Screen position is off-centered, i don't know how it feels when it is in hands, but in the picture it is annoying to see that much space below the screen.old nexus 7 textured back finish was highly applauded, it's absence in the new one is slightly puzzling.
Excellent Article Brian as always. You fulfilled my wish so fast regarding the soc I asked on Twitter. It's great to see the new Nexus 7 is not using 200 as in Nexus 4. I was totally confused regarding the Snapdragon 600, which you explained in detail that this tablet comes with underclock one, glad it's clear now. I already have Nexus 7(2012) and wanted to update to the new model. Considering it will take sometime for Google to release the tablet in my country, I'll wait for September as Apple might release iPad mini that could change things if it comes with Retina display. Worth reading, and waiting for more in details by Anand. Thanks.
I usually don't comment here but had to comment after reading Brian's tweet regarding SoC!
I was bit disappointed after launch that they used S4 Pro and not S600. Not that it was a deal breaker but seeing One & S4 leapfrog N4 & Xperia Z's performance, I was almost sure Google would use S600 as it would be more future-proof and remember, new one has to power 1920*1200 display.
Read TheVerge's review and was disappointed that they didn't clarify about SoC. But seeing Brian's tweet that it basically is an under-clocked S600, made my decision to buy this one really easy.
Thanks Brian, appreciate the effort you & whole Anand Tech's team put in your reviews.
The Verge's review makes Brian's "mini review" read like an in-depth piece with academic aspirations. I'm really happy that a serious tech website does gadgets now.
Now? Anandtech's been doing the best smartphone/tablet reviews for like 2-3 years... Sometimes they lag behind (in time to publish) or don't cover every single permutation or model out there, but they've been at it even before the staff of The Verge left Engadget to form TIMN and eventually Verge.
Heh, yeah, TheVerge is less of a tech site than it is a hipster site that covers tech and gadgets because it is now in vogue. But I don't think most of its readers and readers if other tech-porn sites know any better and mass confusion and lack of tech understanding ensues. I appreciate Anandtech's thoroughness even if it means I have to wait a few days longer to read about it.
Indeed. I trust anandtech.com to give accurate information, honest and fair opinions. Also, I trust anandtech to correct errors and respond to comments. I wouldn't buy a gadget without checking if anandtech had a review or were likely to do one.
The SoC is mis-labelled apparently to not offend handset customers (possibly for the lower prices that Google negotiated). These are Krait 300 cores clocked at 1.5Ghz while the S600 is exactly the SAME cores running at 1.7Ghz. I would say minor speed dip but gpu is quad Adreno 320 which are pretty fast units with OpenGL ES 3.0 support. Great deal on the whole package plus a superb screen!. Shame the bezel on top and bottom are so thick.
Google will be 'doing right' when they stop creating devices with a super-limited lifespan. No removable memory? Going to be out of space in just a couple years. No replaceable battery? 300 or so recharges - call it 2 years until your device lasts for about 1hour not tethered to a usb plug.
Google is making stuff that even in the short term, harms the environment far more than better competitors.
Until batteries and memory are user-replaceable, google products are loosers right out the gate.
it's not about how many tablets you know that do these things. sure, making the battery replacable on a tablet may not be the most important thing and an engineering challange, but not putting a simple thing like an microsd-reader in it is just a no go in my opinion.
On a phone it's debatable IMO, on a tablet it's nowhere near as egregious an omission IMO... USB OTG works well enough and it's more flexible than a microSD slot in some cases anyway.
That's right. Except that..USB OTG functionality is again absent on the nexus 7. It really baffles me. Sure, there's rooting, but Google REALLY should've add the USB support out of the box
It's not absent, unless you mean it doesn't ship with the cable. I've got USB OTG working fine on my 2012 Nexus 7 with keyboard, mouse, etc. It's annoying it doesn't natively support USB storage, but that's a more specific issue.
OTG is reportedly functional on the 2013 model. Further, WiFi lets you connect to other devices on your LAN and to the cloud. The lack of an SD slot is at best a quibble.
I have a 2013 nexus 7. I couldn't get otg working but in looking around settings found a setting for hotspot which turns the 7 into router. Es file exployer allows you to run a ftp server and its fast. So I use otg on my note2 to transfer files to nexus 7. 1.2 gig movie about 3.5 minutes.
I have Nexus 7 2012 and there is no problem to use USB OTG cable + USB stick (or Transcend USB stick with microSD+SD card slot). I use Total Commander+USB Stick plugin (free). It is possible to open any doc/pdf/jpeg/avi/mp4 file. It is possible to share any folder or external HDD at your laptop and to use like WiFi Network LAN storage using ES File Explorer. It is possible to play any movie using streaming (without downloading) from the Network LAN storage (MX Player or BS Player). It is even possible playing movie from WiFi FTP server.
Apple doesn't use expanded memory either, and they've been selling the tablet at the same high price for years now, and it still only has 16 GB of storage. I'm starting to wonder if they'll ever change it this decade. That $500 should come with 32 GB by default by now.
yes, but then people who'd also want to _use_ their ipad wouldn't have to purchase the higher-tier 32gb version.
to me, a business like this is a scam. i can somehow understand why apple is doing this. they have their itunes ecosystem with sync and whatnot, so expandable memory just doesn't fit in their concept.
but on android it's just different, since expandable memory works out of the box, if an sd-slot is included.
so the only reason is to upsell you to a more expensive sku and in the same time severely limiting total storage, which for me as a music-lover and his 50gb library, is reason enough i will never even think about buying your product.
which is a shame, because the rest of the nexus 7 looks mighty fine.
You have about 9k songs, based on a 6mb size for each song. Upload them to Google Play (20,000 songs can be uploaded), download the ones you listen to most to your tablet, and stop complaining - Google's not going to use expandable memory in the near future, as they are trying to push their cloud services. It's (IMO) working well, and their cloud services are great products. The only thing that needs to change is Carriers and their metered data plans.
How does the fact that they're "not going to use expandable memory in the near future" make their decision any less wrong? None of what you said can be used as a justification - in fact, it highlights a very real issue. Cloud services, no matter how "great" they are, can NOT compete with the convenience, accessibility and reliability of expandable storage. This holds even truer in non-U.S. markets where data services are even less developed. At the end of the day, the theoretical risks of cloud data are far higher than the equivalent risks of expandable storage.
Not to mention my nexus ten has no option for LTE, so this solution is that i'm only allowed so much on my tablet and if i want something else i have to go back home and get it. Furthermore not all of us have the money or are willing to buy a seperate sim contract so that they can access cloud data on the move. I do not want to pay £7.50 a month so that i can access data that i could have on an sd card for free.
Further more it makes absolutely no sense to refuse to allow SD cards when i can happily plug a flash drive into the usb socket. If they don't want us using additional flash memory, then why allow for the ability to use it via USB at all? It's comes off looking like they are happy for us to have additional local storage, but do not wish for us to have it in a convenient manner.
I currently live in one of those non-US market and I have a 32 GB 2012 N7 and a 16 GB N4, the N7 has 21 GB free and the N4 has 9 GB free, and I hear every song or watch every movie that I want to hear/watch, through the use of the cloud, what you have there with non-expandable storage is a personal preference issue, it would do you well to remember that and not to create an issue for those in the so-called non-US markets.
So the decision to not use expandable storage is not wrong, it is something you should get used too
One of the reasons Google is going away from SD expansion is that it confuses a majority of the populace. Most users need to have Gigabytes translated to a number of songs/photos/movies and cannot grasp the difference between internal and external (removable) storage. Google now needs to appeal to the iPhone mentality people (reminds me of the iPhone vs EVO video from a while back).
I personally have about 30GB of (cherry-picked) music and I may choose 8-10 favorite albums and 200-300 favorite songs that i will listen to on a regular basis- which gives me about 20hrs of continious music in 5GB of 320kpps MP3s (or 12GB of FLAC).
...or I can use Spotify/Pandora/Mog/Rdio/Google and listen to 95% of all my music + new music that sometimes can catch on.
i find it always weird that "it confuses ta majority of the population" huh? which majority is that? I never confused me, it never confused my people around me (even the not so tech savvy persons) Also many of use are used to laptop/desktops that has "c" and "d" drives and so on (multiply drives) thats how i see external storage, its just an extra "d" drive..
At least the Nexus was bumped up to 16GB, 32GB from 8GB, 16GB but especially with the prices you're paying for a full sized iPad, you should be getting at least 32GB - it's just way to easy to fill that bad boy up. 32GB on a $229 model, on the other hand, maybe not so realistic but we can dream.
