Our friends over at GIV Mobile have sent us the Nexus 4 for us to review. We have done a long-term thorough testing of this device. GIV Mobile is one of the newest no contract or pre-paid carriers to hit the market. They let you “Answer The Call” as 8% of your monthly bill will be donated to a charity of your choosing! You can bring your own device or buy a device from GIV Mobile and as you may have guessed they do offer the Nexus 4. Of course this is the true Google phone and now we have the full review of the device on GIV Mobile for you.

Unboxing

NJTechReviews unboxed the GIV Mobile Nexus 4 and gives some first impressions on the device, you can see it below!

Design

The Google Nexus 4 was made in partnership with LG Mobile. LG has always made gorgeous devices and the Nexus 4 is a beautiful device. It is just 9.1-millimeters thick and it weighs in at just 139-grams. It was available in a limited edition white color which just taken off the market a few days ago. Since it was first release in November of 2013, it has been made available in a black color. We are testing out the black variant of the Nexus 4. This device has one of the most amazing designs that has every hit the market. The main materials of the device are glass and rubber. The device feels very natural in the hand, very similar to the design of the LG Optimus G. The glass is smooth, yet it provides a grip and the rubber sides provide grip as well. The glass is scratch resistant, this provides some durability. There is a chrome rim going around the front of the device and provides a nice accent to the device. The back of the device has a checkered and Nexus iconic design to the back. And when light hits the device you can see the awesome design. This is one of the coolest designs of any smartphone on the market. This unique design feature is only on the back of the device and it does not move over to the front of the device. The volume rocker and power/sleep button provide a pop of color as well, they have the silver chrome accent color as well. There are only two logos on the entire Nexus 4, just the Nexus and LG logos. It is a very clean device and the only other writing on the Nexus 4 would be the FCC ID, Regulatory Information, and Model Number on the back of the device.

Let’s give a tour of the design of the Google Nexus 4. Above the display you will find the sensors, a earpiece, and a 1.3 megapixel camera. The classic buttons that are normally found under the display are not found on the Nexus 4. The back, home, and multitasking buttons are built into the operating system and appear on the bottom of the display. The left hand side is home to the chrome accented volume rocker and a SIM card slot. You use the tool included in the box and this will pop open the SIM card holder. The right hand side is home to the chrome accented power/sleep button. The bottom of the device is home to a micro USB port with a microphone. The top of the device has a headphone jack and another microphone. The back of the device has the 8 megapixel back camera with an LED flash, a Nexus logo, a LG logo, FFC ID, Regulatory Information, a Model Number, and a speaker. This is a quick tour of the awesome design of the Nexus 4.

Display

LG had a great display on the Optimus G and another great one on the Optimus G Pro. Google and LG did a great job with the display on the Nexus 4. You get a 4.7-inch WXGA IPS Corning Gorilla Glass 2 display. It features a resolution of 1280 x 768 pixel and 320 pixels per inch. Google and LG integrated the touch sensor into the outer layer of glass, not only does it provide protection but it helps with using the phone as well. Viewing angles on the 4.7-inch display are great and the quality is very good no matter what angle you look at it from. Images on the Nexus 4 are vibrant and you can really see the depths of all of the colors. It is on par with the other leading smartphones on the market.

Network-GIV Mobile

GIV Mobile is no contract carrier that will let you answer the call. 8% of your monthly bill will be donated to charities of you choosing. You can choose up to three charities and there are many different categories for you to choose from. Those categories would be Animals, Education, Environment, Health, International, Human Services, Public Benefit, Arts, Cultures, and Humanities. They will have featured charities that GIV Mobile will highlight. During selected time that will occur through the year, you can suggest new charities to be added to the many charities that you can donate too. GIV Mobile is a very unique carrier that offers a great way to give back.

GIV Mobile is offering two plans for you to choose from. All of these plans let you give back to the charities that you choose. GIV Mobile offers nationwide coverage and they use T-Mobiles network. This will provide you great coverage and data speeds on the HSPA+ 42 network. We have experience some of our fastest data speeds on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network and now GIV Mobile will give you access to these super fast speeds. GIV Mobiles plans features 3-way calling, International Dialing, Caller ID, Call Waiting, Voicemail, and more. Both of their plans will give you Unlimited Talk, Text, and Web/Data. The $40-a-month-plan will give you high-speed data for the first 250MB. The $50-a-month-plan will give you high-speed data for the first 2GB. Either plan will give you the Unlimited Talk, Text, and Web plus you can donate to your three charities of your choosing.

The GIV Mobile network gave use very fast data speeds and I was very impressed. My average download speed was 17Mbps and my average upload speed was 12Mbps. These are very fast data speeds and it does reflect with web pages and everything else that requires the internet. Loading web pages, making posts on Twitter, updating your status on Facebook, posting a photo on Instagram, and internet required tasks are super fast.

