Hi Everyone!
Just wanted to share my thoughts on the new Google Nexus 7 Tablet. I recently bought Nexus 7 for my brother. I already own a Acer A500 tablet, which I am very satisfied with :). I had purchased several games ( for about 30-40 USD, may be), and I am pretty much impressed with its performance. First things first, here are my takes on the new Google tablet.
1. Form factor / Design :
For those who already had hands on the Amazon tablet, this table is much thinner than the Amazon's tablet. If I compare this tablet to my Iconia, it is fits in one hand, and it is much lighter. Overall, this tablet is very well designed, comes with a nice rubber grip on it's back, so you don't have to worry about the device getting scratched. But one downside of the small screen size is apparent when watching movies. Clearly I am spoiled by my Iconia tablet, but if you have never used a tablet, you wouldn’t have issues with the 7 inch screen.
Nexus 7 in my hand
Nexus 7 in my wife’s hand
2. Screen Resolution :
The IPS screen of this tablet looks amazing.. Below is a sample screenshot from the Netflix app, you have to look at the screen to actually believe it. The screen is amazing, no complaints.
Nexus 7 running Netflix app
3. App Compatibility:
One big question that’s on everyone’s mind is, will my favourite app work properly on this tablet. So far, the answer is mixed. While some of the app developers had done a really good job porting the apps to JB 4.1, but some of the famous apps are force closing all the time. For example, GLU’s Mutant road kill and my favourite app, Fruit Ninja works perfectly on this tablet..
Nexus 7 running Fruit Ninja
Nexus 7 running Mutant road kill
Nexus 7 running Airport Mania 2
However, some of the famous apps like Angry birds Space, CNN App for tablet etc., are force closing some times. Over all most of the famous apps that I use on my Nexus S seems to work fine on JB 4.1. But it might take a while for all the devs to update their apps.
4. Battery Life
The User’s manual says that the tablet has 8 hrs of continuous use. But from my use for having used it for playing heave CPU crunching games like Towers N Trolls, Mutant Road Kill, the actual life is about 6-7 hrs. I think this is standard for the tablets of 7” size, so nothing new here.
5. Storage Space
The actual formatted capacity you get with a 16 GB version is about 13 GB. So, I would definitely recommend getting the 16 GB version, even though it is $50 more (here in U.S).
6.Performance:
Now, this is the tricky part, Even though a tablet might have quad core processor, but without the right software to utilize the quad code, the computing power is practically useless. But not in this tablet. This is one of the first tablet I have seen SMP kernel in OEM installed ROM. (see the screenshot). The performance is amazing on this tablet. You can feel the speed especially when you install several apps at once, on WIFI.
7. Google Now:
This tablet also has a iOS like voice assistant, with limited capabilities (JB 4.1 feature). But it doesn’t recognize my South-Indian accent that much, so I couldn’t test it out much. Here are couple of screenshots :
8. Per application Notification - limit feature:
This tablet also has customizable - notification setting, to prevent the devs from pushing unwanted ads via their apps. For example, I like some of the GLU mobile’s apps like the DH Reloaded, but it sends out ads via notifications. In this tablet, you can limit by going to Settings -> apps and taping on the app that you want to block notifications from, and simply un-check the “Show Notifications” check box. That would turn off the ads from that app! (Note: You would also miss out important announcements from the Dev’s if you do that, but it is no big deal)
Overall comparison with other Andriod tablets:
Note that I am not comparing this one with iPad which is several hundred dollars more. Compared to other 7” tablets, clearly this one is a winner. But if I compare this with the 10” tablets like Acer Iconia 501 or Asus Prime, I feel that that they are better, primarily because of the following: Missing USB storage drivers on the ROM, no micro-SD Card slot, Missing rear camera etc., But for $199 or $249, this tablet is a steal. Especially now google has a promotion for $25 credit towards Play store purchases.
Just wanted to share my thoughts on the new Google Nexus 7 Tablet. I recently bought Nexus 7 for my brother. I already own a Acer A500 tablet, which I am very satisfied with :). I had purchased several games ( for about 30-40 USD, may be), and I am pretty much impressed with its performance. First things first, here are my takes on the new Google tablet.
1. Form factor / Design :
For those who already had hands on the Amazon tablet, this table is much thinner than the Amazon's tablet. If I compare this tablet to my Iconia, it is fits in one hand, and it is much lighter. Overall, this tablet is very well designed, comes with a nice rubber grip on it's back, so you don't have to worry about the device getting scratched. But one downside of the small screen size is apparent when watching movies. Clearly I am spoiled by my Iconia tablet, but if you have never used a tablet, you wouldn’t have issues with the 7 inch screen.
Nexus 7 in my hand
Nexus 7 in my wife’s hand
2. Screen Resolution :
The IPS screen of this tablet looks amazing.. Below is a sample screenshot from the Netflix app, you have to look at the screen to actually believe it. The screen is amazing, no complaints.
Nexus 7 running Netflix app
3. App Compatibility:
One big question that’s on everyone’s mind is, will my favourite app work properly on this tablet. So far, the answer is mixed. While some of the app developers had done a really good job porting the apps to JB 4.1, but some of the famous apps are force closing all the time
Nexus 7 running Fruit Ninja
Nexus 7 running Mutant road kill
Nexus 7 running Airport Mania 2
However, some of the famous apps like Angry birds Space, CNN App for tablet etc., are force closing some times. Over all most of the famous apps that I use on my Nexus S seems to work fine on JB 4.1. But it might take a while for all the devs to update their apps.
4. Battery Life
The User’s manual says that the tablet has 8 hrs of continuous use. But from my use for having used it for playing heave CPU crunching games like Towers N Trolls, Mutant Road Kill, the actual life is about 6-7 hrs. I think this is standard for the tablets of 7” size, so nothing new here.
5. Storage Space
The actual formatted capacity you get with a 16 GB version is about 13 GB. So, I would definitely recommend getting the 16 GB version, even though it is $50 more (here in U.S).
6.Performance:
Now, this is the tricky part, Even though a tablet might have quad core processor, but without the right software to utilize the quad code, the computing power is practically useless. But not in this tablet. This is one of the first tablet I have seen SMP kernel in OEM installed ROM. (see the screenshot). The performance is amazing on this tablet. You can feel the speed especially when you install several apps at once, on WIFI.
7. Google Now:
This tablet also has a iOS like voice assistant, with limited capabilities (JB 4.1 feature). But it doesn’t recognize my South-Indian accent that much, so I couldn’t test it out much. Here are couple of screenshots :
8. Per application Notification - limit feature:
This tablet also has customizable - notification setting, to prevent the devs from pushing unwanted ads via their apps. For example, I like some of the GLU mobile’s apps like the DH Reloaded, but it sends out ads via notifications. In this tablet, you can limit by going to Settings -> apps and taping on the app that you want to block notifications from, and simply un-check the “Show Notifications” check box. That would turn off the ads from that app! (Note: You would also miss out important announcements from the Dev’s if you do that, but it is no big deal)
Overall comparison with other Andriod tablets:
Note that I am not comparing this one with iPad which is several hundred dollars more. Compared to other 7” tablets, clearly this one is a winner. But if I compare this with the 10” tablets like Acer Iconia 501 or Asus Prime, I feel that that they are better, primarily because of the following: Missing USB storage drivers on the ROM, no micro-SD Card slot, Missing rear camera etc., But for $199 or $249, this tablet is a steal. Especially now google has a promotion for $25 credit towards Play store purchases.
