Earlier this week I was one of the fortunate few to get my hands on a Nexus 7 tablet from Asus via Google. Quad core processor, 1 GB of ram, 16 GB of storage space. What does that all add up to? A very sexy tablet, and at just $278 after shipping and taxes it turns out to be the best investment I made all year. I am using the tablets’ speech translator he is doing a very good job translating what I’m saying.
Many people who have ordered this tablet still haven’t received it and I suspect that I am 1 of the lucky few who got in early enough to to take possession of this fantastic device. While it remains to be seen whether or not the tablet will stand up to being used extensively I have high hopes for this unit. . .
A number of odd things stand out about this tablet. The main launcher page only works in portrait mode. I installed a rotation app that works well but I still find it odd that the design team didn’t include a landscape mode.
Battery life is good for the small size of the device, however it takes a while to charge. A big plus with this unit is the ability to use most of the smartphone chargers I had from previous devices due to the type of plug they designed the unit to accommodate. My previous tablet required a proprietary connector and I spent around 50 dollars buying chargers for it. This unit however was very light on the wallet comparatively.
One point about a light tablet I thought I should make, they feel like they are going to snap in half, even though the build quality is solid. My older Galaxy Tab 7 WiFi felt much more sturdy. While writing this I checked the tablet out and it isn’t bendy or anything like that so kudos to Asus for making the unit sturdy AND light. Expect to instinctively treat it with kid gloves.
Many apps written for 2.3 do not always work properly, one that comes to mind immediately is Pocketcast which has trouble with the built in downloader.(Ed: All 2.3 apps I use as of April 11 2013 work well now!) It will likely take some time for apps to be coded to work with the unit 100%. This is a big negative for this tablet, as some apps refuse to work outright, Farmers Progress and related apps force close immediately. I suspect the update to 4.1.1 had something to do with this since other users have reported issues with that update on certain games.
The keyboard is extremely responsive and I have not had to install a third party keyboard for the unit, as I have been forced to do on my previous android devices to be able to type properly. The screen is also a beauty to behold.
All in all I am very happy with this unit. I think new users to tablets would find the Nexus 7 a difficult unit to master quickly but I had previous experience with the Galaxy Tab so it was easy personally to make the transition.
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Steven A, on computing and life... 