Andrew Melder

Ever since getting the Nexus 4, I’ve treated it with kid gloves. Mind you, I do this with all new gadgets for the first few weeks but the Nexus 4 amplifies this feeling with it’s glass back. Anyone who has owned, or knows an owner of, an iPhone 4/4S knows how easy it is to scratch/crack the glass on the back of a phone despite the Gorilla Glass coating.

While I have a TPU case to protect the phone, I’ve always been one to prefer the look and feel of any phone sans case. In doing so, I know I risk cracking the glass panels with an unfortunate drop, something I will have to live with if it happens. However, I wanted to find something to protect the back from scratches from grit/sand/dust when I place the phone down on a surface.

As a result, instead of buying a bumper case for the phone I decided to purchase Nillkin Crystal screen protector set for the Nexus 4. This set comes with both front and rear protectors however as I haven’t bothered to install the front protector, this article will focus on the rear protector.

Fitting the protector is the same as any other dry application screen protector: clean the surface of the phone, remove the plastic layer to reveal the adhesive backing then line up the protector to the screen while praying no dust particles sneak in underneath the protector while you’re applying it.

The Nillkin protector is of a nice thickness and the adhesive is very strong. Anyone who has applied a cheap, no-name brand screen protector will notice the difference in quality.

As you can see from the these pictures, the screen protector only has cutout holes to the camera flash, but not for the lens itself. In my brief experience, it hasn’t affected the picture quality at all and it’s nice to know the area around the sensor is protected from scratches.

The other cutout is for the speaker on the bottom right, which lines up quite nicely. I aligned this protector flush with the top of the glass back, which has left the tiniest of gaps at the bottom of the phone, however it’s nothing you wouldn’t find on any other protector and certainly not going to cause any issues for protection.

Two things to note: while the protector is not as slippery as the bare glass back, the phone will still slide off uneven with great ease. In addition, while the website I bought this from (neTimes.com) advertised this set as having a anti-fingerprint film, the rear protector at least is as fingerprint prone as the glass itself.

All up, I would highly recommend this protector to anyone looking to give a little scratch resistance to your glass-backed Nexus 4. If you want impact and cracking protection, this is not the product for you.

So first impressions after a few days use with the Nexus 4:

Build quality is actually very good at the price point I was expecting it to be fragile based on the reviews but it reminds me a lot of the iPhone 4/4S (I can see a lot of references to this in my full review). There's a heft to the phone that's reassuring instead of cumbersome, something Apple fanbois used to mention as an advantage before they decided lightness equaled quality with the iPhone 5.

Don’t get the wrong idea though, it still feels like that glass back is going to break at the slightest bump. That’s just from experience of seeing so many iPhone 4/4S with broken back glass panels. The fact that Google has an issue with stock levels and local repairers probably not having replacements at this stage means I’ve been extra careful with it when it’s not in it’s case.

Battery sucks I’m not going to go through my battery figures yet cause I haven’t stopped experimenting with different settings but it’s currently no better than my One XL, which wasn’t great in the first place yet has a 300mAh smaller battery.Maybe there’s some conditioning to come which will improve battery performance in the coming weeks but I suspect it’s not going to get much better than it is now.

I’m not too worried about this cause I’m always have charging options nearby however it would be nice to have better performance in case charging the phone is somehow not an option.

Camera is surprisingly good and usable

While not up to the low light performance of the One XL or the general clarity of the Galaxy S3, the sensor on the Nexus 4 is very good in most situations. The HDR mode on the new 4.2 software is particularly good and getting excellent detail and colour, as long as you have a steady hand.

3G performance is strong Again not quite to the standard of the One XL with it’s Telstra optimised radio however the Nexus 4 with it’s 42mbps HSPA+ chip handles the CDB congestion pretty well, remaining usable throughout the day never dropping below 1mbps download speeds.

Call volume and clarity a strong point If you actually have to make calls on this, it really shines. Calls are louder and clearer than the HD Voice enabled One XL. The only issue (if you can call it an issue) is that turning the in-call volume to maximum results in slight speaker vibration from the air pushing through it. Drop it down one level though and it’s perfectly fine and more than loud enough.

The same vibration issue occurs with the loudspeaker at full volume with certain sounds/music. Still quite loud and clear at 75% though. Unlike others, I’ve had no issues with muffling of sound when placing the phone on a flat surface.

So, some good and some bad but much more to come in the full review :)