Those of who you know me, or are regular readers of my blog will know that I have been a devout Apple fan for many years. The premium price point has never put me off, as I’ve experienced the build quality first hand. So when I had the opportunity to review the Nexus 7, I was immediately sceptical of the build and the OS.
I know the OS war of Android vs. iOS will rage on for an eternity – and will essential split the crowds.. However, I am not about to start OS bashing in this post. I will be open and honest, my initial thoughts about the OS have actually been nulled….. That’s right.. I am actually seeing the benefits behind the open OS!
Now down to the business of the Google Nexus 7..
Hands On:
My first impressions of the Nexus was somewhat of shock! I was actually surprised at how responsive Android KitKat (4.4.4) was performing on the Asus hardware.. My previous experience of Android devices have centred round frustration, waiting for simple tasks to complete.. That is clearly not the case with the Nexus.
Although the quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU is not new to the mobile market, its clocked at 1.5GHz, sit that beside the healthy 2GB of RAM that the Nexus sports and it’s fair to say this 7inch tablet can happily hold its own.
The device itself is formed from an extremely light loft plastic. Coming in at a mere 290 grams (for WiFi only model on review). The device feels ergonomic and well designed. It sits perfectly in my hand when both reading from the kindle app, and browsing the web. The only downside from its design is that the soft plastic can be a bit slippy, meaning if your grip is lose you will finding sliding out of your hand. This is easily rectified by investing in one of the many covers/cases on the market. Which I’d recommend, as the device doesn’t look like it would thank you for hitting the deck!
The Nexus 7 comes in two storage sizes, 16GB and 32GB which has soon become the norm’ of the tablet market. Which is more than ample for the average user, especially as music streaming services are ’10 a penny’ nowadays.
The display sports a 1920x1200px resolution, which makes onscreen content look and feel crisp and edgy. The aspect ratio of the display is 16:9, which is notably different (not in a bad way) along side the iPad minis ratio of 4:3. Although the Nexus wouldn’t be my goto device for catching up on TV or films, it seems perfectly suited to ready and web browsing alike.
The camera on the device is capable of 5MP photos and 1080p video footage, it’s not likely to blow your socks off with the quality of pictures it produces.. However will not pixelate your video conference calls, with its front facing 1.2MP camera capable of 720p video.
Overall – for the £199 price point I think this tablet is a fantastic addition to the market, and I doubt buyers would be disappointed with it.
Features:
- 7.02″ 1920×1200 HD display (323 ppi)
- Scratch resistant Corning® glass
- 1.2MP front facing, fixed focus
- 5MP rear facing, auto focus
- 3950 mAh battery (Up to 9 hours active use)
- Wireless charging built-in (Qi compatible)
- Stereo surround sound speakers, powered by Fraunhofer
- Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro, 1.5GHz CPU
- Adreno 320, 400MHz GPU
- 16GB or 32GB internal storage
- 2 GB RAM
Dimensions:
11.4 x 20 x 0.86 cm
Weight:
0.64lbs (290g) Wi-Fi, 0.66lbs (299g) LTE
Rating:
