Nexus 7 changed my mind about Android (Jelly Bean 4.2.2)

[Rippleman]

Lots of people on this forum know my dislike for Android. I do enjoy trying new tech stuff and always hope for the best. When it comes to phones, my first purchase was a 3gs and from then I have always been a IOS advocate. Let me state that I am not a FANBOY of IOS, but did enjoy it more then other systems. True Android fan-boys (not the good kind) here constantly praised anything Android quite abit so about 2 years ago I tried out a entry level Android Device running 2.3. Well, as you could guess, I hated it with a passion. Ugly, laggy, illogical, and over all a mess of an OS (in my opinion). So back to the 3gs I went, and soon wanted a front facing camera so I grabbed a iphone 4 and had the same great experience as I did with the 3gs. Well, as time went by, the same Android fan boys (not the good kind) were saying ICS was Android "fixed", so I went out about 8 months ago and gave it another shot and picked up a Samsung s2x with ICS. At first I was impressed by the hardware and screen size (my only real complaint on the iphone) but soon started to see the clunky old Android roots showing through its recent "makeover" and still didn't like Android one bit. Sure ICS is better then 2.3 but it still was not as smooth, functional, usable, and polished as the IOS that I am used to. Well, back to the iphone 4 I went. After that I also had a week of WP8 but thats a different tale.

Well, fast forward to yesterday. I guy I know needed a computer, and he didn't have any money but he had a Nexus 7. Since I deal computers part time (8 year shop owner 4 years ago) I was able to strike up a deal with him to trade a PC I had in stock for the Nexus 7. I assume he updated the Nexus 7 to 4.2.2 since I don't think they ship that way but I am not sure, either way, it had 4.2.2 Jelly Bean in it. Well it was reset, so I powered it up, plugged in my Google info and was ready to see what Jelly Bean could do this time to still make me hate Android.

After a day of using, I can say this statement that i never thought i would say: "Android is now amazing." Yes, I said it. This Jelly Bean is now truly Android "fixed". I say that very openly because in all seriousness, before Jelly Bean, Android was truly broken even if the Droid Boyz will never admit it. I find it 98% polished as IOS now with only a few things lacking. But what it lacks it makes up for in other ways. Like others say, you can do more with it then IOS. Just simply "doing more" doesn't make it better, but to some it does make it more appealing. I still prefer some strengths of IOS though. Specifically the spell checker, the polish of most apps, the app store layout and selection, FaceTime is still and probably will be superior for a very long time to come. Imessage is also more convenient since I use it to message the Philippines for free daily, will be switching to skype now but skype counts as data and not free like texts are.

I am very happy for people that there is truly a good 3 way competition now, all major players (IOS, windows, and now Android) all make very good OS's for the masses. I cringe thinking about a first time user using anything but IOS6+, WP8 or Jelly Bean. The smartphone has matured now across all players and that's a good thing for everyone.

I love the nexus 7 just as much as I like the Ipad. I can see though with some more usage, I would also actually shift preference to the nexus. Anyway, gratz to you Android for finally not sucking, and also gratz to me to find a new toy that I like to play with. For those that still assume Android is horrible, grab a friends Jelly Bean device and use it for a while, you may just be surprised.

End note: And for all you who still fight the war of Android vs. WP8 vs. IOS can all just relax. They are all good now and only minor weaknesses and strengths specific to each.

[HoochieMamma]

Good good...one more down *rubs palms together*

But yeah, the Nexus line of devices are they way to go. Check out the Nexus 4 phone and you'll love it.

[tsupersonic]

The Nexus 7 is a fantastic device - hard to argue with the price and the fact that you get updates fast. Having used Android from 2.1 (Eclair), I would say 4.0 (ICS) is where stock Android started to shine. It's (4.0) the first version of Android I preferred without a manufacturer skin (aka. Touchwiz, Sense, Blur, etc.). But, yeah, JB is just awesome.

[Sikh]

I hated android till I could buy a good STOCK android device with ICS or above. I was interested in the Galaxy Nexus but I hate Samsungs ****ty build quality. Moving forward a year and I see the nexus 4 launch, instantly bought it. Launch day, delivered Jan 4th I believe, whatever that tuesday was and ive loved it since then and jelly bean is like you say, very polished. Not having Undo annoys me. Biggest annoyance so far

I want to get a Nexus 7 / iPad Mini strickly for a reader / bed time & side toy, but when they both get refreshed ill choose one.

Most likely the Mini unless the 7 has a high resolution screen. Love reading technical books, especially books with code on my Retina iPad and Surface Pro.

[ingramator]

Good good...one more down *rubs palms together*

But yeah, the Nexus line of devices are they way to go. Check out the Nexus 4 phone and you'll love it.

You can love the price and stock ROM but not the quality, lets face it man, its LG and its crap compared to the likes of Apple or Nokia. Let alone supply and as a result replacement issues.

[HoochieMamma]

You can love the price and stock ROM but not the quality, lets face it man, its LG and its crap compared to the likes of Apple or Nokia. Let alone supply and as a result replacement issues.

Can't talk about Nokia as I haven't used a Lumia for long enough to comment but it's far beyond the build quality of an iPhone, that's for sure. The amount of iPhones I have seen broken from top to bottom after a 1m fall is ridiculous.

Supply isn't an issue anymore so replacements should be quick now but that's the price you have to pay for being too popular :(

[Raa]

Android has always been a great experience imo. I've had little to no issue with it personally. (Y)

Glad to see you're happy with it now though. :)

[The Dark Knight]

I've been using Android since Froyo. At that time I had an HTC Desire, which had the Sense interface. In many ways it was far superior to stock Android. Then came Gingerbread. I used a custom stock interface ROM without Sense, but went back to Sense pretty fast. After that came ICS. It was then that I ditched Sense completely and went for the stock experience. Sure, I did miss a couple of features, but I definitely did not miss the over the top gradients, curved corners etc. Android had definitely improved drastically!

Now using a Nexus 4 with JB 4.2.2 and couldn't be happier with it! :)

[Growled Member]

Welcome to the good side. :p

You are right, Android has made an amazing turnaround since the 2.3 days. It's very usable now.

[KRazpopov]

This is the absolute same situation I was in. I got a low-end Android with 2.2 Froyo running on it as my first smartphone, and I assumed that Android was just that laggy, so I got a Windows Phone after a year with said Android device. When I was looking for a good tablet and saw that the Nexus 7 is the only thing that really fit my budget & needs, I saw that Android had drastically improved, and the much better hardware helped the situation as well.

Looking at Android now, this is what I think of it: Good operating system, but only if you're running 4.0 or above. Otherwise, it feels a bit like a beta.