[I disagree with the case comment, but that's because I find cases annoying and my wife's didn't protect her Nexus 4 worth a darn.]

> The thing slides off of pretty much anything

This is incredibly true. An anecdote: I was sitting in the waiting room at my dentist's office; I knew I'd have a wait, so I turned on the access point so that I could do some work and set the phone on the seat next to me. 15 seconds later, it dropped to the carpet. WTF, so I picked it back up and put it on the center of the chair seat. It fell off 2 minutes later. WTF^2, so I picked it back up and, intentionally and very carefully, put it back on the chair seat. It didn't fall off, but it took me 3 tries to get the phone to sit on a cloth chair seat without falling off. And I'm sure it would have fallen off given more time.

If anyone wants more evidence of just how easily the Nexus 4 slides off things, here's a very unscientific video I took after witnessing my Nexus 4 slide off something and shatter the rear glass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1hbVgO7_k8

It's incredible watching it slide ever-so-slowly on a surface that I previously thought was pretty much level.

Looks like a job for Sugru - pop a couple of tiny nubs on the back and it'll stop sliding!

Why would you put your phone glass-side-down anyway? Does it still slide about glass-side-up?

Both sides have glass surfaces.

However, the back has had nubs since around March: http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/28/4157304/google-nexus-4-des...

I put mine facedown at night to stop the annoying blinking light. They are curved to prevent scratching.

I think Light Flow allows you to disable LED at night (or set a max blink time, at least).

Why do manufacturers insist on making their devices so slippery? My old phone (in dire need of replacement) is all rubberized steel. It doesn't slide off anything, and it's practically indestructible. Why doesn't anyone make a phone like that?

1. sleek devices are more generally-appealing in the store/advertisements 2. it's easier to effect a rugged case on a sleek phone than a sleek case on a rugged phone. 3. oleophobic-style coatings cut down on finger-smear

Yeah, this is wild... I have a Droid 4 and one of the two good features it has (other than the fantastic keyboard of course) is its rubberized back grip. The OG Droid 1 was extremely good, to the point where I could put it on my slanted car dash for GPS use without any accessories and it would just stick there.

This should be a feature of all phones. There's nearly zero number of times I want my phone to move from where I've placed it.

I have the hard plastic Speck case on my iPhone 4S... the front border is rubber and comes a couple mm past the glass, the back is hard plastic. I just set it screen-down and it never slides.

I'd guess because pockets. It's annoying to try and pull the phone out of your pocket, only to have it turn your pocket inside-out, thus dumping the contents of whatever else you had in there onto the floor.

Price no objection?

AT&T has a phone that's some serious shit. We got a demo the other day... and that thing resists drops, high temps, freezing, water splash (or underwater to a couple of feet... don't remember).

It was some serious hardware. Of course, it's not running Android, yet if you want indestructible, I was impressed with this thing.

Me, personally: My phones last approx 2 years. My iPhone 5 (got it around 1 year ago I think) is all busted up. I'm not an Apple lover, yet this thing is tough. EVERY panel on it is broken, bent, shattered... and it still works without a hitch. Props to Apple on that.

Seems like a company should get more props for a product that doesn't actually break every exterior component within 1 year.

My N9 is well over a year old and has zero broken external parts. And of course the phone itself still works.

Given that a smartphone has virtually no moving parts inside, continued functionality absent being submerged or crushed is not a particularly noteworthy achievement.

There is the samsung Rugby. Hardened, waterproof, etc.

Fingerprints.

I'll back this up too. If the phone can slide off something it eventually will slide off something - no matter how long it takes. I've put it down a few times and it's taken between 30 mins and an hour to make it's and eventually slip off an edge!

That said, I've dropped it a lot of times and it only has one crack on the back so far

Which case did she use?

Note that newer versions of the Nexus 4 have small nubs on the back that provide some additional traction, and also give enough of a gap to stop the speaker from being completely muffled on flat surfaces.

http://www.gsmarena.com/updated_nexus_4_design_adds_nubs_aro...

It's good that they did this for sure. I remember reading that people were also having problems with the rear glass shattering from the thermal shock of being placed on cold counter tops. I'd still probably get a case for it, though. If you have generally pretty dry hands like mine, a case can reduce the strain of holding on to a generally slippery phone. I also don't know if this would be changed by the little nubs but I had issues with it regularly sliding out of my pocket while on couches.

The phones ability to slide across the flattest of surfaces, combined with the super effective "silent mode" (aka putting your phone on any flat surface, blocking the speaker completely), has dumbfounded me since I got the phone at launch.

How do these things get missed in testing? Did no one throughout the entire testing process receive a call while their phone was on their desk? Did they not notice the phone running away from them every time they put it on a shiny surface?

