Google Nexus 7 Tablet Review: The New Best Way to Spend 200 Bucks

After calendar month of wetting and clue about the Nexus 7 , it was clear what to expect from Google ’s first tablet . The major interrogative was : “ Can it possibly be as near as it looks and only be $ 200 ? ” The verdict is in .

CAVEAT : This quizzer Nexus 7 is pre - outlet . The hardware is last , but the software is not . Jelly Bean ( Android 4.1 ) is presently only out in a developer preview . It ’s mostly finished , but there are still some bug and quirks . Matias Duarte suggested to Gizmodothat some extra feature will be herald . We ’ll revisit the last rendering .

Matias Duarte Q&A : Jelly Bean , the Nexus 7 , and the Wild , Weird World of Android

Why It Matters

It ’s a fully - functional , not - terrible $ 200 tablet . It ’s also Google ’s first tablet ( though the hardware was built by Asus ) . It ’s a Nexus , which means it ’s a standard - carrier for the late version of Android , in this caseAndroid 4.1 , a.k.a . Jelly Bean . It ’s like theKindle Fire , if the Kindle Fire was a real tablet . And it ’s like the iPad , if the iPad cost half as much and run Android .

What Is New In Android Jelly Bean ?

Hostinger Coupon Code 15% Off

Using It

Let ’s bulge out with the body ( you shallow bastards ) . The 7 - inch conformation factor is grand for people who require a very portable pill . It ’s equilibrate very nicely for one - handed use ( say , while fend on a crowded subway system ) , and it weights even less than the Kindle Fire ( 12 ounces vs. 14.6 ounces ) . The texturized back feels marvelous — almost like a hard leather — soft and liquid but plenty grippy . The whole thing feels very solid , with the severe atomic number 13 around the edges , and excoriation - resistant glass from Corning ( not Gorilla Glass , though ) . The only external buttons are a major power clit and intensity rocker . There ’s headset and micro USB ports , and four little conductive dots which will be used for accouterment ( Asus has said thatit will be making an audio dockfor the Nexus 7 in the month to come ) .

Once you protrude playing with it , the Nexus 7 is extremely fast . It has the same 1.3GHz quad - core Tegra 3 processor and 1 GB of RAM as the Asus Transformer Prime ( Gizmodo’scurrent favoriteAndroid tablet ) , but it ’s range Jelly Bean with its “ Project Butter . ” That transform to a tranquil experience than we ’ve ever seen on an Android twist . There ’s virtually no jitter or imprison anywhere in the OS . Jelly Bean may be an incremental rising slope from Ice Cream Sandwich , but all of the little things add up to a much improved drug user experience . The telling panel display vastly more information . You now have seven customizable image at the bottom of the homescreen . When dragging an icon or thingumajig to a homescreen , the existing items on that screen will arrange themselves around it . The search function usesGoogle ’s knowledge graphical record , which is excellent .

Burning Blade Tavern Epic Universe

Asus Transformer Prime Review : The Android Tablet You ’ve Been Waiting For

Jelly Bean comes with with some new software , including the much - talked - aboutGoogle Now . Google Now is basically an organizer with a brain that learns about you the more you employ it . Unfortunately it feels very beta right now . If you look for for a flight , sometimes a plug-in will be add for it , and sometimes it wo n’t . Look at this screen scene . I have it away that it love the F train , which will take me dwelling house , will leave in 6 minute and that it will take me 12 minutes to take the air there . I did n’t programme it to do that . That ’s amazing . But then it also indicate me the next few multiplication the M103 bus is come to Bowery / Prince . I ’ve never taken that jalopy in my spirit , but I ’m near it , so it show it to me . I do n’t ask it , so I swipe it away , and it ’s blend . The Nexus 7 also has an NFC chip , which makes switch photos and medium with NFC - enable earphone ( or pairing it with theNexus Q ) a breeze .

Nexus Q Hands On : Google ’s Odd Little Media - Streaming Orb

Ideapad3i

It ’s fast , it ’s smooth , it ’s portable , and it ’s cheap . This does n’t sense like a $ 200 lozenge experience — it feel mellow - end . The light-emitting diode - backed IPS silver screen is bright and colourful . At 1280×800 it has importantly higher pixel density than the first two iPads ( 216ppi vs. 132ppi ) , though it is n’t quite as high as the Retina Display on the young iPad ( 264ppi ) . Games and moving-picture show look really cracking on it . Speaking of play , that ’s one of the things the Nexus 7 was built for , and it delivers . In the video above , look at the rippling in the piddle in Shadowgun as the characters walk around , or the way the cloth reacts to the marbles in Glowball . It takes serious horsepower to return that form of point , that smoothly .

have it off the refinement in Jelly Bean . Some are elusive , it ’s large . The boosted speed is really noticeable . Google ’s young build - in apps are terrific . Play mag , for example , give you a very intuitive and attractive experience . you could flip pages , search through page thumbnails , or even scroll by clause . act Books has a really dainty UI now , as does moving-picture show , and the now more communication channel - centrical YouTube app . These all come together in your MyLibrary . In the new Google Maps , look at street aspect in Compass Mode is a freaky , time to come - feeling experience , and the phone now have voice bidding even when off - line , and it ’s imposingly accurate .

Last Of Us 7 Interview

The 7 - inch configuration is modest enough to slip it in a air pocket . You would n’t want to wear it in your gasp pocket all solar day , but it ’s a nice choice to have , and it ’ll in spades fit in a crown pocket or a pocketbook . Also , it has a front - facing camera for video chattin ’ . It endure for 9 + hours of barrage fire life with pretty heavy use , so no trouble there .

No Like

The biggest flaw is that there is no expandable retentivity expansion slot . As of now , you may get an 8 GB 16 GB version ( $ 200 ) or a 16 GB 32 GB version ( $ 250 ) . For a something design for HD media and high - functioning games , you’re able to occupy that up passably quickly ( though you ’ll be capable to play media off a campaign link up via micro USB UPDATE : unhappily , itlooks likethat wo n’t be the case . ) . Another flaw on the hardware side : it only has one speaker , and it ’s on the bottom of the gadget ( when it ’s in portait mood ) . If you ’re watching or make for a secret plan ( in landscape ) , all of the audio appear to be come out of the right side . It does not endure USB to HDMI connections , which is a bummer because that ’s such an well-off way to play your spiritualist on a TV . Also , it ’s inauspicious that it is n’t Gorilla Glass . Our reappraisal whole took an unfortunate release off of a board and landed confront down . The screen cracked and it stopped responding to touch . To be bonnie , it was a middling concentrated fall , but you may want to drop $ 20 on theprotective typeface .

Anker 6 In 1

On the software package side , Jelly Bean still has some bugs . projection screen rotation was locked by default . There were a couple of force closes , and Google Now just does n’t quite seem to be there yet . That said , this is a developer preview , so this merit an update when the actual spate arrive .

Should I Buy It ?

completely . At $ 200 there is pretty much no rationality to bribe a Kindle Fire at all . If you lie with reading Kindle Books and listening to Amazon MP3 , you just install those apps and you ’re unspoilt to go . It also gives the iPad a in force run for its money . you’re able to argue that the iPad is a better tablet , but is it really $ 300 good ? As useful as tablets are , they ’re still kind of sumptuousness point . $ 200 for a full - fledged , seriously - spec’d , fully - capable tablet is an infrangible steal . Get it . gravely . [ Google ]

Lenovo Ideapad 1