Google Nexus 7 and Android 4.1 - Mini Review

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6054/google-nexus-7-mini-review

by JoelSutherland • 14 years ago

152 103 14 years ago

Hardware-wise, this is competitive with the very best Android tablets that are currently out. Only the Transformer Prime Infinity seems to best it, and that isn't available for order yet.

This is certainly a case of 'price as a signal'. The Nexus 7 is being repeatedly compared with the Kindle Fire in spite of its specs. This must be Google's intention. It's likely that is the only (large) market that remains for Android tablets.

huggyface4• 14 years ago

The Nexus 7 is being repeatedly compared with the Kindle Fire in spite of its specs.

By the tech media, most of whom simply want to avoid the whole boring iPad market only argument. In the real world this is direct competition for the iPad, with a very significant draw of price. People aren't generally suckers, and they don't want to pay more if a less expensive product satisfies their needs.

Shivetya• 14 years ago

Really would have preferred they found a way to have the rear facing camera. If anything I would take it in preference over the front facing one.

With experience around the iPad (both generations) and the Kindle Fire I found outside of games the kids were having way too much fun making videos. Adults tended towards pictures but kids tended toward videos, many about tormenting each other. Which mean the old iPad and Fire sat relatively unused - there were like "if I have too".

I do like the size of seven inch tablets, its easier to one hand use them while reading at the table and eating, like a modern day paper. You would be surprised how ungainly feeling the larger iPad feels being used this way. The Fire became my table reader simply because of its form factor.

nodata• 14 years ago

Google hangouts with a rear-facing camera would be a disaster.

Maybe the next version will have two cameras.

AncientPC• 14 years ago

I disagree.

I've been to concerts and football games where people are holding up iPads up high to record videos / take photos. It's a distraction and a nuisance. I say good riddance.

I have my phone / DSLR to take photos, but I regularly video chat with friends and family and appreciate the front camera more. A 7" tablet seems more suited for the latter.

moe• 14 years ago

I think this device will sell like hotcakes, smart move by google.

It's the first android tablet that I'm considering, and at this price-point that means I'll probably buy it. I have a hunch I won't be the only one with that train of thought.

bookwormAT2• 14 years ago

I think the big question is if Google is actually serious in advertising and selling the device to customers.

Google does not often run aggressive advertising campaigns, and so far they are not selling the device anywhere but in the US.

jedc• 14 years ago

Nope, the Nexus 7 is getting sold in a number of different countries to start.

It's the Nexus Q that's US-only right now.

fidotron• 14 years ago

Google definitely do run aggressive ad campaigns, although so far it's been limited to Chrome.

They are selling the device in almost all English speaking countries.

ConstantineXVI• 14 years ago

And it's only available from their store, which doesn't have the same reach as Amazon.com or even Best Buy.

(There's a link on google.com, but that clearly worked so well for the Nexus phones)

runjake• 14 years ago

I can answer that: they aren't interested in advertising and selling the device to consumers. If they were, they wouldn't have been announced at a developer conference. Although oddly, they are advertising the Nexus 7 off the Google homepage.

trotsky• 14 years ago

Full page ad in the A section of the WSJ today.

juliano_q• 14 years ago

I agree. I am "resisting" to buy a tablet for years, but this hardware with pure Android (I have made a rule to buy only Nexus devices when buying Android phones, I hate the stress to get the updates on non Nexus) at this price point made it hard to resist.

pragmatic3• 14 years ago

I agree.

I use my Fire at least 2 hours a day (at home and the gym) for reading and surfing. However, it has two major defects.

1) Amazon appstore only (I haven't bothered rooting it).

2) Wonky interface. It's android and you can tell. It's like using a cheap android phone, unpleasant and slow. (I have a droid bionic that is much faster, but obviously more expensive).

At this price point I can easily buy another $200 table and not feel bad about it. Plus I still get the kindle app, my amazon apps will all move over.

I use my Fire way too much not to upgrade to something better. I do this for the 7" form factor, the 10" tablet (android or iOS) simply would not be as useful.

davidw• 14 years ago

I am not a big fan of the Fire. It's not bad, but it feels like it could be a lot more with just a few extras. It's alright for 'consuming' content, but for much else it's suboptimal:

* Amazon appstore means no The Economist app! I already paid for the magazine, dammit, and I don't want to pay again to read it on Amazon.

* No Google apps hurts, especially Gmail and Maps. The web-based alternatives are just not as nice as having the native apps.

* It's nice to have a camera - I'll get one of these to use as a video phone with my parents.

Anyone know if it'll be possible to get some kind of add-on keyboard for Google's tablet? Trying to type anything on the Fire drives me crazy.

jsz0• 14 years ago

Are they going to aggressively market and retail this device? If not most people won't even know it exists.

solox3• 14 years ago

It's the top banner on Google Play. If you already own an Android device, you will know.

hahainternet• 14 years ago

I bought one for my sister. She doesn't have a lot of disposable income and has to support two children. The cost was low enough that it's not a significant burden (£159 + shipping)

cageface2• 14 years ago

Contrary to a lot of opinions, I think the 7" form factor is actually pretty interesting. I find the iPad large enough that I often just reach for my Macbook Air because it's far more useful and not really much larger.

But something closer to the size of a book is less cumbersome and more comfortable for reading and browsing, which is what I'm doing with a tablet 90% of the time anyway.

I'm going to go out on a limb a bit here and predict that Apple will regret ignoring this segment and that they're going to eventually have to shake up their developer tooling to deal with varying form factors.

sigkill4• 14 years ago

For a fullpage 2 column PDF, I find even the 10" 16:9 to be a bit small. 4:3 is way better.

How would you read PDFs on a 7" 16:9.

tehayj2• 14 years ago

I had the original 7 Galaxy Tab and absolutely loved it. I have Transformer Prime now and consider getting this smaller tablet again because the 7 inch form factor is absolutely perfect imo.

barista• 14 years ago

Agree. 7" is the best size for a tablet. It's really portable, very handy. If I were to buy a larger tablet, something like Surface with its fancy keyboard cover is far more appealing than a tablet that is only partially functional.

tikhonj3• 14 years ago

I also think the size is an advantage for a whole bunch of use cases.

I don't have a tablet right now, but I do have a Kindle. I think it's about the same size as the Nexus 7. I find it to be very convenient: I can easily hold it with just one hand when I'm laying on the bed, it fits into my tiny laptop bag and I can even put it in a coat pocket (great for commuting by train). Anything bigger would be less convenient.

mkaltenecker3• 14 years ago

This seems like the Kindle Fire done right. High quality components, good build quality, competent software and despite that still only $200. It's nice to finally see Apple get some competition.

I personally prefer the 10inch form factor but I can see arguments for both.

But I'm still not willing to predict whether this will be a success. I think Windows Phone 7 is extremely attractive – yet it continues to fail. This is really hard stuff to predict.

mmobile• 14 years ago

This tablet is a killer device—love its form factor, check this real-size views of the Nexus 7, it's really slick:

Compared to an iPhone 4s: http://versusio.com/en/google-nexus-7-vs-apple-iphone-4s-64g...

Compared to an iPad 3: http://versusio.com/en/google-nexus-7-vs-apple-ipad-3-64gb-w...

(You have to click in the top-right corner to calibrate your screen)

jaems332• 14 years ago

Not sure why they didn't include the option of 4G as being an advantage of those Apple devices.

The size advantage of the Nexus 7 is great for mobility (honestly dislike carrying an iPad in my bag) but the majority of areas are not going to have wifi, hampering a bit of it's advantage.

simonh• 14 years ago

It would push the price up too much to compete with the iPad. You can always tether.

akmiller• 14 years ago

I don't see inclusion of 4G on any tablet devices as a plus. It drives up the cost slightly more and it has never really made sense for each device to have their own cellular connection.

Most people who buy tablets are likely to have a smartphone so it would seem more appropriate to have tethering and use that one connection for multiple devices.

I realize that's a personal choice, but I currently own an iPad 2, Kindle Fire, 2 Kindle Touches, and I just bought the Nexus 7. I'd rather pay for one connection and tether all those devices to that connection than each one have their own.

warfangle• 14 years ago

If you've already got a Nexus phone, you don't need 4G/3G on your tablet. You've got a mobile hotspot already. The Nexus Phone + Nexus Tablet + Nexus TV products fit each other very, very well.

Blara• 14 years ago

Just use wifi tethering (or what it's called in english) and share the phones 3G/4G. That's what I'll be doing at least

kombine• 14 years ago

http://versusio.com/en/google-nexus-7-vs-samsung-galaxy-note

I can argue that it doesn't provide enough benefits over the Galaxy Note! It's big enough and it's a phone, so you don't need to carry anything else. The only issue is the battery life, obviously Nexus would be of a significant advantage here.

smackfu3• 14 years ago

It's also three times the price, which you will either pay in your phone bill or up front.

bookwormAT2• 14 years ago

Do you guys think it is pleasent to read structured documents (e.g. scientific papers or program code in PDFs) on a 7 inch device with 1280x800?

