| News | Features | Interviews |
| Blog | Contact | Editorials |
| Review: Nexus 7 |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-08-11 17:22:34 |
| Nobody needs a tablet, but many people still want a tablet. This is still the core differentiator between a 'real' computer and a tablet. At least in The Netherlands, you can't function in society without a desktop or laptop connected to the internet, so people need a computer. A tablet, though? Hence, the most common thing people have told me when they played with my iPad 2 is this: I'd love to have a tablet, but not for hundreds of euros. Enter Google's Nexus 7, the first 'cheap' tablet that doesn't just validate Android as a tablet platform, but also gives the iPad a run for its money. |
|
| RE: SDCards |
| By OMRebel on 2012-08-11 22:46:47 |
| Just curious - but what would you want to store on the tablet? The reason I'm asking is my Internet options where I live are zilch - I'm stuck using a rural phone carrier and only get 1.5 Mbps. I use Google Music for storing my music (my music collection hasn't surpassed 20,000 songs) and I use Google Drive for storing everything else. I haven't really ran into any problems with needing additional storage on the device. To be honest, I rarely watch movies on it, and if I do, it's either using Netflix or my Amazon Prime Instant account. I fully realize my needs aren't the same as everyone elses. Just curious about the desire for additional storage......... |
 - Score: 2 |
| I've said it before... |
| By thavith_osn on 2012-08-11 23:03:01 |
|
...and I'll say it again. This is coming from a Apple guy! I've never liked Android and made fun of the tablets (and phones). However... The Nexus 7 is a great tablet. I love it. Android 4.1 is great which is what makes the device what it is (I think). Full points to Google for finally getting the OS to where it needs to be (sorry if some of you liked 2.n (or even 3.n) but they were just not up to scratch as far as I was concerned. Great speed, low price, great software... Only Wifi, so that will be a sticking point for some (not me), and no way to expand the memory (just like the iPad). Get the model with the most memory (I didn't) and have a lot of fun! The only problem I have with touch in general is accidentally touching elements on the screen by accident. I might be half way through typing in a search to find I'm not back at the main menu or I've opened another tab in Chrome or what have you. I did this in iOS too, but less. Not sure if that is an Android thing, a screen sensitivity thing or just me being retarded. I'm still hanging out for an iPhone 5 (maybe to be sorely disappointed, in which case I'll look for an Android 4.1+ phone). |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE: I've said it before... |
| By dukes on 2012-08-11 23:49:53 |
|
> ...and I'll say it again. This is coming from a Apple guy! I've never liked Android and made fun of the tablets (and phones). However... The Nexus 7 is a great tablet. I love it. Android 4.1 is great which is what makes the device what it is (I think). Full points to Google for finally getting the OS to where it needs to be (sorry if some of you liked 2.n (or even 3.n) but they were just not up to scratch as far as I was concerned. Great speed, low price, great software... Only Wifi, so that will be a sticking point for some (not me), and no way to expand the memory (just like the iPad). Get the model with the most memory (I didn't) and have a lot of fun! The only problem I have with touch in general is accidentally touching elements on the screen by accident. I might be half way through typing in a search to find I'm not back at the main menu or I've opened another tab in Chrome or what have you. I did this in iOS too, but less. Not sure if that is an Android thing, a screen sensitivity thing or just me being retarded. I'm still hanging out for an iPhone 5 (maybe to be sorely disappointed, in which case I'll look for an Android 4.1+ phone). I'm from the same boat. Never liked anything Android after my first experience. But this tablet is pretty freakin awesome! I already use it to diagnose problems on my car using bluetooth OBD2. (Something Apple does not allow) I've already found very useful SMB and NFS clients. Also something Apple doesn't do well. There's also different keyboard apps, Google's Navigation, etc. I am very surprised with the tablet catalog. I am not missing anything from iOS. I've actually gained more. |
| - Score: 3 |