You nailed it: It's a nice upgrade, but, it definitely needs a Micro-SDXC slot, removable battery, and WiFi-AC to fix the most fundamental limitations that remain.
You're forgetting this is a $230 tablet that needs to stay light and thin somehow. As long as they continue to improve internal storage and make the connectivity better, I don't really have a problem with it on a tablet. And if you're so serious about having all of your music, get a real audio player like a RWA iMod or an HM801.
It's a *budget* tablet, get over the lack of AC. If the $400+ Nexus 10 refresh doesn't have AC wifi then you can bitch all you want. And as someone who's grown old while waiting to copy large amounts of data to a 64GB microSDXC card (< 15MB/s writes)...they aren't exactly the most amazing option for large data storage. Ideally all android tablets would have both microSDXC and USB OTG, but for my personal tablet if I have to choose one I'll got with OTG since the micro cards are just too damn slow. And asking for a removable battery in a mainstream tablet is just asinine. It isn't hurting anyone's sales because you and one other guy in Botswana are the only ones demanding that feature. The rest of the world realizes that if you have to carry some large(ish) battery around with you it might as well charge all of your devices (go to Amazon and type "Anker").
I would say that no removable memory is a concern, except that my 32 GB nexus 7 has been in heavy use for a year now, and ive only used 5 GB....and there are several apps that i dont use anymore. i dont think many people use more than 32 gb of storage.
Agreed - the only time I ever have to free up space on my 16GB iPad is when the kids fill it with movies (somehow they prefer to use the iPad for movies, rather than using a phone or digital cameras).
Given that the device supports USB-OTG, adding an SD slot seems rather pointless. For the rare users that absolutely must have more than 32GB on-line, use a flash drive. Better yet, use the cloud or other storage on your LAN.
The amount of value the Nexus 7 represents in comparison to other Android tablets is extraordinary. I'm not sure Google would want to increase the cost of the tablet for something that wont positively increase the user's experience for 90% of people.
They are INTENTIONALLY omitting a few features from their nexus devices so that OEM can still sell android stuff. Harm environment? LOL... Go blame apple who makes EVERY appliances non-repairable and non-upgradable, or disposable, to maximize profit.
At the rate technology is changing, a 2 or 3 year old tablet will be obsolete as many mobile technologies are just starting to hit their stride;Have you tried to run some of the newer apps/games on an original Galaxy Tab? Apple even recognizes this as there will be no iOS 7 for the original iPad (released in 2010).
I think it is more that Google is recognized the potential usable lifespan of their product (2-3 years) and decided to keep the design simple.
I found storage is an over-rated artificial need I clung to from the last decade; I went for a 64GB SDXC in my old Galaxy S3 and used perhpas 30% of it; I was streaming more music (Spotify/Google) and podcasts (DogCatcher) and only using the storage for audiobooks and some FLAC music- and Plex took care of all my video streaming needs. :)
lol Apple isn't allowing iOS7? They didn't even allow iOS6. It was complete crap. They allowed iOS6 on an iPhone model that was older than the original iPad (the 3GS), but not on the iPad itself. My wife has an original iPad and it is stuck at its current iOS5 revision.
Most tablets in the price range and even many more expensive units (e.g. iPads) have no user replaceable parts. So it appears that your criteria eliminates most, if not all tables.
There is a direct trade off between user replaceable/expandable parts and cost. Moreover, the cost of a battery plus additional RAM bought in single units is such that it is generally not much more expensive to buy and entirely new, mass produced unit. This is generally true, not only with tablets but with other technology, including automobiles.
The USB interface reportedly supports OTG so it is not inconceivable that one will be able to plug in externally powered SSD and hard drives as well as flash drives. And of course one can use any one of a number of Android apps that provide a connection to storage in your LAN or the cloud. So the lack of an SD slot is moot.
Battery life is not dependent on the number of charge cycles. Useful life is affected by the temperature at which they are stored and the pattern of use. I expect your 2 year usable life time is pessimistic except for the heaviest of users.
Memory is not removable on any mobile device. I think you meant to say Storage. They are quite different. RAM (memory) vs HDD/SSD (Storage) is a good analogy to keep in mind.
Still no microSD so not touching it but the really sad part is that this is the best and will most likely remain the best small Android tablet since everybody is focusing on budget. There is plenty of room for better specs but somehow i doubt we'll see such a product. Google should have made a high end model too,nobody else does it. Android for small tablets shouldn't be upper mid-range (like the new Nexus) or less. Everybody is making Android tablets nowadays and somehow they don't manage to cover all sizes and market segments. It's fantastic that there are decent 7 inchers at 100$ but it would also be great if there was a 7 inch tablet that's not missing anything - and that goes for all sizes. It's also nice to see that screen , such screens getting cheap enough will enable a nicer Oculus Rift :D
You have 40GB of videos that you like to watch on a re-occurring basis? or is the 40GB a collection of movies you have purchased that you may want to watch again? (i.e. a digital version of a shelf of DVD/Blu-Ray movies.)
You don't even need root to use USB OTG (at least not with the original Nexus 7), much less a custom ROM, just an app... And USB OTG is far more versatile in general since you can hook up fast USB 3.0 flash drives that way, if you actually need tons of storage then you're also transferring tons of content from a PC and USB 3.0 helps immensely with that (microSD cards can't touch the 200MB/s speed of some of the cheap drives out there).
I fail to see the usage case for card slots that can't be satisfied by USB OTG.
Would you rather carry a usb thumb drive,cables and adapters everywhere or have a microSD card in its slot?
Let's try to break down. Assuming 32Gig Nexus has ~27Gigs of free space. Couple of 1080p movies + videos = ~12G A bit of music, Say ~10G Some pictures ~1G Applications + Games (No offline Maps,No big games!) ~2G
Which leaves you about 2Gig of free space which is a bit too full for flash performance, without counting any other space required for app data/cache etc.
The new Nexus is a good upgrade,But google has yet to sort the storage.
I'm with you on the micro SD. I currently have a Tranformer Infinity 32GB with a 32GB SDcard and I'm constantly having to delete items off both to free up space. I don't live in a country where wifi is everywhere (or where streaming options are offered), so I keep all my media on my tab. That includes app backups with Titanium, backups of the ROM i'm using, nandroid backups, movies, music, music videos, pictures,books, comics, etc. HD games like NOVA are several GB's in size. It's really easy to run out of space if you're a media centric person like me. My tablet has basically replaced my laptop, but I guess I'm in the minority of people.
People harp about not being able to fit their entire media collection on their smartphone or 7" tablet and it seems that he's pointing to how ridiculous it is.
It is possible to share any folder or external HDD at your laptop and to use like WiFi Network LAN storage using ES File Explorer. It is possible to play any movie using streaming (without downloading) from the Network LAN storage (MX Player or BS Player). It is even possible playing movie from WiFi FTP server.
I have a 8GB Nexus 4 and have a couple GB free. Google music or other streaming options for video and music make storage space unnecessary. I can save a couple GB of music for the rare times I don't have a connection and don't really watch videos on my phone because that sucks 16GB on my tablet is fine because I mostly use it at home and can save a few movies on it if I am going out with it and will need them or can tether my phone for Netflix.
In my opinion, this one isn't missing anything - it's got one of the best displays for a tablet it's size, one of the best processors available (quad core based on the S300 Krait core), a pretty good graphics processor, and it's going to get constant updates from Google. Some people don't agree with it not having a Micro SD card, but there are services you can use so you don't need one (cloud combined with 32GB of storage can greatly stretch your data).
Any rumors on whether Amazon will be updating their Kindle Fire HD soon? Note that: Amazon's $200 8.9" Android tablet has had stereo speakers for almost a year now. Would also be nice if they could add an SD memory slot to the Kindle Fire HD.
I find it hilarious that Brian's Nexus 7 mini-review is 10x more in-depth than The Verge's full "review" (if you can call it that). Nice job as always.
Not only that, but there are a lot of inaccuracies in the Verge review, too, such as all the talk about whether it will slow down or not in the future, without even knowing why the first one was slowing down in the first place, and researching the issue.
I think I could have written the Verge review; i didn't learn anything i hadn't learnt while reading the hands on. It was mostly a "my experience with tablets and reading on them + nexus 7 (2012) problems + Nexus 7 (2013) hands on. "
I'll third this request. I assume it is, but Brian can you confirm if USB OTG is working properly? I've actually ended up preferring USB OTG to a micro sd card for my most common use case for oodles of storage (obviously having both would be best). It's more convenient for me to quickly slap a bunch of HD movies onto a fast 64GB USB 3.0 flash drive before a long flight than it is to screw around with painfully slow microSDXC cards. I get 60MB/s on the flash drive writes vs. < 15MB/s on a 64GB microSDXC card (that's actually performing above spec). The write speeds are just way too slow on the micro cards to make transferring copious amounts of data an enjoyable task. The flash drives are cheaper as well. And if I need more space I can just use a cheap 1TB 2.5" external (Timur has kernels for powered USB OTG for the original Nexus 7 so battery life isn't an issue).
