Skip to main content

The Google Nexus 7 enters our office, gets ready to rally the Android troops

Google’s Nexus 7 is a milestone in Android’s development, so we were all over it when it came to our office. The Nexus line gives a general heading for Android gadgets and Jelly Bean that debuted on this tab is quite interesting indeed. Unlike some previous Nexus gadgets, the Nexus 7 will probably gain a lot of traction with consumers making it even more important.

The Nexus 7 packs a Tegra 3 chipset, a 7? LCD screen with WXGA resolution and a highly competitive price. We can’t understate the importance of the price – it matches the Amazon Kindle Fire, which fairly quickly grabbed 5% of the tablet market share on its own (that’s big for an Android) and it doesn’t even run a proper version of Android.

The Nexus 7, however, comes from Google itself along with the latest OS (and a promise for timely updates in the future). We’ve already looked at what Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is all about, so let’s take a closer look at the hardware instead.

The Nexus 7 was made by ASUS and it has done a pretty good job of it. We like the metal edge running around the tablet and especially the back. It’s plastic with a dotted pattern, really pleasant to touch and good at hiding fingerprints.

At 340g, the tablet is lighter than most other tablets in the class. Its size (198.5 x 120 x 10.5 mm) is about average, though, with Samsung tabs being thinner, while the Kindle Fire is a bit thicker.

The contrast of the screen isn’t stellar, but the 216ppi pixel density ensures sharp images. Colors are decent, but we would have preferred them to be slightly more saturated. Indoor viewing angles are good, but, as is often the case with tablets, the display turns into a mirror when taken outside and the sun shines directly on it.

We’ll do our usual battery of tests for the review, but for now check out this video for a quick guided tour of the Nexus 7.

There are things that Google and ASUS skipped when designing the Nexus 7 (a process that reportedly took only 4 months), like a main camera or a microSD slot. We’ll need some more time with the Nexus 7 to figure out if those things will be missed.


View the original article here

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meizu Russia confirms “Ubuntu rumors”

Yup, just as we’ve told you before, Ubuntu is coming to a Meizu smartphone near you. We still don’t have the official announcement, but details keep coming.,, The latest information (or that’s confirmation) comes from Meizu Russia, which says that Meizu engineers are in fact working on an Ubuntu version of the Meizu MX3. The work is apparently still underway to make things stable, and in the meantime they [engineers] are also working on a new version of Android-based Flyme ROM for both the Meizu MX2 and MX3, adding that Ubuntu won’t be released until the updated Flyme ROM is launched. It is said that Meizu will use Ubuntu as its ticket to the US market later in the year. At that time, we may also see either a revamped MX3 model or the whole new MX4 smartphone that will sport even better hardware under the hood. As usual, we’ll be on the lookout for any news coming from the Ubuntu camp and let you know as soon as we have something new to add. Stay tuned… [Via: GizChina] Dusan has been...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dorada Software Updates Popular iOS Podcasting Application

AppId is over the quota London, United Kingdom – Dorada Software today is pleased to announce the release and immediate availability of the 2.0 update to the popular “RSSRadio” podcasting application. RSSRadio allows users to subscribe, download and listen to podcasts on both the iPhone and iPad. “With the recent release of Apples “Podcasts” application the bar has been raised for look and feel in these kind of apps and its harder to stand out from the crowd” says Daniel Broad, owner of Dorada Software. Daniel further explains “Competing on features can often be the a default choice, but I decided to go the extra mile and invest in a professionally designed user interface, concentrating firstly on the iPhone but for iPad also. I think RSSRadio now looks great, and is even easier to use.” RSSRadio 2.0 is available today on the App Store, in both a free and paid version. Both versions have advanced features such as: * Push notifications for new episodes * Location based background downl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Android apps coming to Windows Phones?

There’s a weird rumor going around the Interwebs, suggesting that Microsoft may allow Android apps to run on Windows Phones. Something like that would quickly increase the app count for Microsoft’s mobile platform, but there are downsides as well. For one thing, this could entice developers to skip “regular” native development for Windows Phone. It’s a tricky choice. On one hand, the Redmond giant could benefit in the short term to have all those Android apps and games available on Windows Phone handsets. On the other hand, they could pretty much face extinction from the mobile game, with Windows Phone pretty much turning into yet another Android launcher. So no, we don’t think Microsoft will allow this to happen. At the same time, it may not stop other companies from pursuing this opportunity. Think BlueStacks, the company that already allows Android apps to run on Windows computers. Perhaps these same guys/gals can enable the same functionality on Windows Phones. We doubt the Redmon...
Post a Comment
Read more