That's a serious question, not a complaint: I have made bad experiences with 7 inches readers for this kind of stuff, but then the Nexus 7 has a lot of pixels.

apl• 14 years ago

Judging from previous 7" devices, no. The constant zooming disrupts my reading flow to the point of it not being worth the hassle. Third iPad iteration is great, though, unlike its two predecessors.

kenjackson2• 14 years ago

I agree with apl, just not the right size. The resolution is great, but the screen size is just too small, IMO.

With that said, maybe it's just the readers and file formats that suck. I can read Dover books just fine and the size of the paper is about the same as a 7" screen... Go figure.

riobard• 14 years ago

Reading two-column 10pt/letter-size PDF (most academic papers are formatted this way) on 1280x800 is not a pleasant experience, whatever the physical size. The only way you can read all those tiny footnotes is using the landscape mode at full-width (otherwise there won't be enough pixels to render), which means you'll have to scroll to finish just one page.

Trust me, Retina iPad's 2048x1536 is what you want. That gives you a crisp-clear and better-than-average laser-printer quality in portrait mode for one whole page on the screen. Especially true if the papers you read contain anything with color or vector graphs.

Plus iOS has the best font/PDF rendering engine in my opinion. YMMV, though.

tehayj2• 14 years ago

I used my orignial Galaxy Tab a lot for reading PDFs. Works great for me. Get the ezPDF reader and you have everything you will want. The usability of the reader is what makes it stand out imo. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=udk.android.re...

markmark• 14 years ago

Not every device is for every use case. I would rather a 10 inch device for that, but would prefer 7 for reading a novel. Everything is tradeoffs.

j_col2• 14 years ago

Given that existing Android tablets from OEMs are not selling greatly, if this tablet is a success will it not be to the detriment of these OEMs already taking a hit on Android? So basically Samsung etc. are now competing with Google in the Android tablet space :-(

My personal feeling is that it was released in reaction to the Amazon Fire, which Google must be pretty pissed-off about given that it has sold well and is firmly on it's own Android branch, further deepening fragmentation. It's no coincidence that they are both 7" tablets for $200.

tonfa2• 14 years ago

Does Google get a share from the sale of Nexus devices? I think it's samsung competing with asus rather than with google.

j_col2• 14 years ago

> Does Google get a share from the sale of Nexus devices?

You mean they don't? News to me.

> I think it's samsung competing with asus rather than with google.

But Asus partnered/supported/whatever with Google, not Asus on their own clearly.

falling4• 14 years ago

Not really. Andy Rubin said this is being sold at cost, so either Google is paying for Asus' margin or none of them is getting a margin on this device, setting a price point even harder for manufacturers to match.

huggyface4• 14 years ago

So basically Samsung etc. are now competing with Google in the Android tablet space :-(

A big reason the Android tablet space has sputtered is the ecosystem (not enough tablet apps, etc). By supercharging the Play store and subsidizing a product that I confidently feel will sell in the tens of millions if they can produce them quickly enough, this will be great for the entire Android ecosystem.

Already have a household with two tablets -- an iPad and an Acer A500 -- but I preordered the Nexus 7. It is perfect to give the kids in the car for them to play music/movies/games like Minecraft. That price point is simple brilliance, and it was that or an iPod Touch. I choose that.

I think the most baffling thing about this release is the constant commentary that has this only competing with the Kindle Fire. The Kindle Fire competed with the iPad -- if you wanted something to read books, look at some websites, and maybe use a couple of apps, the Kindle Fire provided a somewhat competitive alternative to the iPad. Now the Nexus 7 provides a pretty serious alternative.

With the huge sales of the GS3, the incremental but overdue improvements in 4.1, and the killer Nexus 7...this is the first time in years I truly feel bearish about Apple's sales over the next year.

jjm• 14 years ago

Can someone tell me if it is WebGL capable?

tonfa2• 14 years ago

From: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/burnette/google-io-2012-android-fi...

Q: As a developer, WebGL is great. Chrome doesn’t support it on Android yet. When?

A: It’s working internally. Issues are denial of service and GPU availability. There’s some work in Chrome OS to make it safer, and we’re looking at that right now to see if we can release it in a safe way. Some GPUs are more stable than others.

jamesgeck02• 14 years ago

The latest version of Opera Mobile supports WebGL, even on devices still running Android 2.3.

orangeapple2• 14 years ago

Anyone with experience on 7" tablets, is it practical to take notes with in math lectures?

kenjackson2• 14 years ago

Not with the onscreen keyboard. If it can use a stylus like the Note then maybe. Although I'd probably go for an iPad 2. It's twice the price (at $399), but will be a lot more usable.

orangeapple2• 14 years ago

Yeah, with a stylus of course, I was hoping this would be suitable for taking in class notes - a lot of writing equations and whatnot as oppose to typing with the on screen keyboard. The new iPad is $519 for cheapest one. :(

Tyr42• 14 years ago

Maybe the Surface will be better.

zanny• 14 years ago

Why not TF700?

pragmatic3• 14 years ago

Anyone notice this has a GPS and Magnetometer (compass).

How useful will this be as a GPS without internet connectivity (wifi only)?

A 7" tablet would be a fantastic GPS device form factor.

nodemaker• 14 years ago

You could tether your phone's cellular data.

desigooner• 14 years ago

Offline Google Maps in the next iteration of Android would mean that you could download the maps offline for the area you usually travel to/around and be able to use it as a GPS (not sure how the new offline maps would work w.r.t. re-routing and all that)

huggyface4• 14 years ago

Offline Google Maps in the next iteration of Android

This is actually in the next iteration of maps...or rather the last iteration as it was released yesterday. If you upgrade Maps on an Android device, you get this functionality.

dabeeeenster• 14 years ago

I think routing requires a data connection.

rdl• 14 years ago

I would love to see this for iOS, although I guess it's not likely.

mutewinter• 14 years ago

A new feature in Jellybean allows you to download city maps for offline usage.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/27/google-maps-offline-andro...

pragmatic3• 14 years ago

I think I just found my reason (if I needed any) to get this tablet.

justincormack• 14 years ago

Thats been a Labs maps feature for a while in ice cream sandwich. Very useful when visiting places you dont want to spend money on expensive bandwidth, use it a lot...

Achshar• 14 years ago

You can always tether from your companion ssmartphone. Or use Google maps's offline which were launched yesterday too.

bitwize• 14 years ago

I really could have used Google Maps offline a year ago when I was trying to get around Osaka. The GPS worked, but the map display didn't... unless I was around one of Japan's rare, free Wifi hotspots.

falling4• 14 years ago

I ordered one yesterday as soon as it was available, but I'm a little disappointed at Google forcing me to pay $14 for two day shipping on something that "delivers in 2-3 weeks".

andyjohnson0• 14 years ago

I'm disappointed that there's no microsd slot to expand the internal storage. I appreciate that they want us to use Google Drive, but thats only an option if you're somewhere with wifi.

Apart from that, I'm very tempted. And I await Apple's reaction with interest.

jgroome• 14 years ago

I keep hearing that, but honestly, 16gb is quite a lot of space IMO. Obviously if you feel the need to carry around 64gb of videos at all times then you'll scoff, and I'm not saying 16gb is more than you'll ever need, but you'd be surprised at just how much you can do with that storage.

pajju• 14 years ago

Hardware is awesome - But what about Android 4.1? Android has never impressed me so far.

ars3• 14 years ago

What about it? You didn't finish your thought.

6ren• 14 years ago

It's striking how Android devices keep improving CPU power, even though graphic smoothness is acknowledged as a key issue - while Apple focuses on GPU performance.

Tegra 3 has quad CPU; Apple's A5X (iPad 3) has quad GPU. (the GPU cores aren't exactly equivalent, but Apple's is more powerful.) Apple also runs its CPUs slower - giving better battery life. This is because CPU lack of power isn't a problem (isn't even noticeable); but GPU lack is noticeable and a concern when you're using it.

Also: you get more bang per buck from GPUs than CPUs - simply because graphics tasks are generally far easier to parallelize. In result, so you can have many graphics cores running at lower clocks, to get great performance with less battery drain.

In the long-term big picture, the tablets with more CPU power will have more powerful applications written for them. This might be key for which tablets are the ones that end up replacing laptops/desktops. (In the background, a countervailing factor is that computation is moving to the GPU... so it could be that the tablet with the better GPU performance will win...)

All that said, the Nexus 7, getting the below is very impressive:

  quad-core 1.3GHz CPU
  340 grams
  8 hour battery life (advertised...)

vibrunazo• 14 years ago

They spent a whole section talking about the Nexus 7 GPU and another talking about software improvements to FPS. They're obviously not taking it lightly.

You're comparing apples to oranges. Different OSes and devices have completely different requirements. iOS have no true multi-tasking like Android does. So Android naturally is more CPU intensive since you'll usually have more stuff happening in the background. The new iPad has a larger resolution. So it's understandable it needs a powerful GPU for smooth graphics.

You can't just compare the bang for the buck you get from CPU vs GPU looking at different OSes. The optimal point will be different for each. I'm sure google tried different setups that would fit the $200 budget. At the end of the day. All the matters is whether it can display smooth UX with a long battery life and good price. And it seems they got there.

eli_11• 14 years ago

Does anybody know if the Nexus 7 can read pdfs?

Google Nexus 7 and Android 4.1 - Mini Review

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