I should mention that I brought USB-OTG up with some Googlers, they said this is not a priority at present, but it's on their long laundry list of things. I'm not sure what that means, but it backs up my impressions that again, it just isn't a focus and has inconsistent support.
Awesome, thanks Brian! And I'll just add to the chorus (and something I've mentioned before) that I'm really happy with the "mini" reviews. I know the big ones take a lot of time to put together, but the smaller reviews here are still 10x more insightful than you'll get from any gadget blog. So much so in fact that these are useful for real purchasing decisions. I originally thought I'd upgrade my old N7 to this, then decided I'd just wait for a Silvermont (or possibly Temash) Windows 8.1 tablet, and after reading this I'm probably back to upgrading if USB OTG works. The inclusion of Krait 300 cores is a nice bonus even if we're only talking about a ~15% IPC improvement.
I'd like to know as well, it isn't crucial for me but it'd make it a whole lot more pleasant to use... 60MB/s? I've seen USB 3.0 flash drives that can easily do triple and quadruple that for sequential transfers. USB OTG for me satisfies every possible usage case I'd have for a card slot, and more. I'm hoping it works with that importer app at least, like the original Nexus... It should, unless there's some glaring hardware omission like with the Nexus 4.
Yup, there are definitely much faster flash drives. But the ones I'm talking about in the ~60MB/s range are cheap (regularly on sale for ~$0.57/GB). You can get over 2X the performance, but it's over 2X the cost. There's obviously a big form factor advantage for the flash drive, but once you start talking about ~$90 for a very fast 64GB flash drive I'd personally rather just buy a 128GB SSD/enclosure that is much faster still. I actually bought a 256GB Agility 4 to use as a "big ass fast flash drive". I still think it was a good idea for my use cases, too bad that drive was absolutely unreliable trash and it needs its third RMA.
The only thing this mini review is lacking compared to a normal review is the battery tests, that and the writer felt rush but Brian did a great job with such limited time.
Anand will personally be doing an incredibly in-depth analysis of nearly everything this tablet has to offer in the near future. You should go look up one of anand's iPad reviews, they are probably 3 or 4 times as long as this one. He does an amazing job
Can anyone tell me, is the unit tested 16 or 32GB version? i never saw clarification about it, which is the only thing missing in this review, other then that fantastic job.
Also how much faster should the 32GB model be, if this one was 16GB version? (knowing flash benefit from size) 16 vs 32GB, might be nice to see for the future Anand review.
They might, but I doubt it has anything to do with the size, and more with the manufacturer's "strategy" of making higher store that is more expensive, also have higher speed.
But that's like saying cameras with more MPs are automatically better because they have more MP's, when in fact they are usually better because the camera makers work in parallel to also improve the overall quality of the camera module, while increasing the MP count, too, for the next generation cameras.
You should educate yourself on that one, your first statement is clearly wrong. The way SSDs get their exceptional speed is by using packages of NAND in parallel. And how many packages of NAND an SSD has directly corresponds to the size of the SSD. Look up a few reviews of SSDs on Anandtech and you will get a break-down of packages vs size, the one of the 840 EVO being a great example to study because of the inclusion of all sizes. It is not just an arbitrary decision to justify the price tag. The explanation is in the technology, not in the marketing this time.
Actually he's right. your link is not relevant as the eMMC devices most probably use only one chip and no parallel controller like SSDs do. In addition, in HDDs, the higher storage is because of higher densities of data on platters that rotate at the same speed as lower capacity drives which translates to higher rates.
Well, he didn't reply to an eMMC based comment, the comment he replied to specifically talks about SSDs. No idea why you bring HDDs into this either, you are replying to nothing I said.
Your comment was in reply to SSDs (and USB drives), not eMMC controllers, so I maintain that you are incorrect in this paragraph: "They might, but I doubt it has anything to do with the size, and more with the manufacturer's "strategy" of making higher store that is more expensive, also have higher speed."
Anand replied to my tweet clarifying that he has a 16GB to review but that he can't of confirm that there will not be multiple controllers, which could affect storage speed:
@phillyry @nerdtalker yep I've got a 16GB model here, I don't know how many places ASUS sources eMMC from though. That could matter as well
At least with SSD's, larger models benefit from increase write speeds. I'm not sure if you'd notice a difference in 16 vs 32GB models though. I'll wait till a more informed person responds haha
Brian addressed the real lagging issues that Nexus 7 gen. 1 users have been having. He stated that it was likely caused by the storage I/O and that it should be fixed via software.
Point is, storage is usually the performance bottleneck of a system.
Thanks for the review. I really appreciate it much more than your standard review format. I only read those if I'm 90% sure I want to buy the product because they are too long.
I enjoyed having an Nexus 7 (till it became unbearably buggy, slow, and eventually broke with no trauma)... but I must say, walking around with two Androids is extremely cumbersome. Having apps and files scattered between two devices is annoying... This lead me to the conclusion that I need to invest in a phablet. It comes with the added advantage of excellent battery life on your one and only Android. That said, a viable alternative would be an affordable version of ASUS' Padphone product. But their screen dock is ridiculously overpriced, I can only see a +5.5" phablet as my only choice here. I hope the HTC One Max comes with a split-screen functionality so I wouldn't have to go for the Note III.
How about comparing wifi signal between the nexus 7 old and nexus 7 new? There are spots in my home where the old nexus 7 simply doesn't work, and it's not a big home.
Good question, I was never a huge fan of the Azurewave WLAN combo inside the original Nexus 7, I believe WCN3660 and its front end might be better. I would need to compare FCC disclosures and do some testing to find out, unfortunately most mobile devices are pretty constrained, and perform around the same (outliers being those with poor enclosure designs).
Oh forgot an important data point: i also have an iPad 1 and that one has no problems with wifi anywhere in my home... so basically I could say the nexus 7 old's wifi was a bit crap :)
When you do a battery life test, could you run one test at much higher brightness level than the standard? On my 3rd Gen iPad I've noticed that the device really struggles with max brightness setting that is more or less required when using the device outside in sunshine.
Unlike often far too hefty laptops, people actually carry their tablets around want to use them things on their patios, balconies and outdoor cafeterias.
Otoh, it's not just the peak brightness, but overall visibility and readability of the screen that'd need to be normalised for such testing. Contrast ratios of screens can vary greatly under plentiful exposure to external light, as manufacturers employ different coatings and "clearblack" technologies, not to mention oled vs tft etc.
Great review Brian. I'm just interested to know where you got the info on the APQ8064–1AA having Krait 300 cores. Searching for that part no just turns up references to your tweet and this article.
There's no public disclosure I can link you to about it, however internal documentation and confirmation I got from PR acknowledge that APQ8064-1-AA (or APQ8064-1AA as I wrote it for simplicity reasons) is 4xKrait 300 at 1.5 GHz with DDR3L support.
So my local best buys were selling them early and I picked one up last night :D I haven't played with it much but this mini review makes me extremely glad that I did!
Great review. I don't see how some reviewers don't think this isn't an epic tablet. I mean, it's beating the iPad Mini on all fronts, and it will probably be equal to the new iPad Mini, except for build quality, but the new iPad Mini will cost an arm and a leg compared to the Nexus 7 (2013).
Compared to most other 7" android tablets, it's simply a steal? I'm not sure if I want to upgrade from my current Nexus 7, but if I didn't have one yet, I definitely would.
This new Nexus is great, for sure, but honestly, I don't see myself replacing my ipad Mini with it for one unique reason : the size of the screen. Even if the low ppi screen of the Mini is not that great, it's still way larger (30 square inches vs 22) and as I mainly use it to browse the web, it's a no brainer. I guess many customers feel the same when they see both devices side by side. Then there is the ecosystem, again immensely better on every iPad. I seriously hope Apple upgrades the Mini with modern and powerful components like Google just did with the Nexus, but whatever pieces they choose, any iPad with this 4:3 ratio screen is better to me than a 16:10 below 9" Android slate.
Hmm yeah got me there, screen real estate is bigger on the mini, but I find that I mostly use the tablet for reading or watching shows/movies, and then it's not a problem at all, in fact it's a plus since with 4:3 you get the black bars.
