Nexus 7 Review

Shortly after Christmas, I found myself purchasing a Nexus 7 tablet.  And believe me when I say they were few and far between in our local brick and mortar stores.  In early December I saw them on sale at a two of our local Walmart stores.  But apparently they were a pretty hot item this year.  I ended up finding one at a Gamestop about 30 miles away.

Needless to say, it was well worth the near 60 mile round trip.  So here is my quick review.

First up, like most tablets or mobile devices; there are several different versions of the device.  The Nexus 7 was made by Asus for Google (as Google doesn't produce hardware themselves).  The Nexus 7 is a 7 inch, Tegra 3 tablet and it comes in three flavors.
- 16GB Wifi only                               (MSRP: $199.00)
- 32GB Wifi only                               (MSRP: $249.00)
- 32GB Wifi & 3G (3G via AT&T)     (MSRP: $299.00)

Most of the local brick & mortar stores around here carry the 32GB WiFi only model for $249.  At first, $249 may sound a little steep.  But when compared to the price of devices like the Kindle Fire HD or the Nook HD it's still pretty much in the same price range.  And from the software perspective, the Nexus 7 is quite a bit more open (out of the box) than either Amazon or Barnes & Noble's offerings.

The market definitely has no shortage of tablets and mobile computing devices, so what makes the Nexus 7 stand out?  For me, it's the software that jumps out at me.  The Nexus 7 runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) out of the box.  So big deal, it runs the latest version of Android... Who cares?  Well, most Android based devices include apps that aren't used of wanted.  Smartphone's are the same way.  My Galaxy S2 from Sprint came preloaded with Sprint branded apps and even a couple games that I didn't really care to have on my device without my choice.

This doesn't happen with the Nexus 7, reason being it runs pure Android without any vendor UI overlay or without any Vendor specific apps preloaded.  What you do get preinstalled on the devices are the apps from Google that are run of the mill on Android devices:
-Google Play Store (and associated apps)

So what about the specs:
- Tegra 3 Quad-Core Processor
-1GB of RAM
-Storage Capacity: 16GB or 32GB
-WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
-Bluetooth
-NFC
-3G only available is the 3G model
-Front Facing 1.2MP camera
-4325 mAh Battery (rated at approximately 8 hours of battery life)
Screen Specs:
-7 inch (1280 x 800) at 216ppi
-Back-lit IPS display

Other Features:
-Microhone
-Accelerometer
-Magnetometer
-GPS
-Gyroscope

You may have read through those specs and said: "What a minute, where is the SD Card slot or the rear facing camera?!".  And you'd be right, the Nexus 7 does not sport either of those.  And to be honest with you, I haven't even missed them.  Here's why.  My phone has a 8MP camera on it.  The majority of my pictures are taken while I am out and about in the world on a daily basis.  I have a 10 inch Android Tablet that sports both of the Nexus 7's missing features and I rarely use them.  I have taken less than 10 pictures with my 10 inch tablet's rear camera.  I use the SD card slot only to load a small collection of ROM's to play.  That's it.  So not having these two features didn't hinder me from picking up the Nexus 7.

And if these missing features might deter you from checking out the Nexus 7, then don't let it.  Because there is a work around for the missing SD Card slot.  You can pick up what is called an "On the Go" USB adapter.  There are a couple types of these available on Amazon.  The popular one basically splits the micro-USB connector on the bottom of the device into two USB ports that allows you to connect Flash Drives for extra storage of file transfers (although some of the file transfer features will require ROOT access).  That means it is still possible to swap files on the fly.  Albeit, with an extra cable.  The good news is that most of these adapters are really dirt cheap.  And there is even one that has a card reader/USB/HDMI Output on it as well.

So enough about the specs, how does it perform?  So far I have read books on the Nexus 7, watched quite a bit of Netflix programming on it, surfed the web and social networks, and yes; I have indulged in quite a few games as well.  Everything works just as smooth as silk.  The games I have played so far include:
-Need for Speed Most Wanted
-Dark Meadow: The Pact
-Sonic 4 Episode II THD
-Beach Buggy Blitz
-Marvel's Avengers Initiative

And every game has been fast, no lag, responsive and an overall fantastic experience. I am excited to load up the multiplayer version of Shadowgun to see it in all it's glory.  One of the common complaints tends to be more with the apps from Google Play; as not all of them are designed to work on a 7 inch display.  What I mean is the Facebook app downloaded from Google Play is essentially the same as the phone version of the app.  This has been an issue with Android pretty much since Day 1.  They call that "fragmentation" and is one of the large reason's Apple fans slam Android fanboys.  For me, there are so many other awesome apps out there, I can't let the quirks with just a couple hinder my overall experience on something that really isn't the tablet's issue in the first place.

The 7 inch screen size is perfect for reading books, as it feels like using a paperback sized book.  And the tablet is pretty light (weighing in at 340g) so you can easily hold it with one hand and not tired of holding it.  And when paired with books from Google Play (or as I prefer to use Aldiko), it really feels great kicking back on the couch with a good book on the Nexus 7.

