Google Nexus 7 tablet

[Robbie Khan Reviews]

So here we go...again :p

The N7 feels much more expensive than a ?160 tablet. By comparison my Touchpad doesn't feel as robust, especially the back which has some flex when pressed in and you can hear the gluey stuff too if you press hard enough. The material should be standard on ALL devices like this, I wish the S3 back cover was this material now, it feels really nice and grippy. Kind of like a shinier version of the ROCK case for the Galaxy S3.

The screen is good, autobrightness works well enough but tends to be choosing lower levels in normal light than I would desire. The colours aren't as vibrant as the S3 (obviously) but they are fine when the N7 is used on its own and not next to another device sporting a AMOLED-HD screen! Photos look very neutral though, not as vibrant as I'd prefer. I took a snap of both S3 and N7 displaying one of my photos (see below) which has a variation of skin tones and colours in sunlight and you can see the S3 screen is more vibrant and more true to how it was that day compared to the neutral colours on the N7.

It's much smaller in the hand than I was expecting but much heavier too! Only a few mm thicker than the S3 but you can hold it edge to edge in one hand and use it without problem or fear of it slipping thanks to that back cover material.

Performance seems fine, it's smooth but then again my S3 running ICS is also just as smooth, I didn't expect a major difference here even though I was surprised at comments on sites from people saying it's way smoother than the S3 running ICS and so on.

My one didn't appear to have the left side screen raised issue on close inspection but only when I zoomed in on one of the photos did I notice a tiny bit raised part just above the bezel (see pic below). This is invisible when looking in person up close though unless you're looking at an extreme angle in direct light. Press it in and you can't feel it go in so the raised par is so small it's not a bother but if it gets worse I'll tighten the screws and maybe apply some glue. This isn't something worth returning for.

There is no backlight bleed on my one from what I can see. There is fragments of edge backlighting but no more than I'd expect on any LCD panel tablet or otherwise.

The charger outputs 2 amps but the 1 amp charge I also have works fine and the N7 sees it as an AC source. Too early to tell if the 2A is required for faster charging or something. I get the feeling this is just a standard charger that Asus would otherwise bundle with larger tablets that do require 2A though so for the N7 it perhaps doesn't matter if it's 2 or 1 amp.

Brightness of the screen at max is fine outdoors in the sun, no better or worse than the S3. Pictures comparing both below.

My only gripe is that there's just over 5GB of free storage left from the 8GB so the OS itself and its data is consuming just over 2GB. I'll be resorting to Google Drive and USB OTG storage it would seem then :p

[spaceelf]

The 2 amp lets you charge while using. The normal 500mA you get from USB2 will only let it charge while asleep. (At the very least, thats about what it said in the manual.)

I have the 16GB. My only complaint is there are still a lot of games blocked (I don't know if verification is on Googles end or the developers, but its going slow.)

At least Mass Effect: Infiltrator was marked compatible today, so thinks are lookin up.

[Phouchg]

Nice and all, except that Bioware should go apeshoot and sue everyone who's using N7 to mean Nexus 7 instead of Alliance Special Forces :whistle:

[Simon.]

No mention of battery life?

[speed3okie]

Where did you get that case?

[Noir Angel]

For such a cheap tablet, the quality of the screen looks really impressive to me. Great review, thank you!

[Ace]

Where did you get that case?

Amazon sell it. :)

[speed3okie]

Amazon sell it. :)

Thanks! (Y)

[ObiWanToby]

I got the 16GB myself, I am glad I did. One of my largest gripes so far have been the lack of 5Ghz 802.11n support, and Chrome. Chrome is an ok browser, but just like the desktop, I think the font rendering is odd.

On the tablet, the text seems too thin, not enough hinting. I appear to not be alone in this. I love the interface and how Chrome works, but the performance seems to be lacking (choppy at times) , the text is odd, and honestly when clicking link with my finger, it doesn't seem as accurate as Firefox. Sometimes it can take a while to click what I want (for instance on reddit, clicking on showing more comments frequently fails, I have reported so many users inadvertently).

Firefox Beta on the Tablet seems to work much better as far as that goes. The interface is much worse, but it seems more readable (kinda like Windows, DirectWrite is amazing vs Chrome's rendering). I really think Google need to spend more time on their browser focusing on readability and more buttery like projects.

At this point, I think hardware is where it should be. The Nexus 7 feels great to hold, it feels great to touch. It took a little while for truly good hardware to hit the street, but it is there. Now I think it is time to embrace the magic of softwareand really focus on the little things to make the experience perfect.

[Kravex]

Amazon sell it. :)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Biz-E-Bee-UK-Luxury-Android-Protector/dp/B006SIR2TA/ref=pd_sim_sbs_ce_7

Looks like the same case but nearly ?10 cheaper when you don't have Nexus 7 in the title...