As for eco-system, well, since I mostly read / watch shows, I'm not to bothered. But it should also be picking up, with ipad sales slowing down, and android-tablets grabbing a larger marketpercentage, should mean more devs making android tablet-apps. Of course the fact that there's so many resolutions out there will make it harder (and slower going).
The Nexus loses out on just about every single on screen GPU benchmark. Yes, I know this is partly because it has to push more pixels but it DOES have to push more pixels so real world FPS is much slower on this Nexus 7 - even though it's 9 months newer.
I have no idea why you think it wins in every category, and it also has a smaller screen despite being larger in terms of volume, and we've yet to compare battery life.
I definitely prefer the iPad Mini screen size/aspect.
But owning neither today, there is no way I could consider buying a Mini, with the new Nexus 7 on the market, that is pretty much better in every other way.
If Mini Retina fails to show up this Fall, I see Apple losing a lot more tablet market share.
I'll have to agree with you and others here. I do much prefer the 8" size to 7" (as an aside, the 8" 16:10 seems to be the best of both worlds that I've used. Sadly only Samsung makes one of those.), but that screen would have me buying the N7 every time.
I've used the iPad Mini countless times trying to convince myself the low PPI and comparatively worse color accuracy (vs. my current 4th gen iPad) wouldn't matter, but I can't sell myself on it. The screen on the mini is disgraceful in 2013. By pure numbers, it traded blows (and was often beat) by the 2012 Nexus 7, to say nothing of the 2013 N7. I can't deal with a screen like that in 2013. Not when it'd become the worst screen I use daily.
Now that the N7 is out, honestly, Apple has no excuse not to show up with a "retina" iPad mini this fall. If they do, it'll be a tough choice for me to make on which to get, but at that point, you really can't lose. If I was buying this instant, there's no competition. The Nexus 7 has too many advantages over the Mini for me. I understand if you value form factor to the exclusion of everything else, though. I've been known to do that myself on occasion.
"Now that N7 is out", doesn't really apply, the iPad Mini design was likely set in stone 6 months ago. They can't just change their mind when someone ships something better than expected.
I think we are only 50% likely to see a Retina Mini and if we do, the price will likely go up as well, so it still won't be huge competition for the N7.
My point was this: previously, it was speculated that the iPad mini in "retina" guise didn't exist Due to the technical limitations presented by trying to pack a screen like that into a chassis this small and light. Now that ASUS/Google have made it apparent that something can be performant and thin and light, while having a screen that's about on par with the iPad 4 in terms of color and contrast, no Apple apologist can claim that there are technical limitations on creating an iPad mini with an awesome screen.
Unfortunately, I have a feeling that you're right on the likelihood of getting a retina mini. Then again, I was adamant that the iPad 3 wouldn't have a 2048x1536 screen, so what the hell do I know? And if it does so happen that ewe see a retina mini, I doubt it'll be in any way a competitor to the Nexus 7 due to the cost of the thing. I'd love to see it stay at $330 to keep some semblance of competition alive, but I'm starting to doubt that'll happen. Only time will tell, I suppose.
Well arguably they haven't done it properly - because the FPS we're seeing on all of the onscreen benchmarks it vastly inferior to that on the iPad Mini.
Anyone can shove a high res screen in, but packing the power to drive that screen was the challenge, and I don't think Google (Asus) have done this.
Also - the iPad Mini was not retina because it was released nearly a year ago, technology changes.
8" 16:10 would be my preference too, but for $230 and being a Nexus device I'll easily settle for 7". I can't stand 4:3 and I can't fathom why a ton of people seem to enjoy web browsing in landscape (even with 16:10 tablets!).
The N7 doesn't show 1920x1200 pixels of content though. I presume that the new N7, like the old, shows some lesser number of points, probably still 960x600 points, meaning that it has less effective resolution than the mini, especially in width where you'll notice that it is often unable to show the entire width of a web page. In my opinion this is what makes the iPad so perfect for web browsing; it fits the majority of modern web pages perfectly in portrait orientation with no wasted space and no side-scrolling necessary.
I expect the ipad mini 2 to be identical to the ipad4 in terms of specs. A6x processor, 1gb of ram, 326 PPI (little reason to go higher when retina apps run well on such specs). We may see a 8mp camera, but otherwise, I don't see much differentiating it from the Nesux7 apart from ecosystem.
Let's admit it. For all this comparisons, the Apple users are still going to stick with an ipad, while the Android users are going to get the Nexus7, simple because they are all too deeply invested in their ecosystem of choice to consider switching camp. You have your google play, I have my app store. I value my airplay mirroring just as you want to root your ROM.
Not necessarily. I'm an iPad user but almost want the Nexus more because of that. It makes me want to have another device that is different from the one I have, so that I don't just have a bunch of repeats of essentially the same iOS device, with different screen sizes.
Having a Nexus 7 in the middle of an iPhone 5 and iPad 3 might be more distinguished than a Retina Mini (if it ever comes to fruition).
The screen on the mini may be physically bigger but as you note, there are more pixels on the nexus 7. Thus you can actually display more on the nexus 7 screen even though it is smaller. One review noted that the mini only has 34% of the pixels the nexus 7 has, so even though the mini has 25% more screen t real estate, the nexus 7 displays more on its screen than the mini.
The nexus 7 2013 blows the mini out of the water. I have used them side by side and the only potential positive for the mini is the apple ecosystem if you care about that. IOS may be somewhat more advanced in terms of tablet-specific apps but android is quickly catching up and at this point I don't think it makes sense to choose a device on that basis especially when there is a better device at a fantastic price.
Someone said it is unfair to compare the 2013 nexus to the 2012 mini which may be true but you have to keep in mind that the "2012" mini came with 2010 parts. (I suspect apple had extra parts from the first and second iPads that it wanted to use up.) A $330 (for the base model! Add $100 for 16 GB more storage and another $150 for cellular) device that has an 8" 1024x768 screen, a dual core A5 processor, and 512 MB RAM in late 2012? Pretty pitiful. If any other company made such a product for $330+ everyone - reviewers, consumers, etc - would laugh it out of the room if they were even aware of it. As for the tired argument that apple products perform above their specs in real world usage, try again. I have used my brother's mini and the nexus together and the nexus is more responsive and doesn't slow down when I have a lot of tabs open and a lot of apps running at the same time. The home button on my brother's mini no longer works, which also makes navigating on it a pain. Plus the mini's screen looks terrible next to the nexus. Oh and the lack of swipe on the mini makes typing more tedious. This of course is because sole won't let you change your default keyboard for cripe's sake.
So, yes, in some ways the comparison of the 2013 nexus and the 2012 mini is unfair, but apple exacerbated its failure to measure up by gimping the mini with 2010 parts. The 2013 (2014?) Mini will likely some some of these problems but if apple fixes all the mini's defects, the result would cost an arm and a leg, so I'm not holding my breath. Either we get another meh product at $330+ or we get a better product at $400+ (or more).
There's a very high chance there won't be an iPad Mini this year.
They are already losing money on tablets, because the Mini is outselling the regular iPad, and they get less profit on each. So they'll want to milk that as long as possible, while the cost of components drop, and they don't want to put a retina display in it for the same reason.
Plus, are they just going to release all iOS devices at once this year? That doesn't make sense. My guess is they also want to release the more expensive iPad and the new iPhone with the new iOS, to entince people to buy the more expensive versions...and then only release the iPad Mini with iOS7 next spring.
But, by then there will be only a few months left until 3rd gen Nexus 7 comes out (next year it will probably be released end of May or in June).
Very nice. So I guess only a couple of questions remain: 1) How can I get HDMI out the thing? 2) Can it play Flash 10+? 3) When will there be an alternative operating system without all the google spyware available also capable of Flash?
1. you can buy a SlimPort adapter to convert the MicroUSB to HDMI 2. It doesn't appear to support flash out-of-the-box and Adobe has discontinued flash for all mobile products. Someone may compile a version for Android 4.3, but better if it just dies off. 3. Very doubtful. You can eventually unlock and install a custom ROM, but those will all be mostly enthusiast variants of Android. Mayhaps an enthusiast will will make a custom version of Linux, but it will require them to recompile/debug all of the hardware drivers for the device.
Great "mini" review! :) This thing looks fantastic. I've been meaning to get a 7" tablet for a while. Still would like a 6.5" phone more, but those are rare. The LTE pricing is a bit high (2012 model costs only 50€ more for modem variant). And your table shows the 2012 Nexus 7 with 8/16GB when all I can find now on the Google PlayStore is 16/32 for 199€/249€.
Sadly Google Voice is not available in my country. And although there are plenty of other voip apps I could use instead with any tablet it would not work for the majority of the people who only call me on my GSM phonenumber
The Nexus 4 supports Miracast, but I can't find any info on Product Pages on Amazon, GPlay, or other pages that directly say Miracast, so it's entirely possible (I'd say definitely likely) that it has Miracast support.
I am now seriously considering to replace my galaxy tab 7.7". It'll be great if they make a slightly larger version (I like 8" alot more than 7" myself) and enable voice call capability for LTE models.
Is there anything else out there that uses SlimPort? Not sure what advantage it has over MHL which was already on the way to being pretty common (and even convenient with the new style of cables split at the HDMI port, see Monoprice). I think you covered this in an old pipeline article (potential advantage/reason for Slimport) but I forget...
No, it doesn't. There are Kabini variants in the 9W/15W/25W TDP ranges. Too much for 7", but could be fitted in a 10.x" and definitely a 11.6" tablet/convertible.
As an owner of both a nexus 7 (gifted) and a transformer prime, i'm done with android tablets. beyond consuming content, i really don't have any use for them. Not to mention the fact that not a month goes by that I don't wish i waited when buying my Transformer Prime. Asus rewarded me as a customer by immediately (almost) planning a better version of the device they sold me. As such, i will reward them by not purchasing another Android Tablet again.
you would prefer they not update their devices as technology improves? With that mentality, we would all still be running PalmOS phones with a 320x240 restive screen an EDGE network...
It is likely Asus started planning the Prime in 2011 and the new Infinity screen fabrication and CPUs technology came along in mid 2012- while they were already starting to work on production of the Prime.
Never regret any decision you have made as you can never change what has already happened and it just causes stress and frustration. Instead of feeling a personal offense to Asus selling a new tablet, you could sell your Prime on eBay/Etsy and someone would likely be very happy to use it- and you can take the proceeds and put towards something else. :)
As the happy owner of an OG Transformer, I'm looking forward to upgrading to the new Nexus 7 (I've come to realize I prefer a smaller tablet for my uses), the TF will probably go to my father. Happy to support ASUS either way as I'm generally happy with their entire Android tablet strategy.
As much as I love quick reviews, please make sure that you follow up on your promises for a full review... soon. Where's that GS4 review Part 2 for example?
This look like an excellent tablet with one exception. 16:10 is a horrible aspect ratio on a tablet. Why does no major android manufacturer make a tablet with 4:3 aspect ratio?
Most tablets are going 16:9 as that fits the 1920x1080 HD video standard and vendors probably get many complains from users watching HD 16:9 movies with black bars and the static sized Magazines/Comics/PDFs are a secondary concern.
16:10 is not perfect for magazines/comics/PDFs, but it is better than 16:9; I have only seen the new Nexus 7 and the B&N Nook HD+ with this aspect ratio. The only 4:3s are the iPad and eInk eBook readers... :(
Unless it was something odd with Cyanogenmod 10.1.2 on the Nook HD+, I'd have concerns about 3:2 in general. I always like the extra pixels, but I think that aspect ratio was rare enough that it tripped up a fair number of games that weren't tested properly on 3:2 (but worked fine on 16:9/16:10).
In terms of rendering the varying aspect rations of books, comics and magazines 3:2 is probably the best compromise, but 16:10 isn't far off. 4:3 and 16:9 are both much worse.
It's irrelevant for regular novels which are just text, so you can read them on any ratio.
Comics and Magazines would be good on 3:2, if your screen is big enough to show the whole page at once, which I would argue 7" isn't. If it isn't then matching ratios hardly matter. If you are going to be panning and zooming, I would definitely prefer 4:3 over 16:9/16:10.
I like 16:10 in portrait a lot for web browsing and email, which is like 80% of my tablet use. Not sure why you'd prefer anything else for that or for media... 16:9 is noticeably narrower, grab any Win 8 tablet and see.
RF360 isn't a chip at all, for some reason I see this all over the place. Rather it's a portfolio of front end components from Qualcomm with a stacked PoP (RF this time) architecture. The core of the RF360 family is a CMOS Power Amplifier and switch, the rest of it is just packaging. For reasons I've discussed, MDM9x15 family doesn't need "RF360" family font ends (of which there's only one compatible, it's primarily going to start with MDM9x25) to do Band 13 and 17 coexistence, just the right discrete PAs and filters, and there's plenty of space for that in a tablet.
You've missed the headline, where it says "mini". He didn't have time to do the battery life tests, which take up most of such a review, as a single charge takes 2 to 4 hours and discharging them takes 5 to 10 hours most of the time.
//dismayed why more OEMs don’t use the full encode capabilities of APQ8064 (20 Mbps H.264 High Profile) but that’s what it is by default on the new Nexus 7//
Can any third party android app helps to overcome this?
This mini war of small HDMI connectors is getting out of hand... Maybe I'm just the only oddball with this particular issue, but right now I have three different devices with three different HDMI output implementations, and the Nexus 7 will be a fourth...
My pocket camera uses micro HDMI whereas my M43 mirrorless camera uses mini HDMI. Ok, I can understand that, I can even understated why we'd want a combined USB/HDMI port on phones and even tablets... Didn't MHL already solve that tho? AFAIK HTC & Samsung are still using MHL, now Google's pushing Slimport!
I can charge a phone, a small tablet, an MP3 player, a Bluetooth headset, a small portable speaker, a USB battery pack/back, and even a pocket camera with one micro USB charger/cable... Yet I need four different dongles for HDMI output. One step forward and two steps back I tell ya.
Looked up Brian's old pipeline port on the Slimport adapter and answered my own question, I'd forgotten Slimport dispenses with MHL's need of powered adapters... I guess that's worth dealing with yet another port, why aren't other manufacturers transitioning to this? Not like MHL ever materialized on TVs (which promised power AND HDMI over a single cable if it came to pass). $30 is kinda steep tho, is no one else offering Slimport adapters still?
This will be such an awesome feature in the UK when they never bring out the charging orb, just like they haven't for the Nexus4 almost a year after release!
Well done google! Selling products based on imaginary features!
It's a bit disingenuous to say the Nexus 7 dominated it's form factor, the iPad mini probably sold 3-5x more than the OG Nexus 7.
I say probably as we don't know for sure because Google refuses to release sales data, which also makes me believe sales either were under expectations or Google takes a big enough hit on each sale they don't want it public info.
It would be helpful if the upcoming full review would address: - OTG compliance - Slimport output testing
There have been varying opinions online about whether/how well these features work on the Nexus 7 (2013). (Not surprising - opinions, not AT real testing..) Written from my new Nexus 7.
Thanks for the great review, Brian. Definitely "mini" in name only and typical of why Anandtech is my most reliable tech review source.
On going to hold-out for the LTE version with the hope that it can/will allow me to use it as a mobiles hotspot and replace my TMob Sonic 2.0 LTE hotspot. I know the 4G Nexus 7 stock wasn't capable of operating as a hotspot but I have my fingers crossed for the new LTE version.
Any speculation on a release date? "Weeks" feels pretty nonspecific.
When testing WiFi, average throughput is nice but you should measure the variance as well. Even better would be under controlled interference if you have a lab setup to do it. Maybe a time graph vs data rate and latency would be nice.
I'd rather have a consistent 20 Mbps connection than 100 Mbps average one that varies a lot in both data rate and latency. These kinds of things will show in voice and video over IP applications where the quality will be reduced when even only a short hit in speed and or latency occurs. Streaming sites like Netflix, Amazon and others will also reduce quality. The low quality will persist for a while even when your WiFi link gets better right after the dip.
Yes, only testing the average WiFi throughput is like only testing sequential accesses to SSDs when it comes to gauging what real world experience would be like.
We need to know how stable the connection is over a prolonged amount of time (how much latency and data rate changes). All too often my WiFi connection blips during a Skype call or video stream causing the app to lower the quality. Even if it's only a momentary blip, most applications' algorithms won't immediately go back to the original quality. It may take minutes or until you reconnect because you can't stand watching blocky video and tinny audio.
Whilst AnadTech's articles and reviews are always excellent, the first place I go to read up on devices / components, a simple fact remains. Companies can bring out as many new android phones as they like, high spec, huge screens, packed with features... but they all run android. I tried it, i didn't like it. I tried it again and again and I still absolutely hate it. It feels old, clunky, disjointed, overcomplicated, ugly and not at all intuitive.
I'll be the first to admit, this is entirely based on my personal opinion, however every single person I know who has bought an android phone has turned round to me and asked "how much do you reckon i'll get for this on ebay... i hate it" within the first month.
Great article, i'll keep on reading them and enjoying them, but I just feel android misses the mark by a long shot. I'd rather a Windows phone - at least the OS looks and feels nice.
I'm well aware i'll probably get a load of replies telling me how I'm a fanboy or hater or whatever, but at least I tried to like it with an open mind, several times.
you are definitely entitled to your opinion (being freedom of speech and all) and i will be the first to agree with you if it's android v1 till v3.0. But since 4.0 ICS and above, many of the UI quirks had been ironed out at a rapid pace and android is still the most featured (functional wise) mobile OS out there.
Which mobile OS currently allows you to access your home NAS and copy/paste file from/to your mobile device? Such a no-brainer use-case but IOS can't do it. Windows Phone 8 can't do it. I have no idea about BB10 so i can't comment but Android can do this among others. Most of the Mobile platform out there to me are more like appliances OS platform whereby the function of the OS and devices are defined by the makers and app-creators. It's like a vacuum cleaner can only do vacuum cleaning. An appliances.
Android, at least from my perspective, it's a mobile computing platform. The OS performed a certain functions but there's no pre-defined role of what it can do or can't. You can probably put android in a nuclear missile launching silo and it will probably worked (with some re-tooling of course).
All I'm saying is android is more akin to having a full computer in a phone/tablet form factor.....while else the other platforms (IOS, Windows Phone) are more like phone and tablet appliance. I'm sure their user experience, being much more curated, resulted in a 'tighter' experience...but it also resulted in a much more 'restricted' experience..
I must have pulled out a few hairs when i am trying to attach certain files to an email i am typing on my ipad. Such is the result of a constrained, 'appliance' experience..
Interesting take. Especially Android tablets in launching silos. Word is most of those were built in the 60s 70s and 80s...the power in any of today's tablets far surpasses what computing power was available when those missiles were deployed. So you're right...they very well COULD work as a missile launch and targeting system....that said, they'd get the app AFTER iOS does;). Already over a half million iPads have been deployed by major airlines across the world. Including updated Jep charts and plates, real time weather and traffic conditions, etc. They decided to go with iOS. Not Android. While I'm brand agnostic (I've got iOS and Android devices) and prefer not to trumpet my opinions on a board read and provided by folks many times smarter than me...your take on Android is a bit 'over the top' at this time. iOS is a simple to use device that many 'power' users won't find able to fulfill their needs...but many moms n dads and grandmas and gramps...kids as well....checking email and Facebook, posting n manipulation of stills and video, watching Netflix or Hulu...messaging and browsing, the things they ONLY used their old desktop or laptop for, it's an absolute answer to their needs. Android is a bit more tricky to learn, a bit different to set up and use, and its lack of optimized tablet apps is a killer. While the case can be made that Android COULD in fact be a better all around computing device, I guess we'll just have to wait for the developers to take notice and advantage of such an excellent subsystem. We'll see. Until then....you're definitely entitled to your opinion, as you say...according to the constitution (though not all readers of Anand are from the USA)...however, you're wrong. Sorry J
I connect my iDevices to my NAS on a daily basis. Works perfectly over SMB and AFP. The app is FileBrowser but there are others to perform this use case. With my former Nexus 4, I couldn't do it as flawlessly, whatever the app I tried.
I believe the popular opinion regarding the use of Snapdragon vs Tegra 4 was that the LTE capable version of the Tegra (the Tegra 4i) wasn't ready fast enough to meet the release schedule of the new Nexus 7.
I'd say Tegra 4 not fully supporting OpenGL ES 3.0 is a bit of a problem when that's one of the marquee features of Android 4.3 which is debuting on this device...
To be fair, my 2010 iPad (with its single core processor and a whopping 256 MB of RAM) is already dog slow on iOS5, which I feel was built with the A5 chip in mind (iPhone 4s, iPad 2/3). iOS7 will likely be built with the A6 chip in mind, so with 1/2 the cores, 2/3 the clock speed, and 1/4 the RAM, an original iPad would be left breathless right at startup.
As for the Nexus 2013, I like it a lot. My gf has the original Nexus, and while it's a fine product, it doesn't feel particularly premium. The new one looks to be nearly as thin and nearly as light as an iPad mini, but $100 cheaper. Even if Apple were to thoroughly update the mini (A6, retina display), this would still be very, very tempting to grab for a weekend getaway tablet.
If you are needing space on the go, hate dongles for USB OTG, and lacking as SD card slot, don't want to spend on a data plan for LTE/3G, and don't want to set up a your own Plex media server or depend on Wifi streaming being available for your Box/Google Drive/ Skydrive / Dropbox, don't want to spend on Spotify / Pandora / Rdio, then bring your own 1 TB wifi storage box from Seagate (Satellite or Wireless Plus) and add the special firmware modification and might as well through in a portable power brick for recharging in between pitstops at the wall outlets. The Seagate Wireless+ with mod can act as a wifi bypass bridge so you can use the media server functions of the drive, and still go on the 'net. Without the mod, you do not have a wifi bridge option. And the SW+ can feed up to 8 connected devices. I've tried Plex media from a home server over cable internet to public wifi at Starbucks and 720p music videos were choppy so forget 1080p 2-hr feature length videos being an enjoyable experience. Music streaming was not so bad on remote Plex, and I'm spoiled to not enjoy 480p DVD quality video anymore since it looks so pixelated and blurry (unless you're on a really small 4" smartphone screen)
Also, where's the pet projects of turning a Nexus 7 (32GB/LTE) into a car infotainment system with Waze / Google Maps (+ offline maps) / Garmin-TomTom apps, Dragon (Vlingo) for handsfree calls (assumed internal tablet mic), emails and texting (narration as well), dashboard mount, bluetooth integration to car stereo so audio outputs to car speakers with call muting other audio apps (assumed built-in functionality by now)? What is needed is for the Big Motors to integrate bt into their buttons on the steering wheel, or otherwise 3rd parties are going to build their own bt kits to do navigation (vol +/-, OK, left/right/up/down cursor, etc.) from the wheel
This was supposed to be a reply to somebody about 10 pages ago who commented on tablets not getting updated past the first 2-3 years. Completely out of context here.
It looks like a very large 2011 Android phone with all that gap on the bottom. In 2013, most android phones have very little gap or wasted space in the bottom.
So annoying how such tablets are all infused with monitoring you by google and such (and 'partners' if you know what I mean) I like tech and wish I could use a tablet without that ever present feeling of being monitored and watched and monitored and monitored, oh and logged.
I'm not just bitching, it is a serious put-off for me, and since I'm not unique I have to assume many more people.
Also to get more to the tech side: No SD slot? And the changes supposedly reflect what users asked for? uh.. And not yet ac WiFi, but at this pricepoint and time I guess that's too early anyway. And it does have the 'WiFi version' BT 4.0 that has more possibilities than old BT. Overall I do like it though, but the aforementioned feelings so far kept me away from such devices, makes me wonder if I'll continue that stance much longer or buy one and go through all kinds of desperate efforts to privatize it a bit more.
I kinda agree on the monitoring part. Couple of things we can do. First wait for XDA Rom release that removes most of these junk. Second, wait for Ubuntu Touch to be released and a ported version will be done on the NExus 7. One cannot really complain too much about Google's approaches as it makes $20-25 per year on our balls for their advertising revenue. Additional Play Store revenue so they can release models such as these cheaper rather than $500 each or more. I still cannot figure out the lack of SD card slots as having one WILL facilitate Cloud usage much more more rather than much less. Firstly, less content can be populated on the tablet (ie photos, sound recordings, videos), then a lot less to traffic to the Cloud as well. Heck, anyone one can pull the content into a PC anytime they want if convenient. Apple mught have a good excuse but Not Google. They are just being mean for the sake of "want you to use Cloud more".
"I know a lot of people were hoping for inclusion of line in on the 3.5mm audio jack but I can confirm it isn’t present."
Does this mean that the 3.5 jack only carries line OUT? I.e. you cannot use a headset with this tablet? That would be totally ridiculous. Even ASUS new $149 tablet (Memo Pad HD7) has a combined audio/mic jack.
I am looking to buy a small/light tablet for travelling, where on of the most frequent use case would be phone calls (i.e. VoIP/Skype). But if this tablet does not support connecting a standard headset then it totally disqualifies itself.
Agreed, what is the issue. I do not know whether my N10 has dual line in line out for the very reason that I have absolutely no reason to have tested it, the built in microphone is more than sufficient in terms of quality for video calls and such.
- No micro-SD = no sale. As the author notes, tablets are widely used for watching videos. With SD you can swap media sets in and out infinitely faster than any other way. Like... 16GB in 5 sec. Google and Amazon can continue to pretend that it doesn't matter, but that's obviously idiotic. I'll buy something else, that's designed for ME. The price difference is worth it for a such major feature.