Software

The Nexus 4 gives you the true Google experience. No longer do you have to deal with large amount of pre-loaded applications or heavy user interfaces. You get the clean version of Android and since it is a Nexus device you will get the next version of Android much faster than everyone else. In fact you will get the next version of the OS every time, usually the day of its announcement, or before everyone else. The Nexus 4 is running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and it is a very clean experience.

The latest version of Google Now is on board the Nexus 4. Google Now will give you the information you need, right when you need it. All you have to do is ask Google Now and it will get you what you are looking for. Google Now will learn as well and as it learns will help you better. For instance if you are driving to work, it will see if there is traffic ahead. From there it can redirect you around the traffic, this way you will get to work on time. Google Now can update you on your Flight, sports, the weather, and much more!

Google Maps is on board the Nexus 4 as well. You can look at a 3D map or a satellite map, filled with all of the locations in the world. You get live traffic, public transit directions, walking directions, turn-by-turn navigation, Zagat reviews built-in, user reviews built-in, street view, indoor maps, and much more. Google Maps is a great feature of the device and it works with Google Now as well.

You love Google Chrome on your Chromebook or your computer, now you have the same world-class experience on your device. Google Chrome is pre-loaded on the Nexus 4 and it your main browser. It makes the speed of web browsing lightning fast and with shared tabs you can pull up the tabs that you last had open on your computer.

This is the pure Google experience and it is Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. You don’t have that User Interface or the thousands of pre-loaded applications you may have been used too. Pre-loaded on the Nexus 4 you will get Calculator, Calendar, Camera, Google Chrome, Clock, Google Currents, Downloads, Google Earth, Email, Gallery, GMail, Google, Google Settings, Google +, Local, Google Maps, Messaging, Messenger, Movie Studio, Navigation, News & Weather, People Phone, Play Books, Play Magazines, Play Movies & TV, Play Music, Play Store, Settings, Talk, Voice Search, Google Wallet, and YouTube. These are the basic applications and many of them are made by Google. Since they are made by Google, they work perfectly on the Nexus 4. If you are looking for any other application you can check out the Play Store. This is your one stop shop for any application you are looking for.

Hardware

Powering the Google Nexus 4 embedded 2,100 mAh Li-Polymer. This battery will power your device for the entire day with average use and some more that. We were very impressed with the battery in the Nexus 4 and throughout our testing with a full charge over night, it lasted for the entire next day. The Nexus 4 does have Near Field Communications or NFC built-in, this allows for wireless charging.

Powering the software of the Google Nexus 4 is a 1.5GHz Quad-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro with 2GB of RAM. The Nexus 4 is a quad-core device and this provides it with a lot of speed. During my testing I did not experience any hiccups with the software or it slowing down at all. The Nexus 4 is a very powerful device and it performed very well. From multitasking to playing graphics intense games, it performed at the same level of excellence.

On the front of the device you have a 1.3 megapixel camera. This can capture video in up to 720pHD and comes in very handy. You can use your face to unlock your phone, this done through an option in settings. It can be used to make a video call in Hangouts and is great for taking selfies. On the back you get an 8 megapixel camera with an LED flash. A great feature of the 8 megapixel camera on the Nexus 4 is Photo Spheres. With this you can take photos in every direction and it combines it into an awesome photo experience. You can share these on Google + and with your friends. You can turn on instant upload to Google +, this will automatically update the photos you take to you Google + account. The quality of the photos came out very nice as well, you can see some of our photos that we took and our video recording in the camera test below. The 8 megapixel back camera records video in 1080pHD. Check out our camera test below

Bottom Line

The GIV Mobile Nexus 4 is an awesome device paired with an awesome carrier. GIV Mobile let’s you truly answer the call, you can donate 8% of your monthly bill to a charity of your choosing. It is a great way to give back and they have many different charities for you too chose from. You get some very fast speeds from the HSPA+ network that GIV Mobile utilizes. The Nexus 4 by Google and LG gives you a great experience. It is running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and it is very clean and a great user experience. Nexus 4 is a very powerful device thanks to a 1.5GHz Quad-Core processor with 2GB of RAM. It has a long-lasting battery that can charge wirelessly. A gorgeous 4.7-inch display and an equally beautiful design. GIV Mobile sells the 8GB variant of the Nexus 4 right from their site for $299. The GIV Mobile experience is great and the Nexus 4 works great with the carrier. For More Information On The GIV Mobile Nexus 4, Please Click Here. We would like to thank GIV Mobile for providing us with a copy of the “GIV Mobile Nexus 4″.