The Nexus 4 is honestly an excellent piece of hardware. I'd still say the iPhone is better-built, but I don't feel like the N4 is far enough behind to leave me feeling jealous.
The screen size is a sticking point for some folks, but the device doesn't "feel" big (my dad is a vocal critic of too-big phones, and he rather likes my N4) like some other phones of similar sizes. The battery life is absolutely an issue, but that's a software issue rather than a hardware one; I average about 36 hours on a charge on my N4, but that did take a bit of tweaking (turning off location reporting services that are on by default, primarily) to get there.
All that said, I feel that in terms of software, stock Android is so much better than iOS at this point that it's not even a contest; the "battery life" issue is part of the double-edged sword that is developer freedom - on the other edge is a system that lets developers do wonderful things. Apple is absolutely still top of the game in terms of hardware, but they're going to have to do a hard burn to catch up on software.
Honestly, I used the N4 for a few hours and was left wanting. The size of the device really throws me off because I can just barely use it with a single hand, and it is extremely awkward.
It may not sound important, but as a parent of a 5mth old, being able to use a device with a single hand is essential.
Oh, I hear you. It's very different if you're coming from a smaller device. The screen size is a showstopper for some people, no doubt. It works for me, but I can see how others would like something more iPhone-sized.
(Parent of two here, I totally understand the "one hand" thing!)
The screen size is a sticking point for some folks, but the device doesn't "feel" big (my dad is a vocal critic of too-big phones, and he rather likes my N4) like some other phones of similar sizes. The battery life is absolutely an issue, but that's a software issue rather than a hardware one; I average about 36 hours on a charge on my N4, but that did take a bit of tweaking (turning off location reporting services that are on by default, primarily) to get there.
All that said, I feel that in terms of software, stock Android is so much better than iOS at this point that it's not even a contest; the "battery life" issue is part of the double-edged sword that is developer freedom - on the other edge is a system that lets developers do wonderful things. Apple is absolutely still top of the game in terms of hardware, but they're going to have to do a hard burn to catch up on software.