Among the countless (and I mean countless) Android tablets that exist in the world today, it seems like there was never really one that justified the purchase from top to bottom. You have a huge family of Galaxy Tabs by Samsung, a few from HTC, Motorola XOOM & Xyboard, the Transformer series by ASUS, Toshiba, Lenovo, and plenty of others. It was only a matter of time before Google took matters into their own hands and offer tablets as part of their Nexus brand. Giving us the ASUS-built Nexus 7 tablet.
Announced back in June during Google’s I/O developers conference, the Nexus 7 was unveiled to the world. Amazingly enough just four short months ago, Google approached ASUS to work with in crafting what would be Google’s first flagship Android tablet. I spent a few weeks with it to get to know it the newest Nexus a little bit better beyond my first hands-on with it. Our results lie below in detail.
The Nexus 7 is equipped with a 7inch IPS HD display w/ 1280 x 800 resolution. The images/text aren’t the sharpest I’ve seen on a tablet but the display is pretty bright. Like you can use the display as flashlight-bright. HD media still looks great without any extra visual hindering and great viewing angles at 216ppi. I’m just glad that they made sure it’s not a fingerprint magnet. Although I would have loved to see this thing with a Super LCD display instead. It’s not the best but far from being the worst.
Following in the footsteps of the ASUS Transformer series, the Nexus is armed with a quad-core Tegra 3 chipset for your processing needs. Combine that with 1GB of RAM and (in this case) 16GB of internal storage running Android 4.1 as your ingredients for a speedy Android experience on a tablet. And it does not disappoint. Easily the most lag-free adventure on an Android device to date. I can count on one-hand (not using the entire hand either) how many times the Nexus has had any hiccups during opening apps or navigating. Now this is the Android feeling I have been waiting for.
The Nexus 7 has a 4325 mAh battery on-board that Google estimates at 8 hours of juice. I put it through some tests and got a lower amount of battery life with a consistent usage. On a all-around day of emailing, streaming music, watching YouTube, web browsing, & and Twitter will get me around 6 hours. Moderate use can stretch it out for 2 to even 3 days on a single charge. Not too shabby.
The Nexus tablet is one of the first devices available running Google’ s newest version of Android, OS 4.1 aka Jelly Bean. Google added some finishing touches to the already beloved Ice Cream Sandwich update. On the surface, the new update doesn’t look like much but Google’s approach is more subtle. The new update brings more options to the table with more control over the size of your widgets, your notifications are now expandable to show more content & image previews, adding Bluetooth to Android Beam feature, and just a better responsiveness for all apps.
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| Google Now |
And big feature on board with Jelly Bean is Google Now, a voice-activated search that you can use for weather, traffic, flight, transit, sports, places of interest, currency, and translation. Many consumers may see it in action and quickly compare it Siri. When in reality, it acts like a Google search bar that gives you what you want instantly. Not only that, it is location-aware (for those tethering as this is a Wi-Fi only tablet), it is also recognizes/learns your patterns to notify you of any changes in your commute, bad weather, and if your favorite team lost last night. Works and responds naturally,as it should. This will be useful on a device with a cellular data plan but puts Siri to shame effortlessly. Jelly Bean is like the missing piece of Android’s puzzle of an actual mature & solid mobile OS. Based off of what I have experienced thus far with iOS 6, Android wins the Best In Show award two years in a row.
Google is definitely taking more control over the consumer Android experience by expanding their Nexus brand now to tablets. By doing so, this gives consumers a first class ticket to receiving the newest Android OS without being subject to carrier testing. Google & ASUS did a bold move by not adding a rear-facing camera and just used a 1.2MP front-facing for Google+ Hangouts & video chats. The Nexus 7 isn’t Android tablet perfection but it is the closest thing we have to it at the moment. There is still a lack of tablet-optimized apps and storage expansion, the pluses outweigh the negatives. Anyone in the market for an Android tablet, your search ends here.
To put it short, sweet, & simple. If you are not in interested in the iPad, buy this! The 7inch size & attractive price point starting at $199.99 combined with Android 4.1 makes for the best Android tablet.