The blocked speaker issue was fixed in a silent hardware rev. Two tiny bumps were added to the bottom edge of the rubber edge that lift it ever so slightly when placed on its back so sound escapes. Unfortunately, this change doesn't do anything for the "magical hovercraft" feature.

The magical hovercraft feature is why the Nexus engineers should really work at Hyperloop. They have bravely taken up the fight against friction, and they made terrific inroads.

Not only does it slide off everything, mine has broken twice after falling - once from sliding off of my wallet on a countertop, and once from me fumbling it out of my pocket.

They made me pay for the repairs ($150 each time).

The Nexus S on the other hand was indestructible. I dropped it multiple times even of hard services.

Once I was climbing on some rocks, tried to send a text (yeah, I realize that was dumb), lost balance and ended up slamming the phone screen first on the rock supporting my weight with it. There is a 1/4 sandgrain width dent in the middle of the screen, barely noticeable unless you're looking for it in just the right light. As I said pretty indestructible for me.

I had the same experience with the Galaxy Nexus. I literally threw it onto the road....twice. Both events happened while running with the phone in my hand. The first time I threw it downwards at speed, the second time I launched it about 10 feet in front of me. The back and corners took some dents and chips, but no significant damage.

I've not been particularly fond of LG hardware since a friend had an LG device spontaneously catch fire.

I sometimes intentionally drop mine, to show people how a phone can be. I happen to have the version with the plastic screen though, so it's no where near as brittle as glass (but scratches incredibly easily).

Mine has broken its screen after half a meter fall on a carpet.

Am I crazy to think that maybe Google designed it this way?

Yes. It's extremely unlikely that the margin on repairs would offset the loss of sales from an easily breakable phone, not to mention the impact of a poor reputation on sales of future versions.

That they designed it specifically to get extra revenue through repairs or replacements on what is, by most accounts, essentially a margin-free device? Yes, very crazy.

But it's fair to say that the designers had different priorities (primarily aesthetic ones - weight, thinness) which mean the device is more breakable than it could be. The iPhone is the same.

FYI if anyone from Google is reading this, these small industrial design mistakes have convinced me not to buy this phone.

Hopefully the Moto X is better!

I'm from google, but it's not like there's anything I can do about this. These mistakes convinced me to sell mine and get an iPhone.

Old HTC models had a distinct chin, so you could just lay it somewhere face-down and it wouldn't damage the screen at all. Of course this conveniently also exposed the speaker.

Also DONT BUY THE WIRELESS CHARGER.

It is a joke, the phone might stick to it the first time you use it, if you're lucky. The only thing keeping the above mentioned slippery phone on the un-necessarily slanted charger is some slick rubber material. The rubber holds dust like a pro, but alas cannot grip the phone.

If you don't believe me read Amazon reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Google-Nexus-4-Wireless-Charger/dp/B00...

I miss the Palm Touchstone. Not only was the accessory itself brilliant--magnets held the phone in place and aligned--but the entire Pre ecosystem had a thoughtful and slick feel to everything about it. Very much the opposite of the Nexus experience, which, while still very much fine, I can't help but feel is rushed and developed without thought to the small details.

Interestingly, you can actually connect the Palm Touchstone coils to some newer phones that have the right connections on the back and use a Touchstone for inductive charging - I did it with my Galaxy S3 for a while, it's a pretty simple mod. Yeah, the magnets are really nice, I almost can't believe that other manufacturers wouldn't put them in their charging bases.

patents maybe?

I ran into the same difficulties. I came up with a very easy fix. Put a sticker on the back of your phone. The sticker will make it so that it doesn't slip off the charger and slide around in general. I do agree that it was rediculous that they sold a charger that wouldn't work with the phone as designed. The fix for the problem is very easy, however hackish.

Funny. I use the wireless charger every day, and haven't had that problem. I wonder why?

You live in one of Intel's clean room fab environments. Seriously, this is a legitimate problem shared by >1 users.

Must be.

low tech solution: wrap your charger with clingwrap. glass + clingwrap creates a magical bond

And it will keep your phone fresh!

Only one of the circles on the charger matters (I'm at the office now so I can't check it). It's actually really easy to clean that off with your finger, and that's the only thing that matters in terms of holding it on.

It's still a bad design, but once I figured that out it was useable again.

^^ truth. one thing that fixes this, though, is having a diztronic tpu case. with the case on the phone no longer slips off the orb and is protected to boot (an absolute must for this phone -- and i hate cases)

Carets are risky comment selectors aren't they? Who knows whose truth you'll be supporting next...

Thanks for the inexpensive tip. Only $9.95+S&H more to get that orb to actually stick, I'll take it.

But yes, def truth, extra carets.

Have you tried cleaning it with a microfiber cloth and any old cleaning spray? I find I need to do that every few months, but so long as I do it holds perfectly. Before I cleaned it, it would slide off over time.

I completely forgot that this was a feature of the phone. haha

I personally use some sort of rubber sticker instead. It does not effect the resale value, as you can remove it easily, and does not look bad if you cut it properly.

All this without the bulk of a case, for less than $5.

I put a sticker on the back of my Nexus 4. The phone no longer slides off of seemingly level surfaces. In fact it doesn't slide around much at all after the sticker.

Always the simplest way to solve these things, this is what I always use on my phones for hand grip as well as when laying on a surface.

If you don't like to have a sticker some appropriate colour duck/duct tape works perfectly.

After lots of research I went with this ballistic case for nexus 4: http://www.goballisticcase.com/products/lg-nexus-4-ballistic...

Not only prevents the potential sliding, but offers great protection for clumsy phone droppers like myself.

Most other cases are more fashion accessoire than they actually protect the device. This one adds some bulk in favor of actual protection. (ymmv yadda yadda)

I have one of the original (pre-nub) Nexus 4's and mine's slid off of desks/surfaces at least a dozen times. Somehow, the screen/back is still fine, but the plastic bezel looks and feels like it's been gnawed on by bears.

Still, it's a fantastic device, and it's been running flawlessly w/ CM10 and an LTE hybrid baseband (TMO in LA) for months - much better than when I got it in fact.

It's the best Android phone I've used (4.2+ of course is a big factor), and the first one where I haven't really felt the urge to upgrade at all (haven't been convinced by the S4, One, or X).

I think I'd need some combination of ridiculous battery life, way better radios, GoPro3-like video quality, IPX7+, and sunlight viewable screen to get me excited.

I guess everyone's mileage varies, but I've had a nexus 4 almost since launch, without a cover, and have only had one small 'accident' that didn't result in any damage.

That's what I like to hear!!!

I decided against some silly case/screen protector and mine is still looking as it did the day I received it. I see the magic slip feature as a bonus - no need to leave it casually lying around if you know it will fall.

I compared my phone with a friend's iphone - his was bulked out by the obligatory cheap and nasty case. He had the case because he would not be able to afford to replace his phone should it drop. Meanwhile, with the Nexus 4, you can afford two for the price of one lower-resolution screen iphone. Therefore, only when you have smashed one do you 'need' the case...

I got the front & back xtremeguards for mine and have no problem with it slipping. They're not perfect and there may be a better manufacturer, but I didn't want to add bulk to the phone and they were running their 80% off special. http://www.xtremeguard.com/LG-Google-Nexus-4-Screen-Protecto...

I picked up the Spigen SGP Steinheil Dual for the same reasons. I actually only use the back protector but it's great. Although, while I haven't had issues with my phone slipping off tables, I don't think I can really attribute that to the protector. I find I can still slide my phone across surfaces as if it were a hockey puck on ice.

http://www.spigen.com/brands/google/google-nexus-4-screen-pr...

Haha, guess who just broke their screen last week and bought a replacement at the old price.

Didn't slide off anything though, I dropped it pretty harshly onto some concrete.

Google has a price protection program in place if you purchased after August 12. You have 15 days to claim at https://support.google.com/googleplay/contact/nexus_price

This is a great pity. I'm looking to upgrade from my Galaxy Sii which seems virtually indestructible, and this matters. All my iphone friends have cracked their screens and I'm clumsier than all of them.

A $1 rear screen protector protects against that and gives it a really great grippy feel on the back. It's so much nicer to hold than having to put a clunky case on it.

For a while, it looks like the N4 came with a free bumper. Does anyone know if this is still so? It's advertised separately for $20, and so I assume not...

Agreed. Mine broke without even dropping it within 20 minutes of taking it out of the box. They replaced it, but it took quite some arguing on my part.

I agree; the one to get is Ringke Fusion. I didn't take the original screen film off - free screen protector!

Is sending it off for 2 weeks the only official option for screen replacement?

It's the inspiration for the Hyperloop.

is there anything like AppleCare+ -- 2 replacements for $49/ea?

My home insurance company offers a rider for electronics damage - about $19/year, and it paid $50 out of the $100 to fix my Nexus One when it fell. It's Liberty Mutual, but I think all the big insurers have a similar deal.

Yes, SquareTrade.

SquareTrade is great for iPhones - $99 for two years with a $50 deductible. But for other smartphones, it's $125 for two years with a $99 deductible. For the 8GB, it would just be cheaper to buy a new one.

glue a tiny dot of rubber to the back of the phone.