we can (and have) use to write a report or news story on in the field; it's big enough and clear enough to look at all day.

It could be construed as unfair that Google is absorbing so much of the price here, but if you want to buy a fleet of them for your employees, it's little concern of yours.

This is a spectacularly powerful and reliable piece of technology, melding fast components with an operating system Google's dedication has perfectly optimised them for.

Because the best part of the Nexus 4 value machine is that, even six months after release, it's still the only smartphone-sized Android device (apart from its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus) that supports Android 4.2.2 "Jellybean". The Galaxy S4 is supposed to be getting it soon, but was delayed again just yesterday. With a product so close to Google's in-house developmental procedure, you'll never need to worry about being behind with the Nexus 4.

And Android 4.2.2 is definitely worth the extra fuss.

While lacking all the bells and whistles of Samsung or HTC's particular spins on the formula used to be a distinct disadvantage for smartphones, if that's still the attitude you hold you're probably thinking back to the days of Android 2.0 and its various middling revisions.

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Review: Google Nexus 4 - no frills Android power for the enterprise?

Cheap, cheerful and straightforward, Google's favoured smartphone is an interesting choice for the mobile worker

The truth is, Google has watched and listened to a great deal of feedback when developing Android, and many of Jellybean's features have quietly turned up in Apple's iOS 7 reveal earlier this week at WWDC. True multitasking, a nuanced and convenient pop-down control panel for WiFi, 3G/4G access etc. and a detailed and well-managed status panel for managing emails, tweets and other incoming phone traffic between multiple email accounts with concertina-like single-finger dragging accuracy.

Typing-wise Jellybean 4.2.2, in addition to existing contextual analysis to complete words as you type them (which works about as well as Apple's own version), also introduced Gesture Typing. Basically aping popular third-party app Swype, it allows dragging gestures across letters to form words, and works surprisingly well - after practice -as an alternative to hunting and pecking letters on a phone.

Those are the positives, and there really are many: the device is cheap, yet high specification, and sports one of the most finely evolved phone UIs in existence. Yet the Nexus 4 also suffers from a few disadvantages that reflect its price point, and the reality of the Android ecosystem at this point in time.

First off, the rather attractive feature possessed by many Android devices of removable or upgradeable storage is not present on the Nexus 4. 8GB or 16GB is all you're allowed, and this is starting to look a little long in the tooth as many power users run around sporting 32 or even 64GB expansions in other Android (or even BlackBerry) handsets. But again, you get what you pay for.

The other problems lie within Android itself. With Flash support withdrawn by Adobe in summer 2012 in favour of HTML5, running a good deal of legacy web content can be problematic. While side-loading such missing applications is easier than ever with the newest Android, a lack of Flash isn't ideal. Of course, Apple devices haven't ever supported it, but the new crop from BlackBerry does, making this one of the Canadian company's only trump cards in the current market.

Though, the largest fail factor for Android is another one that BlackBerry has nailed, and that's security. Put simply, Android is a major risk, and can never be made truly failsafe by even the most scrupulous MDM solutions.

Even the Google Play store itself is replete with virus-riddled applications. True, they're largely Angry Birds spoofs full of SMS hijackers or premium rate number diallers, so the more savvy enterprise user may not fall for some of the obvious pitfalls, and beyond that it's largely a case of following standard Windows-style practice. Grab a free anti-malware app such as AVG or McAfee, and bundle a firewall on there, too. The good news with Nexus 4, at least, is that it's got the processing grunt to support these resident security apps constantly running in the background.

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Review: Google Nexus 4 - no frills Android power for the enterprise?

Cheap, cheerful and straightforward, Google's favoured smartphone is an interesting choice for the mobile worker

At the end of the day, you'll either be set on Android or already against it. While the Nexus 4 is unlikely to change the minds of those who prefer the trussed-up security traditions of BlackBerry or the zeitgeist appeal of Apple, the absolute truth is that Android 4.2.2 equals or betters Apple's easy-to-use interface, and has an app store that, if it doesn't offer the same range of business-focused apps on day one, will usually have them weeks later.

But overall, it's that price again that wins out. £239 for a device with performance over and above the iPhone 4S or the Samsung Galaxy S III, when both of these phones still go for a good £100+ more in price. It may not be able to call itself a true contender for much longer, with the Galaxy S4 for one including a staggering 1.9GHz Snapdragon of its own, and similarly powered devices on the way, but the Nexus 4 is still a device that will ably VPN into your office network with no fuss, or run countless tasks simultaneously without slowing down.

The Google Nexus 4 is an often-overlooked, yet almost entirely fantastic choice as a mobile enterprise solution. Sleek and elegant to look at, but sporting highly competitive components within its chassis, its only real failing is being attached to an operating platform that still requires an usual amount of care to prevent several shades of security calamity.