I love technology and often have the need to stay up-to-date with the latest gadgets and trends. Kind of perfect considering we talk about the latest tech & trends on this site. It gives me an outlet to share my nerd-dom with you all without scaring away my facebook friends.
Today’s review is of the new Nexus 7 Tablet. I have the Nexus 7 I/O white-backed developer edition with 8gb of storage (as shown below). This tablet is what I will be using for my review. The actual Nexus 7 tablet is only available in Black.
First off, I’d like to mention that I’m an Apple girl. It wasn’t always that way but after some scary encounters with losing data & files on an old Dell, I made the switch to a macbook. From there, it took off. I consider myself pretty “in-the-know” when it comes to the latest products but I definitely never thought I’d be reviewing a product from Google, an Android-based tablet, no less.
I’ve had my fair share of purchasing tablets and also returning tablets. Up until this point, I always felt like there was something missing. Take for example, the Kindle Fire. As nice as it was, I had a tough time wrapping my head around the actual interface design. I did not like that I had little to no control of how the homepage was displayed. As small of an issue as that is, it’s something that I expected in a tablet. I wanted control. I wanted to pick and choose what apps I wanted to display. I wanted to add widgets. I wanted to hold a tablet in my hands that was catered to ME.
Was I asking for too much? Probably. Did I expect it to be created so soon? Not hardly. When I received the Nexus 7 tablet and opened it up, I immediately signed in with my google account. Wow, this is easy. It actually syncs with your google account. If you are like me and use google for e-mail documents, chat, voicemail, calendars, etc. You will be very pleased to know that everything you need is ready and waiting for you. All with a touch of a button.
Nexus 7 comes with all your favorite Google Apps – like Gmail, Chrome, Google+ and YouTube – putting the best of Google in the palm of your hand. Easy to use apps stay in sync automatically across your tablet, phone and computer. I tested this out first hand. I quickly edited a google calendar event on my phone, I picked up the tablet within 2 seconds of clicking save and it had posted already on the tablet. Now, that’s what I’d like to see. There is nothing worse than having multiple devices lag when it comes to syncing important events.
One of the main things that stood out to me was the texture of the back of the device. It felt like a rubber glove. Texturized, sturdy, it was the least bit slippery and I was actually able to hold the device with both hands as I was typing. For those of you who have a larger tablet, know this is nearly impossible.
Another big thing for me was the ability to access my kindle books on the device. Since the Nexus 7 pretty much bases all of it’s books/music/videos on Google Play (more on that in a minute), I was worried that it would be an issue for me to access my kindle books but it wasn’t. The Kindle App was actually available in the google play android market. Genius. I also noticed that many of the apps that weren’t available on the Kindle Fire, were available on the Nexus 7. Besides Instagram & Tumblr, I couldn’t find any other app that I use that was not available to me.
Google Play.
With Google Play, you have access to more than 600,000 apps and games, millions of eBooks and songs, thousands of movies, and a growing selection of TV shows and magazines. I received a $25 credit and purchased a few books.
Don’t judge me by my book choices.
I found the Google Play Store to be very easy to use. I liked the fact that you could chose whether to use your store credit or your credit card via a drop down bar. Purchasing a book was simple and it arrived on my device in less than 1 minute.
One of the great things that I love about the Nexus 7 that I found to be an issue with other tablets is the fact that you have CONTROL. There’s that word again. You can control the screens. Right now, I have one screen that’s full of apps and in the corner is a Google Calendar widget. Never miss an important event! On the next page, I have business/work apps & bookmarks. You can go to the widgets screen and pick and choose what you’d like to display on which page. I loved the customization options. I was very impressed.
For a long time, I wouldn’t consider any of the previous tablets to be in direct competition with the iPad but I may have a change of tune. This tablet is a fabulous device for the $199 price tag and if you don’t care about the Apple name and want to save money, I definitely think this tablet is for you. I had no issues with syncing, I had no issues with reading books, I had no issues with the apps. As of right now, one week into the device, I haven’t come across anything that would be a deal breaker or even an issue that I would consider to be a problem.
Now, let’s talk specs:
The Nexus 7 is a 7″ tablet with a 1280×800 HD Back-lit IPS display. It has scratch-resistant glass and a 1.2MP front-facing camera. Great for video chat!
It weighs only 340g and is skinnier than the kindle fire, although it has expanded a little more in height.
You have up to 8 hours of battery life and I’ve noticed it actually running a little bit longer than that. I suppose it depends on what you use your tablet for.
Has a Micro USB port for charging.
Other fun features, a microphone, NFC (Android Beam), Accelerometer, GPS, Magnetometer, Gyroscope and a quad-core Tegra 3 processor.
It runs on the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system which is super fast.
What’s in the box?
Nexus 7 tablet
USB sync/charge cable
Dual-voltage USB wall charger
Quick start guide
Final Thoughts
Going from an iPad to the Nexus 7, I have found that I am in favor of the smaller tablet. With the ease of use and the ability to hold it with one hand and scroll or both hands and type, it has become a quick favorite of mine. While I am not phased by the lack of a back-facing camera, I have yet to even use the front-facing camera but it’s nice to know it’s there. The options in the Google Play Store for apps, games, movies & more are endless and I haven’t had an issue yet. I think this is a great option for those looking to spend less than $200 for a tablet device and need something for e-mail, social interaction and book reading. I highly recommend this tablet.
Click here to purchase your Nexus 7 Tablet!
The words & opinions above are my own. I was not paid for this post. I was not paid to talk about my love for technology or my new obsession with the Nexus 7.
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