Nexus 4 Envy and a Realisation

After the recent unboxing of my friend's new Nexus 4, I'm afraid to say I'm suffering from a little envy. Most of this stems from the fact that I had rushed to rustle up the money to purchase my GNex a few months prior to the N4 being released, and I ended up paying the equivalent price of the 16GB N4 when it was released.

The bad camera culprit of past posts - Galaxy Nexus

I remember thinking to myself: "the new Nexus is only going to be released a few months from now - why not hold off just a little longer?", but I resided to the idea that the price would be double of what the then current GNex was. I suppose it was short-sighted to believe after the subsidised release of the Nexus 7, that the Nexus phone would remain at its usual price as a new phone, and I've now learnt to expect anything from Google and not make any decisions until they've made details official.

So here I am, complaining - which isn't out of the norm for me. I came from a single-core Defy before I moved up to the dual-core GNex, and if I waited and bought a quad-core phone instead, I'd have missed out on experiencing dual-core entirely. I know it seems petty to think of things this way, but I love progress and try to avoid neglecting technology we marvelled over in the past. It's the main reason why every now and then, I pop my SIM in my old Defy running 2.3.6, as well as my Nexus One running 2.2.1 - which is what I've just switched back to.

I think cherishing both the hardware and software that have made the devices we have today is important, as it makes us appreciate how our current technology enables us to complete tasks quicker and with less hassles. The Nexus One copped a lot of smack with regards to its internal memory and battery life, and everyone who said so were undoubtedly right - these are the worst aspects of the phone, but does it make me love it any less? Not that much. 

That notification trackball LED - ingenious

The internal storage issue could be alleviated in some regards by installing Apps2SD which sends off a portion of the app to your designated microSD card. The issue could also be handled by prioritising apps and making sure every app you have is something you use regularly - which is how I've dealt with the situation. On the battery front, like on all my devices I use JuiceDefender Ultimate, which is well worth the dough and superb at maintaining the battery when the device sleeps, whilst at the same time - turning on data/WiFi at timed intervals to check for social media / other updates. It also goes without saying that the standard Automatic Brightness setting is anyone's best friend, and it too makes a world of difference.

Whenever I use my Defy nowadays, I take it with me to places where I know things can get rough such as the beach or while I'm on bush walks and face the possibility of crossing rivers. It still astounds me how this device has managed to withstand so many drops (some down sets of stairs),  throws to the wall (not by me),  and the countless number of times I've dunked it in a glass of beer, or let it soak underwater, and yet its heart continues to beat.

Devastated we were out of beer

So while I may be yearning for another device which I cannot afford, I know I have a number of devices that I'll continue to respect and adore for years to come - or until they finally cark it.

As for my GNex, it recently underwent an identity change once again, returning to its original Titanium Silver housing as I decide on whether or not I want to attempt to apply a custom paint job on the white housing to give it some flair. Pics of the surgery are detailed below: