An iPad Lover’s Take On The Nexus 7

http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/15/omg-he-likes-it-he-really-likes-it/

by answerly • 14 years ago

231 148 14 years ago

cageface3• 14 years ago

I have to give Siegler credit for actually posting an objective review of an Android device.

No matter which side you favor in the tablet wars I think you have to agree that we're better off as hackers and consumers in a market with real competition. Rather than picking sides we should be happy that Apple and Google are pushing each other to improve their hardware and software at a rate we rarely see in consumer electronics.

simonh• 14 years ago

I always wonder when I read a comment like this. Is 'objective' a proxy for 'positive'? Is the implication that his negative reviews of previous Android tablets were not objective? Or maybe I'm reading too much into it. Sorry for picking on you particularly but the word Objective is a very loaded one.

Resident_Geek• 14 years ago

I think the fact that it's a positive review from MG Siegler means it's objective - since he's known to dislike Android devices. A negative review wouldn't necessarily be not objective, but a positive review must be objective.

redthrowaway2• 14 years ago

Objective, to me, means 'not based upon personal tastes, opinions, and biases'. So this review is completely subjective, as it's based entirely upon what he likes. Regardless, it is nice to see him set the homer hat aside and write an article that wasn't either heaping praise on Apple or scorn on Google.

MG Siegler is as subjective as any reviewer, but that's not what matters. What matters is that you can usually tell what he's going to say before you even read the article, as his views are generally that predictable. He seldom has anything negative to say about Apple, or positive to say about Google.

So the pleasant surprise here comes from seeing him break that trend and say something that couldn't have been written by Apple's PR dept.

notatoad• 14 years ago

I can't speak for the parent but I would definitely say that much of Seigler's previous coverage of android has not been objective. He has long been an unapologetic apple fanboy, looking for negatives about android to pick on and ignoring obvious flaws in apple products.

tjogin3• 14 years ago

An objective review is an oxymoron. All opinions are subjective by their very nature.

lloeki2• 14 years ago

John Siracusa's reviews of Mac OS X are the kind of reviews I would consider the closer to "objective". The amount of technical and factual data he gives leaves much less room to subjectivity than say, this review.

berntb• 14 years ago

That is like saying: Since we can't cool something to absolute 0 Kelvin, all termometers are valueless.

You have to look at how wrong things are, too..

If I wrote a review of a game in my favorite sport where my home team played, it would not be objective. And another review by me of a sport I don't care about, between teams I don't know, might not be objective either (if women play, one team might be better looking. Or whatever.).

But those reviews would not be EQUALLY subjective...

For another example, consider evolutional biology. Some people have a deep and emotional connection to the scientific model -- while some other people have emotional connections to political ideologies...

Sorry, but you pressed one of my buttons.

ch0wn• 14 years ago

It really depends on what you perceive as objective. I'm not sure I would call it objective, but I would certainly call it a bad review. Every other sentence contains an Apple reference. While this is to be expected when Siegler writes a review, this is a way too narrow view for a good review.

His conclusion is basically, that there is room for an iPad Mini and Jelly Bean is faster and not much about the Nexus7 itself.

epsylon• 14 years ago

I don't understand why people praise a journalist for doing his job (that is, not being a total Apple fanboy). I guess I have different standards towards (tech) journalism.

lloeki2• 14 years ago

> we're better off as hackers and consumers in a market with real competition

On the tablet market, the competition was decimated by the iPad, which was, objectively, overall better than any contender, and by a comfortable margin. Yes Android could potentially do stuff better than iOS, yes hardware could be non-crap, but what was going out of the door was not even in the same league at all. The only one that had real potential at some point was the WebOS based one†.

Until now.

The trouble was that if you had the balls to tell this fact you were irrevocably dismissed as an Apple fanatic.

I long for this tablet to be available outside North America.

†The Kindle Fire is completely under-specced in terms of quality. The Nexus 7 and iPad are both way better.

cageface3• 14 years ago

The trouble was that if you had the balls to tell this fact you were irrevocably dismissed as an Apple fanatic.

Trashing Android tablets hardly qualifies as an act of critical bravery. "There is only an iPad market" has been the mantra of opinion piece on the subject for as long as I've been reading them.

The truth is that we've had non-crap Android tablets for a while now but none good enough to seriously challenge the iPad.

nicholassmith• 14 years ago

If you mean the Nexus 7, then it is outside NA. You can buy one in the UK for delivery in August.

drzaiusapelord2• 14 years ago

>Until now.

Now was 6+ months ago. You could get a nice fast Tegra3 tablet for a while now at a competitive price. The Nexus is really just an Asus TF201/TF300 shrunk down to 7 inches and with a hefty reduction in price.

>The trouble was that if you had the balls to tell this fact you were irrevocably dismissed as an Apple fanatic.

Or unaware of the last 2 Asus Transformer models (three now as the new one just launched) or even the budget Acer tegra3 tablet. Galaxy tablet isn't bad either, just slow to updates.

I've owned both the TF101 and the TF300 and really feel no need or want for an ipad. The Fire/Nook aren't tablets, they're appliances. If someone wants an android tablet, there are at least 2 or 3 very nice models for sale and 4 or 5 mainstream lower tier cheaper ones.

The Nexus is just a big price cut. Its the same hardware we've been using for some time. That's partly why its so cheap. The Tegra3 chipset is ancient by SoC standards (November 9, 2011.).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegra#Tegra_3

bitwize• 14 years ago

Until now.

For values of "now" equal to "around this time a year ago".

The EeePad Transformer was the real game-changer in the Android tablet market. Solid hardware, recent versions of Android, great price.

It's worth noting that the Nexus 7 is made by Asus and is effectively a smaller Transformer Prime without the keyboard.

Guess Google didn't want to mess around when choosing hardware partners and went straight for the top quality.

idspispopd• 14 years ago

It's nice to see real discussion about good products, rather than hearing the opinions of thinly veiled loyalists.

As a person who is often mistaken for being an apple fan because I'd rather people discussed each platform factually rather than sharing false information that smells of a loyalists agenda, I'm pleased to see TC putting out a balanced review.

georgemcbay2• 14 years ago

I actually think that post-ICS and especially with Jelly Bean that Android is a superior tablet OS to iOS, at least for me. There's basically no feature on iOS that I miss when I'm on Android, but a few (eg. custom keyboards, the overall intent system, etc) that I miss when I'm on iOS.

iOS still kills Android for app availability though (especially when it comes to "tablet optimized" apps) and between that and iOS ecosystem lock-in, Android/Google still has some catching up to do to make tablets a true two-horse race.

glimcat• 14 years ago

Jelly Bean added a bunch of stuff that I'm very happy to see as a developer. But it will take a long while for that to trickle down to the user level, even for people who get on Jelly Bean quickly.

On the other hand, this translates into bucketloads of low-hanging fruit if you're an Android developer.

tonfa2• 14 years ago

> But it will take a long while for that to trickle down to the user level

If the Nexus 7 has the same success as the Kindle Fire (or better) then a large proportion of tablet users would be on JB.

r00fus4• 14 years ago

This is a google device, not a run-of-the-mill Android device (most of which are not on ICS much less JB).

This point is very important - it makes the device more like an iOS one - more likely for updates, more fine touches as Google's cred rests on it.

If we see other tablets of similar calibre to the nexus7, then yes - you can say "Android" compares/best iOS. But for right now, it's nexus7 vs. iPad or Kindle Fire.

2muchcoffeeman3• 14 years ago

So their tablet will be at a higher API level than pretty much every Android device out there. You still can't use the latest OS features as a dev unless it's OK for the Nexus 7 to have exclusive features.

Or maybe Google has another go at direct handset sales, or they withhold updates to maintain parity across their flagship products.

At the moment being a "Google device" doesn't actually guarantee you anything.

Edit: I didn't think that through. The OS version is already out of sync! I guess that is what they will do.

nl2• 14 years ago

This is a google device, not a run-of-the-mill Android device (most of which are not on ICS much less JB).

I think almost all brand name tablets are on ICS now.

This point is very important - it makes the device more like an iOS one - more likely for updates, more fine touches as Google's cred rests on it

Have you actually used something like the Asus Transformer?

