*** The Official Google Nexus 7 Thread ***

[Robbo]

So, this has just been announced. Made by ASUS:



8GB Nexus 7 will be priced at £159, while the 16GB model will cost £199. Both models should be shipping within two to three weeks.

Official site: http://www.google.co.uk/nexus/#/7

Specs:

• 7” 1280x800 HD display (216 ppi)
• Back-lit IPS display
• Scratch-resistant Corning glass
• 1.2MP front-facing camera
• 198.5 x 120 x 10.45mm
• 340g
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth
• 8/16 GB internal storage
• 1 GB RAM
• Micro USB
• 4325 mAh (Up to 8 hours of active use)
• Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
• Quad-core Tegra 3 processor
• Microphone
• NFC (Android Beam)
• Accelerometer
• GPS
• Magnetometer
• Gyroscope

Google Play shop page screenshot: Link

The Verge: http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/27/3120884/google-nexus-7-first-image-leak

Order here: https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_7_8gb

 

[Robbo]

Hands on:



http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/27/3120992/asus-nexus-7-android-tablet-hands-on

 

[Robbo]

anyone here with new iPad getting Nexus ??
want to get one myself but not sure if I wont miss screen from it...

I'm getting one as well as the iPad. It's certainly not going to contend with the new iPad.

 

[Robbo]

Here we go with the iPad arguing...

This tablet is designed to undercut the iPad really, spec wise it doesn't compete with the new one but it is a lot cheaper.

The best way Google are going to get Android on tablets really going is by getting an Android tablet into the hands of as many people as possible, and this is a smart way of doing that.

 

[Robbo]

For those who say they're going to use the ipad and the nexus...for what?

Planning to use Nexus on the move/ipad at home? Or different functions completely?

I don't know really!

The screen shouldnt be a huge leap back, 720p at 7" is nice, its rather sharp (Not as sharp as the iPad but i think its a little overkill) and it has a IPS screen so should have similar colours and viewing angles.

It's the size too though, I'm not too worried about portability and 10" is nice.

 

[Robbo]

Pictures and hands-on stuff:

First, the specs. It's a 7-inch device, with a 1280 x 800 IPS LCD that clocks in at 400 nits of brightness. That's powered by a NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30L quad-core processor running at 1.2GHz. Wireless connectivity is 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth as well, but there's no WWAN connectivity here, so you'll want to stay close to a hotspot. Finally, there's 1GB of RAM and either 8 or 16GB of storage.

The tablet feels good in the hand. It's a bit on the chunky side -- 10.45mm thick -- just fractionally thinner than the Fire but, at 340g in weight, noticeably lighter than the 400+ gram tablet from Amazon. The biggest difference between the two, however, is the screen quality.

That IPS panel looks great from all angles, showing good brightness and good contrast even in a brightly lit room. We'll need some more time to see how that compares to other competing 7-inchers, but it's certainly a screen that is aiming higher than its price point.

Performance too is aiming high, not besting the latest of superphones like the Galaxy S III or the HTC One X when doing things like launching apps or panning around websites, but still very quick and very responsive to most tasks -- much more so than the Fire in most cases.

Google is promising nine eight hours of battery life here and of course we'll be testing that out as soon as we can, but based on our brief first impressions we're left impressed for the cost. Is it a new top-tier tablet? No, but for under $200 it's a great product. We'll be back with our full review soon, so stay tuned.

Update: The battery life was quoted as nine hours in the keynote but the official specs list eight. We'll see what the real story is when we run our rundown test.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/27/nexus-7-tablet-hands-on/

 

[Robbo]

Just read the Anandtech stuff, it looks great for the money, you really can't complain.

A MicroSD slot would have made it amazing, but Google want to promote cloud services so fair enough.

I'd be all for cloud services if the various European networks could reliably support it, at present, they can't.

 

[Robbo]

What would a tablet like this be like for reading technical books (pdfs or proper ebook formats) with diagrams and such? I've got a kindle (last generation one) which is usable however the lack of colour has always irked me and the lack of ability to zoom in quickly and easily on certain things (for diagrams or whatever) is annoying.

I imagine it would be great for such things.

 

[Robbo]

Without a Micro sd slot it's a fail. 16Gb is just not enough

It's not a 'fail', just look at the price.

 

[Robbo]

Does it have a Msd Slot....No = Fail

Price is irrelevant.

Of course it's relevant, the cheaper it is, the less you should expect and the less of an issue it becomes. If this thing was £500, nobody would be interested, it's a lot cheaper than that, so most people have ordered one.

It may not even be a price issue, Google have probably left it out deliberately in order to promote cloud services.

I can understand it may not be much good to you, but the whole 'lol fail' thing is boring. The interest the device is generating shows quite the opposite.

 

[Robbo]

That's confirmed? (To clarify, this is a rhetorical question!)

No, and in my opinion it's very doubtful. Apple don't deal in low end stuff generally.

 

[Robbo]

Has this killed the MS Surface and other W8 Tablets? Possibly

I don't think so. It may dent the sales of the RT Surface tablet but the Pro one is above and beyond any other tablet as it's a 'proper' computer. It costs a lot though so probably won't be all that popular anyway.

 

[Robbo]

Dont think its been posted....
http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/28/nexus-7-review/

Nice, hadn't seen that!

It really is fantastic value for money.

 

[Robbo]

How does the Tegra 3 in this match up to the Exynos in the S3? Really tempted to get one (the price is too good), would want them to be a similar in performance as possible really.

The Tegra 3 isn't as good as the Exynos 4212 in the S3 (CPU and GPU wise), but it's perfectly capable. I imagine they'll feel fairly similar in use.

 

[Robbo]

Cheers. My S3 can play videos straight from my DSLR. Would like this to be able to do the same.

It should be fine doing that, if not then you'll be able to get a video player from the Play Store that can.

 

[Robbo]

have you tweaked your one x or nexus/s2? as although i love my phone there are hiccups with it. Im pretty sure ios doesn't have as many problems as android. Although to be fair android's app market has got more than just the 3 phones that apple has to deal with for developing on.

iOS is generally more reliable in my experience, but as far as smoothness goes, there isn't much in it between the top end devices. The S3, 4S, One X/S, iPad 2/3, etc are all as fast as each other in general.

I don't think the Nexus 7 will be quite as fast/smooth as the iPad 2 or 3 from looking at the early reviews/impressions, but there won't be much difference. Developers could always improve it too.

my desire has hiccups but it is a hold device with a htc sense bloatware but once i got rid of that and installed cynageon rom thats plain android, it flies just as good as a iphone.

the one x i only routed last weekend but even before then it flied and was far superior and more slicker then the iphone 4s whith aboout 100+ apps installed and me using 9 home screens packed with lots of widgets

The 4S is generally a bit smoother than the One X in my experience. 'Far superior', I very much doubt.

 

[Robbo]

from my experience it is superior then the iphone 4s. my wife has one and we have loads in my work place that i sometimes test on.

Also, iphone os is less demanding and less taxing then android. look at the use of widgets and homescreens and notification bars. Iphone have not got any of those.

Yes, in theory the 4S should be smoother anyway, but the difference is just so, so small either way. I can't see how you can say it's 'far' better.

As for the One X, it's not a great example as it's not even the fastest Android phone, the S3 and One S are a bit quicker.

 

[Robbo]

either way, iphone no longer is teh smoothest fastest phone anymore. android has catched up mate.

That was my overal point on the guy saying iphone is still top dog for smoothness and response.

I never disagreed with that, but it's roughly on par now, not 'far' better!

 

[Robbo]

hehe indeed it is. anyway is it a bad move to use tegra 3 for this device seeing as the s4 on the one s is faster and better?

The Tegra 3 chips are a lot cheaper and easier to get hold of, so that's why.

 

[Robbo]

he sais he has a one x thats more sluggish then a iphone lol

Well the home screen transitions on the One X for example aren't perfectly smooth, where on the 4S they generally are.

With a custom launcher and so forth, they are smooth, but the Sense launcher isn't great.

It's hardly a big secret that many people find the One X a bit stuttery in places, where the 4S is generally free from such stutter.

The Galaxy S III would be a better example of powerful, smoother animations and performance.

Plus, he didn't actually specify that he was talking about the animations, he could have been referring to the 'refined' part of the post, which is understandable.