| Off Topic - Desktop Browser Tab Implementations |
| By OperaFanBoy on 2012-08-12 00:39:00 |
|
"Chrome on the desktop is - by a huge margin - my favourite browser. .... and has a superior tabbed browsing implementation." Say what? Superior to what? Lynx? I am researching 5 separate topics at the moment and have 50 different tabs open. My tab bar isn't crowded because they are grouped together in stacks. I have a history of 100 tabs that I can open - all with full browser history and I can reopen any one at any time. I can drag the tab bar down to see a preview of all of the tabs at once. I get page previews of tabs as I roll over them. I can mix private tabs with normal tabs. I can tile or cascade my tabs. I can place my tab bar at the top, bottom, left or right. I can open my new tabs in the foreground or the background. Tell me again that Chrome has a superior tabbed browsing implementation, because from here it looks pretty inferior to me...... |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE: Off Topic - Desktop Browser Tab Implementations |
| By Spiron on 2012-08-12 01:34:15 |
| Dude, Chrome is obviously the hipster browser in this case and like the sub-culture it IS better in someways that what's mainstream, think IE or Firefox, but laughable when compared to some of the better yet more underground sub-cultures, like Opera which I am posting this from =P |
| - Score: 4 |
| Comment by mieses |
| By mieses on 2012-08-12 02:44:39 |
|
Very happy with my Nexus 7 but disagree about the front facing camera. The second camera would be useful in video calls and for taking pictures of receipts with an app like Lemon (which is not yet compatible with the N7 perhaps because of the missing front camera issue). I'd pay another $35 for the second camera. But subtract $40 if the manufacturer pre-loads a non-default UI. |
| - Score: 1 |
| RE[3]: SDCards |
| By WorknMan on 2012-08-12 03:02:18 |
|
> So to sum it up, the Nexus 7 does in fact have a serious shortcoming in that regard, and it is definitely a deal-breaker for some. Myself being one of them. Well, here's some news for you, and I know it might shock the shit out of you, but... there are indeed other tablets to choose from that not only have bigger capacities, but also SD card slots. The Nexus 7 is a budget tablet, designed to compete with the Kindle Fire, so of course it's not going to have all the bells and whistles that everyone wants. I myself don't have a need for an SD card slot, and 16gb is more than enough, since I mostly read on mine and stream music online. If that wasn't the case, I would've looked for a different tablet. That being said though, I wish Google would release a higher-end 7" tablet with an SD card slot and HDMI out so I could have all that on a pure Google tablet, but we don't live in a perfect world :) |
| - Score: 5 |
| RE: Firefox |
| By pandronic on 2012-08-12 05:00:25 |
| +1 for Firefox Beta. I'm using it on my ICS-powered Asus Transformer and it's the best Android browser, period. Opera and Webkit based browsers really don't hold a candle to it in terms of snappiness and rendering quality (it's almost as good as on the desktop version). Also it has Flash support and Adblock Plus. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE: Off Topic - Desktop Browser Tab Implementations |
| By pandronic on 2012-08-12 05:15:24 |
|
Valid point about Opera you have there and I'd like to add to your point about Chrome not having a superior tabbed browsing implementation. I'm writing this in Firefox which has the wonderful Panorama feature (aka Tab Groups) and a shitload of extensions (like Tab Mix Plus and the like) with insane amount of features and customizations. I'm really getting sick of the Chrome fanboys ... Firefox is fast enough - I'm using it on low end computers with zero problems, it actually uses less memory, it has far better add-ons, better privacy, better developer tools and renders the real web better (the one that's flawed and not always standards compliant). Opera and IE9 are also pretty good browsers, certainly on par with Chrome. |
| - Score: 3 |
| Front facing camera? |
| By roracle on 2012-08-12 05:58:07 |
|
Maybe it's an issue with those not in the USA, but I have a front facing camera on mine. If you guys don't have one, I can't imagine why you don't. I agree with the rear camera thing, about how intrusive it is in larger audiences on tablets. Keep your phone around for that one. |
| - Score: 1 |
| News | Features | Interviews |
| Blog | Contact | Editorials |