It's very, very good. I have a MBP, Linux Laptop, Windows Laptop, iPad2, iPhone 4, Galaxy S, an old 7" no brand Android tablet and the Transformer with a keyboard dock, and the Transformer gets the most use for general email/web browsing use.

drzaiusapelord2• 14 years ago

>But for right now, it's nexus7 vs. iPad or Kindle Fire.

Not really. The ASUS line of transformers have been getting updates very quickly and they're slated to get JB soon. The tablet situation has little to do with the phone situation. Most of the delays and horrid policies come straight from the carriers, not the OEMs. I expect the tablet market to remain competitive and upgrade quickly and fully expect the horrible phone market to be as shitty as ever, if not worse. Google needs to push the Nexus phone harder and make its motorola offerings non-Blur.

vibrunazo• 14 years ago

> iOS still kills Android for app availability though (especially when it comes to "tablet optimized" apps)

I keep hearing that. But never seen it backed up. Based on exactly what does people say this? There's no efficient way to "count" Android tablet optimized apps. So how do you compare? Is it because there are some major apps that still works bad on Android tablets? If so, which ones?

I remember when Honeycomb just came out. It was terrible, most apps I'd download looked terrible, and I furiously uninstalled many of them. It was so frustrating. But it has been a long time since I don't feel like that anymore. Today, every app I use on my phone is nicely optimized for my tablet as well. I literally cannot think of a single example of one app I'm missing tablet support for. Yet, the "Android still doesn't have tablet optimized apps" meme didn't stop.

But maybe I'm just living under a rock and haven't been using the same apps as others. So I humbly ask, could anyone please give me an objective argument for this point to understand if there's actually still any merit to it?

ricardobeat• 14 years ago

There is a truckload of apps that are iOS only. iA writer, paper, penultimate, infinity blade, just off the top of my head. Great quality apps abound, and usually their iPad versions make great use of the screen real estate, instead of just rescaling the interface.

Lots of others have started on iOS and were only released for Android much later (Flipboard, Angry Birds, Instagram).

ximeng4• 14 years ago

I use skritter.com for practising Chinese. They recently released an iOS app after several months work. There is currently no plan to produce an Android app, partly because there is a partial web / flash solution available on Android, but I assume also that the numbers didn't add up for putting the work in to porting the iPhone app.

This is a must-have application for learning to write Chinese in my opinion, to the extent that people would buy an iOS device just to use it. There is no equivalent for Android. I carry around an iPhone as a work phone, and pretty much only use it for this.

So learning Chinese is a little niche, but I'm sure there are other niches where people rely on a particular app, this app is not available on Android, and so they wouldn't switch for this reason.

ximeng4• 14 years ago

Another example. I'm in Hong Kong and I see them advertising a real time next train app on the MTR, i.e. subway system. iPhone only. They support Android, but iPhone comes first:

http://www.mtr.com.hk/eng/whatsnew/mtrmobile.html

taligent4• 14 years ago

It's pretty clear you've never actually seen an iPad app.

Because if you had then you would know that just because you can view a "mobile" website on your laptop it doesn't make it optimal. iPad apps are specifically designed to make best use of the real estate and there are a number of iPad-only UI concepts.

gurkendoktor6• 14 years ago

> could anyone please give me an objective argument

I think it is really subjective and about the "long tail" of apps. If I say that OmniFocus locks me into the Appleverse, someone else will mention an Android-exclusive app and we'll (objectively ;)) discuss for hours. Carcassonne and Anthill may not have worthy Android ports, but I'm probably missing out on Google's best-in-class maps.

The shopping experience may also have a lot to do with each platform's perception. The Play front page[1] looks absolutely uninviting to me. In iTunes or on the iPad, I usually scroll around and discover apps by topic. What do I do in the Play store if I know all the front page apps already (not hard)?