Yeah. No SD no sale for many out there. Look at HTC, almost going OUT OF BUSINESS for omitting such a simple thing. In fact, none is so bold as to provide TWO microSD slots!!!. People looking to MicroSD slots flocking to GS4 by the millions and millions!, Like over 10 million!.
Very tempting... However, I think I'll wait a few months to see if a "Bay Trail" equivalent turns up - Preferably something with the same resolution (1920x1200), but an 8-inch screen. I would gladly pay extra for Intel inside.
Forget Intel's BS of a chip for any tablets. Their gpus are so slow, you might only be watching videos and not playing cool games you wanted. Sorry, that chip has been left behind unless you are after a Windows RT tablet ?!.! Why would you want that ?.
No HDMI?? Why? It seems backwards that the Nexus 10 - with its already easier to view bigger screen has a HDMI out port but the smaller one - that you'd be more likely to want to send out to a bigger screen - doesn't have one. Its not like the hardware wouldn't support it.
Brain, great review as usual, just wondering about the GPS performance.
I just received my new nexus 7, and the GPS is not functional. If >1 app tried to use the GPS it looses lock, and won't regain lock until after a reboot. After searching a bit, this seems to be a common issue.
Did this show up during the time you were doing your mini review, or is it a new issue, potentially introduced with new software updates.
In any case, please cover the GPS performance in the full review.
Great Article Brian, thanks for writing it. Wow there are so many different opinions on this forum! This is helpful. But I also feel overwhelmed when I try to identify just the main strengths and weaknesses. I just googled around, and found this page: http://productsummaries.com/Asus-Google-Nexus-7-Ta... It claims that it parsed through hundreds of Asus Google Nexus 7 Tablet reviews and distilled a short list of dominant pros and cons. It helped me choose 7, hope it helps you as well.
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ven - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Screen position is off-centered, i don't know how it feels when it is in hands, but in the picture it is annoying to see that much space below the screen.old nexus 7 textured back finish was highly applauded, it's absence in the new one is slightly puzzling.mlj11 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
What do you mean it's off-centre? Did you take into account the navigation bar with the 3 software buttons?Liquid_Static - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
I too am not sure what you mean...ven - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
i didn't notice the software buttons at first.Tigeerguy - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Excellent Article Brian as always. You fulfilled my wish so fast regarding the soc I asked on Twitter. It's great to see the new Nexus 7 is not using 200 as in Nexus 4. I was totally confused regarding the Snapdragon 600, which you explained in detail that this tablet comes with underclock one, glad it's clear now. I already have Nexus 7(2012) and wanted to update to the new model. Considering it will take sometime for Google to release the tablet in my country, I'll wait for September as Apple might release iPad mini that could change things if it comes with Retina display. Worth reading, and waiting for more in details by Anand. Thanks.Alpeshkh - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Ditto.I usually don't comment here but had to comment after reading Brian's tweet regarding SoC!
I was bit disappointed after launch that they used S4 Pro and not S600. Not that it was a deal breaker but seeing One & S4 leapfrog N4 & Xperia Z's performance, I was almost sure Google would use S600 as it would be more future-proof and remember, new one has to power 1920*1200 display.
Read TheVerge's review and was disappointed that they didn't clarify about SoC. But seeing Brian's tweet that it basically is an under-clocked S600, made my decision to buy this one really easy.
Thanks Brian, appreciate the effort you & whole Anand Tech's team put in your reviews.
esterhasz - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
The Verge's review makes Brian's "mini review" read like an in-depth piece with academic aspirations. I'm really happy that a serious tech website does gadgets now.Impulses - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Now? Anandtech's been doing the best smartphone/tablet reviews for like 2-3 years... Sometimes they lag behind (in time to publish) or don't cover every single permutation or model out there, but they've been at it even before the staff of The Verge left Engadget to form TIMN and eventually Verge.esterhasz - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Yeah, true. Maybe it's just me who's been starting to read gadget reviews ,-)darkich - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Check norebookcheck.net.Those are the best reviews out there imo
darkich - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
*notebookcheckHere:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Notebook-Laptop-Revie...
RyuDeshi - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Oh man, the Verge's review was a mess, and the video review was even worse.ScruffyNerfherder - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
Heh, yeah, TheVerge is less of a tech site than it is a hipster site that covers tech and gadgets because it is now in vogue. But I don't think most of its readers and readers if other tech-porn sites know any better and mass confusion and lack of tech understanding ensues. I appreciate Anandtech's thoroughness even if it means I have to wait a few days longer to read about it.darwinosx - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
Verge reviews are of pretty uneven quality and the Nexus 7 reviews was just odd.speculatrix - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Indeed. I trust anandtech.com to give accurate information, honest and fair opinions.Also, I trust anandtech to correct errors and respond to comments.
I wouldn't buy a gadget without checking if anandtech had a review or were likely to do one.
fteoath64 - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
The SoC is mis-labelled apparently to not offend handset customers (possibly for the lower prices that Google negotiated). These are Krait 300 cores clocked at 1.5Ghz while the S600 is exactly the SAME cores running at 1.7Ghz. I would say minor speed dip but gpu is quad Adreno 320 which are pretty fast units with OpenGL ES 3.0 support. Great deal on the whole package plus a superb screen!. Shame the bezel on top and bottom are so thick.relativityboy - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Google will be 'doing right' when they stop creating devices with a super-limited lifespan.No removable memory? Going to be out of space in just a couple years.
No replaceable battery? 300 or so recharges - call it 2 years until your device lasts for about 1hour not tethered to a usb plug.
Google is making stuff that even in the short term, harms the environment far more than better competitors.
Until batteries and memory are user-replaceable, google products are loosers right out the gate.
aNYthing24 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
This is ridiculous. How many tablets do know that have replaceable memory and replaceable batteries?fokka - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
it's not about how many tablets you know that do these things. sure, making the battery replacable on a tablet may not be the most important thing and an engineering challange, but not putting a simple thing like an microsd-reader in it is just a no go in my opinion.Impulses - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
On a phone it's debatable IMO, on a tablet it's nowhere near as egregious an omission IMO... USB OTG works well enough and it's more flexible than a microSD slot in some cases anyway.darkich - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
That's right. Except that..USB OTG functionality is again absent on the nexus 7.It really baffles me.
Sure, there's rooting, but Google REALLY should've add the USB support out of the box
andrewmu - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
It's not absent, unless you mean it doesn't ship with the cable. I've got USB OTG working fine on my 2012 Nexus 7 with keyboard, mouse, etc. It's annoying it doesn't natively support USB storage, but that's a more specific issue.broberts - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
OTG is reportedly functional on the 2013 model. Further, WiFi lets you connect to other devices on your LAN and to the cloud. The lack of an SD slot is at best a quibble.JayGrip - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
I have a 2013 nexus 7. I couldn't get otg working but in looking around settings found a setting for hotspot which turns the 7 into router. Es file exployer allows you to run a ftp server and its fast. So I use otg on my note2 to transfer files to nexus 7. 1.2 gig movie about 3.5 minutes.user777 - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
I have Nexus 7 2012 and there is no problem to use USB OTG cable + USB stick (or Transcend USB stick with microSD+SD card slot). I use Total Commander+USB Stick plugin (free). It is possible to open any doc/pdf/jpeg/avi/mp4 file.It is possible to share any folder or external HDD at your laptop and to use like WiFi Network LAN storage using ES File Explorer. It is possible to play any movie using streaming (without downloading) from the Network LAN storage (MX Player or BS Player). It is even possible playing movie from WiFi FTP server.
kyuu - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Not sure if serious or just trolling...Krysto - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Apple doesn't use expanded memory either, and they've been selling the tablet at the same high price for years now, and it still only has 16 GB of storage. I'm starting to wonder if they'll ever change it this decade. That $500 should come with 32 GB by default by now.fokka - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
yes, but then people who'd also want to _use_ their ipad wouldn't have to purchase the higher-tier 32gb version.to me, a business like this is a scam. i can somehow understand why apple is doing this. they have their itunes ecosystem with sync and whatnot, so expandable memory just doesn't fit in their concept.
but on android it's just different, since expandable memory works out of the box, if an sd-slot is included.
so the only reason is to upsell you to a more expensive sku and in the same time severely limiting total storage, which for me as a music-lover and his 50gb library, is reason enough i will never even think about buying your product.
which is a shame, because the rest of the nexus 7 looks mighty fine.