Battery Life
Sure, it's got great specs with a great screen size and can run movies and games without a problem.  The battery life must be terrible, right?  Nope.  In fact, the battery life is the best I have seen on an Android device this size.  For example, over the weekend I pretty much carried the Nexus 7 with me everywhere I went.  I haven't altered any of the display or power settings from their default settings.  At the end of the day Saturday, I looked at the Battery usage and it had been off of the charger for a little better than 9.5 hours and I was still showing around 32% battery left.  My usage that day was connecting to three different WiFi connections, web surfing/Facebooking for a while on each.  Did some lite reading, used the web surfing to find resources and information on PC repair for a friend, watching YouTube, playing Need for Speed Most Wanted, and later that evening watching an episode of "Sons of Anarchy" on Netflix.

That is way more activity than my phone could handle without begging for a charge midway through the day. So you shouldn't have to worry about battery life.  If you can charge it up before bed, you'll not have much to worry about.  The only issue I can forsee is that the battery is enclosed (much like the iPad devices).  So you can't replace it when it's charge cycles are used up.  Hopefully, by the time that happens; it'll be time to upgrade devices anyway.

Cons
The Nexus 7 only has one downside that I have found thus far and I wanted to save it for last.  And really, it isn't that big of a deal (it can be resolved); but out of the box it may be an issue for some people.  The Nexus 7 has one speaker bar in the bottom of the back of the device.  Out of the box with the volume turned all the way up, it is still somewhat difficult to hear the audio anywhere but in a semi-quiet room.  You can however download a Speaker Booster app from Google Play that will fix this.  So not a serious issue by any means.

Overall Verdict: Must Buy!
Today marks 1 week spent with the Nexus 7, and I haven't regretted purchasing it yet.  It is a great device, offering the latest and greatest that Google has to offer on the software side.  And the awesome specs that Asus slammed into the Nexus 7's casing.  I honestly gave thought to initially purchasing the iPad Mini.  But with it's price point higher than the Nexus 7's, and the fact I really didn't like the idea of having to use iTunes again.  So I veered away from Apple's offering.  And honestly, I'm glad that I did.

For more information on the Nexus 7 please visit:
Google Play's Nexus 7 Product Page

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Apple vs Samsung = $1 Billion Bruise for Samsung

Before jumping into this, let me first and foremost say that I love my Samsung Galaxy S2.  It is an amazing device, and probably the best phone I have ever owned (and yes, I have used Apple products before).  If you have read any of my posts, you'll know that I am a proponent for Android (mostly because it will built ontop of Linux).  And yes, I will admit that there are striking resemblances between my Galaxy S2 and my wife's Apple iPhone 4S (mostly in terms of interface design).

If you have kept up with any of the news surrounding the Apple/Samsung patent lawsuits you'll know that Apple was recently awarded $1 billion big one's for basically admitting that they copied the iPhone design.  So, I'll have to say I kind of saw this one coming.  And knowing that Samsung is getting hit in the pocketbook for their admitted plagiarism of Apple's hardware, it was no surprise that the patents will be upheld and we will probably be seeing some big changes to some of the basics of even how Android works across the board.

So what is affected by the results of this lawsuit?  For starters, this lawsuit will not just affect Samsung products, but in the end will affect Android at the OS level as well.  As obviously, Google will try to steer clear of Apple patented design traits.  No more dedicated home buttons on Samsung hardware (they were notorious on some of their phones to have a rectangular home button).  Things like app icon design will more than likely change as well just for beginners.  But things like the "swipe to unlock" bars, various multitouch gestures, etc.  This is a big deal people.

So it sounds pretty bad doesn't it?  Let's look at it from a different angle.  Maybe this is a good thing.  Maybe this lawsuit is what it took to get some innovation back into our mobile devices.  Let's admit it, for the last several years the world has laid in wait to see what latest gimmicks Apple's latest phone gives us.  And then you start to see similar things show up in other places.  So we have let Apple be the innovation leader in the mobile device market.  Maybe now is when our mobile devices meet a "theoretical" fork-in-the-road where new interface designs, new product features, and new phone designs in general could pop-up and even succeed.  Let's face it.  A lot of Android user's like and use Android because it is different than Apple.  And because it isn't an Apple product, point blank.  Yet, our devices are starting to look more and more like Apple devices anyways.  Maybe it is a well warranted time for a change.

Personally, I feel the growing pains and changes may suck initially.  Hopefully, Samsung won't outright nerf many features; simply reworking them with Google's assistance in a Jelly Bean update would be nice. Being realistic and knowing how the whole Android development/release cycle works, I think I may be living in a dream.  But eventually, we may be seeing the start of an Android rebirth that can once again make us stand back and say "That phone can do that! Amazing!" instead of the now common "Cool Phone!" posts we see on forums today.

Either way, it looks to be an exciting time for Android users.  Whether that exciting is positive or negative remains to be seen.

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