[1] for those of us who are abroad: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https:/...

georgemcbay2• 14 years ago

Most significant Android apps look "okay" on tablets these days in the sense that they are using Android layouts and the icon bitmap dpi system so that when they are scaled up to tablet resolutions they look pretty good, but outside of Google's own apps, very few of them are really "tablet optimized" in the sense that they make extensive use of dual-pane fragment-style UI concepts. Generally they are just bigger, decent looking versions of the single-screen-per-view UIs as seen on Android phones and they feel like that, which isn't horrible, but isn't really taking advantage of the larger (usually) higher resolution displays Android tablets have over phones.

rufugee• 14 years ago

I strongly prefer Android to iOS, and I have both android (Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.0 and Asus Transformer) and Apple (iPad 1 and 2) tablets. One app I use quite a bit on the iPad is DirecTV. It makes TV watching a better experience by providing a nice interface to control your TV, search through the guide and movies, your recordings, and on-demand content and you can even stream shows to it. Contrast this with the Android version, which is a dumb guide with very limited features. It's really a night and day difference.

I think Android will catch up, but it's not hard to find examples like this.

betterth2• 14 years ago

Android is inferior to iOS. Google Android could be on par with iOS, that's exciting and I can't wait to try the Nexus 7.

But it takes only one glance at what is released under the "Android" name for me to definitively state: Android is inferior to iOS.

But that's the point of Android. There is very, very little centralized quality control so the spectrum of quality goes all the way from the Nexus 7 down to a $99 POS Walgreens Android tablet.

bengillies2• 14 years ago

I know I'm not supposed to feed trolls, but:

> Android is inferior to iOS. > > But that's the point of Android.

The point of Android is to be not as good as iOS? Really? That's the point of Android?

Do you make the claim that all cars are rubbish just because some companies make rubbish cars? No. Different cars are different. Obviously. So it is with Android devices.

If one Android device is on a par with the new iPad (or at least in the same ballpark according to MG Siegler) then please judge that device based solely on that device, not on other devices that are similar in OS name only (not even version).

If you're comparing iOS to the full spectrum of Android devices out there, then please compare the full spectrum of iOS devices out there as well, including the iPhone 3GS which is, in this day and age, a POS cheapo smartphone (compared to top of the range Android phones at least).

jpxxx• 14 years ago

Awesome! Now if Google can just distribute it beyond the initial five launch nations, create meaningful product support, rework a half million third-party applications, and answer growing malware concerns they'll have a sweet two-month sales window all to themselves before you-know-who barges into their market.

I want one anyway.

jbarham• 14 years ago

> Now if Google can just distribute it beyond the initial five launch nations...

That's still much better than the Amazon Fire which AFAIK isn't even sold outside of the US.

See also this article from The Verge: http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/28/3122716/nexus-7-internatio... ("The Nexus 7's most important price is £159, not $199").

gamble• 14 years ago

Amazon's media stores are all but nonexistent outside the US, and the Fire is sold at cost with the expectation they'll recoup on media sales, so it's not surprising they haven't released it elsewhere. Google's non-US media stores are pretty bad too.

taligent4• 14 years ago

Amazon Fire is available in Australia I know that much.

And why compare yourself against Amazon when Apple is rumored to be launching an iPad Mini which will be sold in 30+ countries almost immediately after launch.

chj• 14 years ago

A fair review. It is really a good move that Google offers a device to him.

sidcool• 14 years ago

The saying goes, keeps your friends close, enemies closer :)

wavephorm• 14 years ago

Why after a few years is noone able to build a 10 inch tablet? I honestly don't care how good an Android tablet is, I'm just so accustomed to the iPad form factor that I won't give it up. To get me interested, an Android manufacturer needs to come up with a bezel-less 9" or 10" tablet with more screen real estate than the iPad.

gringomorcego• 14 years ago

Never fight on the enemy's ground.

w1ntermute2• 14 years ago

I've had a Transformer Prime for several months and have been enjoying the supposedly unobtainable Android tablet experience that everyone is waiting for. It runs stock ICS and has a 10.1" screen, and I actually wish it had a bit more of a bezel. I really don't understand why people are ignoring the Transformer Prime.

And the Transformer Infinity is coming out tomorrow, with a 1920x1200 screen, fixes to the Transformer Prime's GPS/Wifi issues (which I have not personally seen), and a micro SD slot & HDMI out (two of the things missing from the Nexus 7).

