Nexus 7 Review

Nexus 7 Review

Manufacturer: Asus

Pricing: 199.99 – 299.99

Release Date: July 13, 2012

Specs:

-          Nvidia Tegra 3(Quad-Core 1.2GHz Cortex-A9)

-          7” 1280x800 IPS HD Display (216ppi)

-          1GB RAM

-          8gb (no longer available), 16gb, or, 32gb

-          HSPA+ (if you get the 32gb version with mobile data)

-          1.2Mp Camera

-          4325mAh Battery

-          Android 4.1 (now 4.2)

-          Weights 340g

-          Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n

What is it?

The Nexus 7 is Google’s answer to the Amazon Kindle Fire (HD) and other similar Tablets below 10inches. Being of the Nexus line you are pretty much guaranteed to experience Android the way Google intended as well as receive updates to newer firmware quicker than its competitors

What I Like...

-          7inch form factor

-          HD display (though colors can be more vibrant )

-          Price

-          Soft touch back

-          Powerful Quad-Core Processor

-          NFC

-          Google Wallet is kind of cool but buggy...

-          Google Now

-          Battery Life

What I don’t like…

-          No rear camera

-          No Haptic Feedback

-          No notification LED

-          No Native Camera App

-          Android 4.2 screws up some features

-          Should have stereo speakers

Design | Build Quality:

The Nexus 7 is 7.81inches by 4.72inches and is .41inches thick. It weighs just under 12onces and comes in black unless you went to Google I/O last year where they gave out special edition white ones. On the back of the device you get a soft textured back that most reviewers describe as a golf ball like design. It has curved edges and a speaker bar towards the bottom. The front of the Nexus7 is sporting a HD IPS screen with a light sensor and a 1.2mp camera at the top. There are no buttons on the front of the device, and it does support smart covers.  The bottom of the device has a micro USB port and a standard headphone / Microphone jack.  The right side is where you will find the volume rocker and the power button. There is a mic located at the top of the device. There is another mic on the left hand side as well as a port for a dock (as of right now there are no 1st party docks yet). Overall the device is made of hard and textured plastics which may seem cheap but it definitely doesn’t feel that way.

Front View Nexus 7

Hardware:

Packing a Nvidia Tegra 3 Quad-Core processor you should have any trouble playing any games or apps in the market. The HD IPS screen will give you a resolution slightly above 720p. This is great but you shouldn’t expect colors to be as vibrant as they are with Super AMOLED displays. Depending on which model you get you shouldn’t really have too many storage issues.

Software:

Nexus 7 has software home buttons 

The Nexus 7 as of December are still shipping with Android v4.1 (Jellybean) but soon after setting up your device you will receive Android v4.2 (which is also jellybean) but with a few new features and improvements as well and issues. The most notable issues I found with 4.2 are some lag which is said to be because of the Google news reader app “Currents”. Bluetooth is now having issues connecting and staying connected to some HID devices. This is definitely due to the 4.2 update because it was working fine in v4.1. Now with the goods of 4.2; you now get user profiles, two pull down menus (standard notification and settings), lock screen widgets as well as other minor improvements. Probably the best thing about jellybean is its virtual assistant “Google Now” which makes Apple’s Siri seems like a gimmick. Google Now learns about you the user by collecting data from your location, searches etc. and presents then to you and a card system that will make you think to yourself “Wow”.

Only hardware buttons found on the Nexus7 

Battery Life:

The Nexus is powered by a 4325mAh battery and averages about 1.5+ days with moderate use and 10-15hours for the power user, using a verity of apps. (this is with auto brightness and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on).

My Thoughts:

To be totally honest I was going to skip over the Nexus7 mainly because I didn’t feel I would have use for one. I already own an iPad, iPod Touch and an Android Phone so I didn’t have a reason to purchase one to be honest. Then I finally received one, and have to say I can’t believe that I wasn’t going to buy one. In the last week and a half I haven’t powered on my iPad, and when I want to make a quick search for something I reach over my phone and grab the Nexus7. Yes the nexus does have its share of problems and isn’t perfect (would have preferred if the screen was Super AMOLED+, and a rear facing camera) but, in my opinion it blows its main competitors out of the water.

Design | Build Quality: 4.5

Hardware / Software: 4.5

Battery Life: 4.5

Price: 5

Average Score (G4, Amazon, Newegg): 4.4

22.9 / 25

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