[Robbie Khan Reviews]

An update on my review!

The battery life is excellent, I lost 10% over several hours of usage just browsing, setting it up, rooting and so on. Sadly though I had to sell it on because I realised after the first day of real world usage that everything I was doing on it was being done just as well on my S3.

I sold it for ?160 so didn't really lose anything on it as I bought it for ?168.

The case was ?10 on ebay, just search Mofi Nexus 7 case.

If you don't have an S3 then I highly recommend a Nexus 7 :)

[ObiWanToby]

I kind of disagree, if you have a S3, I think there is still room for a tablet. Now if you have a laptop, S3 and desktop, a tablet might not be worth it.

I myself have a personal laptop, a galaxy nexus, a work laptop, and a desktop. I travel a lot of my job, and do not want to take my personal laptop and my work laptop at the same time, so find having a tablet a nice addition.

When I am at a hotel, it is inappropriate to surf facebook, watch youtube, or do anything personal on your company owned laptop. A tablet is small enough to travel along with no issues, and bigger than y our phone so you can enjoy reading / viewing.

I do think in the future there will be a blur between the smart phone, the tablet, and the ultrabook. I just do not think the we are there completely yet.

[Robbie Khan Reviews]

The only benefit I saw was in tablet optimised apps, of which there aren't as many just yet,

For my usage style the S3 does everything I found myself I thought I'd excell in on the Nexus 7.

[morebaker]

i have a galaxy s and it will not do every thing the nexus will.

i hope. as it arrives tomorrow, will report back

tethering works well with my netbook

hope the nexus plays well with my galaxy s

[Growled Member]

The Nexus 7 is a great buy but the lack of external storage is a deal breaker for me.

[dipsylalapo Supervisor]

The Nexus 7 is a great buy but the lack of external storage is a deal breaker for me.

I'm getting one pretty soon too, and I'm hoping that this isn't the case for very light usage. I already have a laptop where I do most of my work. I've been wanting to get a tablet for the simpler of tasks like email, web browsing, reading etc. I'm hoping that the limited storage won't be that much of an issue.

A few people have mentioned you can use USB OTG for storage, is that the case? Storage not so much of an issue then.

Edit - Quick Google search seems to suggest that it doesn't :(

[Salty Wagyu]

You can have external storage on it. Root the device then install StickMount from Google Play, it has mounted my 8GB Sandisk Titanium via a USB OTG cable and read files off it no problem.

[Depicus]

You can have external storage on it. Root the device then install StickMount from Google Play, it has mounted my 8GB Sandisk Titanium via a USB OTG cable and read files off it no problem.

Still waiting for my cable to arrive but as I understand no rooting required for the N7 but will report back when the (right) cable arrives.

[Nogib]

if you have a S3, I think there is still room for a tablet. Now if you have a laptop, S3 and desktop, a tablet might not be worth it.

I agree. I have both the SGS3 and now the Nexus 7 and both fit into my life just fine since I do not have any laptop.

You can have external storage on it. Root the device then install StickMount from Google Play, it has mounted my 8GB Sandisk Titanium via a USB OTG cable and read files off it no problem.

Correct, the Nexus 7, on it's own, can NOT mount any form of storage via USB OTG. This method of rooting and installing stickmount has been confirmed to work. As of right now I have had no need to root mine however.

[giannisgx89]

I'm going to get one of these once google release them in Germany!

Btw can anyone tell me from where i can order-preorder it for Greece?

[Scorbing]

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2407422,00.asp

[Brandon H Supervisor]

Still waiting for my cable to arrive but as I understand no rooting required for the N7 but will report back when the (right) cable arrives.

what kind of cable do you need to mount usb? could you link to a good one?

scratch that, found a good one on Amazon

[remixedcat]

The Nexus 7 is a great buy but the lack of external storage is a deal breaker for me.

this.... I really could have used one of these tabs for the trip to VA Beach.... and I wouldn't have had 3G+tons of B/W for it,.... so I would have been able to load all kinda vids to SD card and watch em... The trip was 8.5 hours long.

and even the 16GB version uses 2+GB for apps and system and such... so that's eaten up quick...

[Brandon H Supervisor]

this.... I really could have used one of these tabs for the trip to VA Beach.... and I wouldn't have had 3G+tons of B/W for it,.... so I would have been able to load all kinda vids to SD card and watch em... The trip was 8.5 hours long.

and even the 16GB version uses 2+GB for apps and system and such... so that's eaten up quick...

so what's stopping you from getting the cord so you can mount a flash-drive?

[Nogib]

so what's stopping you from getting the cord so you can mount a flash-drive?

Not everyone wants to root their device right away.