Ignoring good products seems to be a big issue with Android - with phones, people are complaining about skinning and lack of updates when the Galaxy Nexus is just sitting there waiting for buyers (I've already got Jelly Bean running on my GN).

shinratdr• 14 years ago

> Ignoring good products seems to be a big issue with Android - with phones, people are complaining about skinning and lack of updates when the Galaxy Nexus is just sitting there waiting for buyers (I've already got Jelly Bean running on my GN).

One of the main selling points of the Android ecosystem is "Look at all the device choice you have".

It's hardly surprising that if you sell people on that then turn around and say "Of course if you want an experience that doesn't suck, here is a list of about three devices that will provide that experience" they don't exactly heed that advice.

Pinning the issue on consumers just doing what they're told both misses the point and passes the buck. The market shouldn't be flooded with shitty Android devices that are quickly abandoned by carriers and have no reason to exist. Having HTC or Motorola written on the back doesn't mean anything. Google should be holding their hardware partners to a certain standard and they aren't.

That isn't the consumer's fault, that blame lies squarely on Google. They have the power to enforce this via their Google services contracts and they choose not to. It shouldn't be a choice between getting the device you want and getting one of the good ones.

Peaker6• 14 years ago

I bought a Galaxy Nexus phone for my girlfriend so we wouldn't have to worry about updates anymore.

It's still stuck on 4.0.1 with no update in sight...

StavrosK• 14 years ago

I will second this, I had an iPad, sold it, hot a transformer prime and it's pretty much the perfect device. I've never had a problem with it, it's powerful, Android is just great, I'm generally very very happy with it.

r00fus4• 14 years ago

Hell, there's an Android 13" tablet out there (toshiba?) - more sizes by far than Apple's offerings... that's never been a gripe, IMHO.

CamperBob2• 14 years ago

Probably because Apple has sewn up all of the suppliers of high-quality 10" LCDs.

SquareWheel• 14 years ago

I was under the impression these screens are made in giant sheets and cut to size.

jarek3• 14 years ago

To put it bluntly, people so accustomed to the iPad form factor aren't a market it would make sense for Android manufacturers to chase.

tuananh• 14 years ago

read the title and i know it's gonna be Siegler.

Achshar• 14 years ago

Well that's because it's his "line" of review posts. He has done many of these before.

bane3• 14 years ago

As much as a I love the idea of a 7 inch tablet, there's just one thing that I really really use my tablet for and that's reading PDFs and old scanned comic books (guilty pleasure). The size of a ~10" tablet is more or less perfect for this despite the difficulties in handling the size of the device while in bed vs. a 7".

eLobato• 14 years ago

I have to disagree on this. 7 inches are so much better when you want to read on the crowded NYC subway. I already tried with an iPad and it's a whole lot more inconvenient.

bane3• 14 years ago

I'm just concerned that the size of the text will simply be too small (regardless of DPI).

7" is definitely a good size for tossing in a courier bag/coat pocket though.

r00fus4• 14 years ago

PDFs with images - ie, technical manuals or papers - still don't see it for a 7" screen. Reflow don't help much here.

rdtsc2• 14 years ago

I can see a 10" being a little too heavy to hold after a while. A 7-8" is at the right weight / size to hold with one hand then switch to another without getting to tired too quickly.

Browsing is tricky as clicking on tiny links take more work, I find I need to do a lot more zooming in on the 7".

Another advantage of many 7"-ers is they can charge from the USB port. If for some reason you also have your laptop with you, you can often plug the tablet into it and it will charge (albeit much slower than from the wall charger), most 10"-ers cannot do that.

jessriedel2• 14 years ago

Do you ever take hand-written notes on PDFs? This is my killer-app, and I'm desperate to find a tablet that does it well.

bane3• 14 years ago

I do not. My best guess is one of the Note Series might work for you.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-57385378-78/samsung-gal...

Tyrannosaurs3• 14 years ago

uPad on the iPad works pretty well for me for this though having tried a few different apps I quickly became aware that individual workflows and requirements vary massively for the seemingly simple requirement "taking notes on pdfs".

http://www.appsafari.com/notes/16761/upad/

mycodebreaks• 14 years ago

How does the screen of Nexus 7 compare to Retina display iPad offers?

chrisbroadfoot• 14 years ago

In terms of density, it's between iPad 2 and iPad 3.

telcodud• 14 years ago

iPad 2 has a dpi of 132, Nexus 7 213, and iPad 3 264.

Nexus 7, while not "retina", is closer to iPad 3 than iPad 2.

adventureful• 14 years ago

Am I the only one that thinks Asus isn't getting enough credit for the Nexus 7?

officemonkey• 14 years ago

Actually, most reviews I've seen specifically mention Asus. Seems like they're in a winning situation: they're just about the only people making a profit on the Nexus 7.

bluthru• 14 years ago

Does their logo appear anywhere on the device?

hugs• 14 years ago

If you look closely at the bottom of this photo, yes. http://www.google.com/nexus/a-images/tablet-n7-features-usho...

gingerjoos• 14 years ago

It does appear prominently at the back [1]

[1] http://images.anandtech.com/doci/6054/GoogleIO2012-2261.jpg via http://www.anandtech.com/show/6054/google-nexus-7-mini-revie...

mtgx• 14 years ago

Why would you want to hold your tablet with two hands, other than perhaps gaming? But I figure it should be easier to play them if it's smaller. You're using the iPad with 2 hands, because you don't usually have a choice.

I do think Google needs to make the next version 7.7"-8", though. I think 7" is a little too small. Basically they should make one that is as large as possible (but up to 8"), which you can still hold easily with just one hand. From what I've noticed I think Samsung's 7.7" tablet qualifies for that.

gurkendoktor6• 14 years ago

> Why would you want to hold your tablet with two hands, other than perhaps gaming?

Only slightly related, but: Is there any data on how people use tablets? I feel we're just making guesses based on smartphones all the time.

Example: My iPad spends the whole breakfast standing (in a case) on the table with me only turning eBook pages. Then it spends the evening somehow tucked into the bed as a movie machine. When I read in bed after that, I always read sideways and I'm happy that the iPad is so wide.

I could never connect with the Kindle ads because it wouldn't occur to me to hold the iPad (or a magazine or thick book) freely to read.

Other people may be obsessed with BT keyboards or other gadgets even.

taligent4• 14 years ago

The same reason everyone doesn't read books with one hand.

It's more comfortable to hold it with two.

jff3• 14 years ago

Don't be silly. I read books with one hand all the time--small books, paperbacks, thin hard-bound books. Enormous 700-page O'Reilly books? No.

sigkill• 14 years ago

In his review he says that he accidentally has pressed the software buttons while playing games. I don't know about Jelly Bean but on my TF101 ICS there's an explicit option to enable locking/unlocking of the soft buttons if you check the advanced page on the system settings. Once that's enabled, a small "slide to lock" padlock is constantly visibly in the middle of the status bar screen. So the next time when you want to play or something, just slide to lock the soft-buttons.

rdtsc2• 14 years ago

That is an ASUS only thing it seems. I have not seen it on other tablets yet. And it is very useful, especially if you let your kids use the tablet.

donniezazen2• 14 years ago

Author talks about some mysterious elements of force in iPad that Android doesn't have. I am not sure what he means.

wangweij• 14 years ago

What I read from this article is: "Apple should release a 7" iPad and I will buy it at once. I am sad I have to use a Google product now but this 7" form factor is really irresistible".

mikecane• 14 years ago

Wow. Someone not only discovers that a 7" inch tablet is smaller than an iPad, but that a smaller tablet is also a thing unto itself with special use cases. Welcome to 2010.

dr_• 14 years ago

Let's hold on a sec and put things in perspective. Although MG is regarded by some as an Apple fan boy, this is not the first time he has been enthusiastic about a non-Apple tablet. http://m.techcrunch.com/2011/09/02/amazon-kindle-tablet/ and we aren't still aren't sure what the prospects are for the Fire. This is important to note because although Amazon has a strong commerce offering and can provide music and videos, it's own tablet lacks in apps. The Nexus offers plenty of apps, in my opinion, but the music and video offerings are pretty weak right now. The iOS ecosystem still offers it all, with a strong retail presence to boot, and if Apple introduces a 7ish" tablet at a good price point, I'm not sure how this will stack up then.

grecy• 14 years ago

I hope the experience using it is nothing like the unboxing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3...

An iPad Lover’s Take On The Nexus 7

Related Stories