jt122333221 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
You have about 9k songs, based on a 6mb size for each song. Upload them to Google Play (20,000 songs can be uploaded), download the ones you listen to most to your tablet, and stop complaining - Google's not going to use expandable memory in the near future, as they are trying to push their cloud services. It's (IMO) working well, and their cloud services are great products. The only thing that needs to change is Carriers and their metered data plans.deathdemon89 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
How does the fact that they're "not going to use expandable memory in the near future" make their decision any less wrong? None of what you said can be used as a justification - in fact, it highlights a very real issue. Cloud services, no matter how "great" they are, can NOT compete with the convenience, accessibility and reliability of expandable storage. This holds even truer in non-U.S. markets where data services are even less developed. At the end of the day, the theoretical risks of cloud data are far higher than the equivalent risks of expandable storage.hughlle - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Not to mention my nexus ten has no option for LTE, so this solution is that i'm only allowed so much on my tablet and if i want something else i have to go back home and get it. Furthermore not all of us have the money or are willing to buy a seperate sim contract so that they can access cloud data on the move. I do not want to pay £7.50 a month so that i can access data that i could have on an sd card for free.Further more it makes absolutely no sense to refuse to allow SD cards when i can happily plug a flash drive into the usb socket. If they don't want us using additional flash memory, then why allow for the ability to use it via USB at all? It's comes off looking like they are happy for us to have additional local storage, but do not wish for us to have it in a convenient manner.
BrandoHD - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
I currently live in one of those non-US market and I have a 32 GB 2012 N7 and a 16 GB N4, the N7 has 21 GB free and the N4 has 9 GB free, and I hear every song or watch every movie that I want to hear/watch, through the use of the cloud, what you have there with non-expandable storage is a personal preference issue, it would do you well to remember that and not to create an issue for those in the so-called non-US markets.So the decision to not use expandable storage is not wrong, it is something you should get used too
Broo2 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
One of the reasons Google is going away from SD expansion is that it confuses a majority of the populace. Most users need to have Gigabytes translated to a number of songs/photos/movies and cannot grasp the difference between internal and external (removable) storage. Google now needs to appeal to the iPhone mentality people (reminds me of the iPhone vs EVO video from a while back).I personally have about 30GB of (cherry-picked) music and I may choose 8-10 favorite albums and 200-300 favorite songs that i will listen to on a regular basis- which gives me about 20hrs of continious music in 5GB of 320kpps MP3s (or 12GB of FLAC).
...or I can use Spotify/Pandora/Mog/Rdio/Google and listen to 95% of all my music + new music that sometimes can catch on.
jcompagner - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
i find it always weird that "it confuses ta majority of the population"huh? which majority is that?
I never confused me, it never confused my people around me (even the not so tech savvy persons)
Also many of use are used to laptop/desktops that has "c" and "d" drives and so on (multiply drives)
thats how i see external storage, its just an extra "d" drive..
Kidster3001 - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
There is no exapandable Memory on any mobile device.phillyry - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
Agreed.At least the Nexus was bumped up to 16GB, 32GB from 8GB, 16GB but especially with the prices you're paying for a full sized iPad, you should be getting at least 32GB - it's just way to easy to fill that bad boy up.
32GB on a $229 model, on the other hand, maybe not so realistic but we can dream.
hrrmph - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
You nailed it: It's a nice upgrade, but, it definitely needs a Micro-SDXC slot, removable battery, and WiFi-AC to fix the most fundamental limitations that remain.fokka - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
you will never see a removable battery in a mainstream tablet. i'm sorry, but that's just the truth, as it seems.feteru - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
You're forgetting this is a $230 tablet that needs to stay light and thin somehow. As long as they continue to improve internal storage and make the connectivity better, I don't really have a problem with it on a tablet. And if you're so serious about having all of your music, get a real audio player like a RWA iMod or an HM801.Bob Todd - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
It's a *budget* tablet, get over the lack of AC. If the $400+ Nexus 10 refresh doesn't have AC wifi then you can bitch all you want. And as someone who's grown old while waiting to copy large amounts of data to a 64GB microSDXC card (< 15MB/s writes)...they aren't exactly the most amazing option for large data storage. Ideally all android tablets would have both microSDXC and USB OTG, but for my personal tablet if I have to choose one I'll got with OTG since the micro cards are just too damn slow. And asking for a removable battery in a mainstream tablet is just asinine. It isn't hurting anyone's sales because you and one other guy in Botswana are the only ones demanding that feature. The rest of the world realizes that if you have to carry some large(ish) battery around with you it might as well charge all of your devices (go to Amazon and type "Anker").TheinsanegamerN - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I would say that no removable memory is a concern, except that my 32 GB nexus 7 has been in heavy use for a year now, and ive only used 5 GB....and there are several apps that i dont use anymore. i dont think many people use more than 32 gb of storage.kmmatney - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Agreed - the only time I ever have to free up space on my 16GB iPad is when the kids fill it with movies (somehow they prefer to use the iPad for movies, rather than using a phone or digital cameras).superflex - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
Removable memory or storage?Big difference, Copernicus.
broberts - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
Given that the device supports USB-OTG, adding an SD slot seems rather pointless. For the rare users that absolutely must have more than 32GB on-line, use a flash drive. Better yet, use the cloud or other storage on your LAN.lightsout565 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
The amount of value the Nexus 7 represents in comparison to other Android tablets is extraordinary. I'm not sure Google would want to increase the cost of the tablet for something that wont positively increase the user's experience for 90% of people.nerd1 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
They are INTENTIONALLY omitting a few features from their nexus devices so that OEM can still sell android stuff. Harm environment? LOL... Go blame apple who makes EVERY appliances non-repairable and non-upgradable, or disposable, to maximize profit.Broo2 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
At the rate technology is changing, a 2 or 3 year old tablet will be obsolete as many mobile technologies are just starting to hit their stride;Have you tried to run some of the newer apps/games on an original Galaxy Tab? Apple even recognizes this as there will be no iOS 7 for the original iPad (released in 2010).I think it is more that Google is recognized the potential usable lifespan of their product (2-3 years) and decided to keep the design simple.
I found storage is an over-rated artificial need I clung to from the last decade; I went for a 64GB SDXC in my old Galaxy S3 and used perhpas 30% of it; I was streaming more music (Spotify/Google) and podcasts (DogCatcher) and only using the storage for audiobooks and some FLAC music- and Plex took care of all my video streaming needs. :)
Myrandex - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
lol Apple isn't allowing iOS7? They didn't even allow iOS6. It was complete crap. They allowed iOS6 on an iPhone model that was older than the original iPad (the 3GS), but not on the iPad itself. My wife has an original iPad and it is stuck at its current iOS5 revision.broberts - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
Most tablets in the price range and even many more expensive units (e.g. iPads) have no user replaceable parts. So it appears that your criteria eliminates most, if not all tables.There is a direct trade off between user replaceable/expandable parts and cost. Moreover, the cost of a battery plus additional RAM bought in single units is such that it is generally not much more expensive to buy and entirely new, mass produced unit. This is generally true, not only with tablets but with other technology, including automobiles.
The USB interface reportedly supports OTG so it is not inconceivable that one will be able to plug in externally powered SSD and hard drives as well as flash drives. And of course one can use any one of a number of Android apps that provide a connection to storage in your LAN or the cloud. So the lack of an SD slot is moot.
Battery life is not dependent on the number of charge cycles. Useful life is affected by the temperature at which they are stored and the pattern of use. I expect your 2 year usable life time is pessimistic except for the heaviest of users.
Kidster3001 - Friday, August 9, 2013 - link
Memory is not removable on any mobile device. I think you meant to say Storage. They are quite different. RAM (memory) vs HDD/SSD (Storage) is a good analogy to keep in mind.jjj - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Still no microSD so not touching it but the really sad part is that this is the best and will most likely remain the best small Android tablet since everybody is focusing on budget. There is plenty of room for better specs but somehow i doubt we'll see such a product. Google should have made a high end model too,nobody else does it. Android for small tablets shouldn't be upper mid-range (like the new Nexus) or less. Everybody is making Android tablets nowadays and somehow they don't manage to cover all sizes and market segments. It's fantastic that there are decent 7 inchers at 100$ but it would also be great if there was a 7 inch tablet that's not missing anything - and that goes for all sizes.It's also nice to see that screen , such screens getting cheap enough will enable a nicer Oculus Rift :D
aNYthing24 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
This is ridiculous. How many tablets do know that have replaceable memory and replaceable batteries?nerd1 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Most android tablets have micro sd slots. That said, I just dont have enough excuses not to buy this one...sherlockwing - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Unfourtatedly I have to pass on this one, my Video library is 40GB+ so the lack of a 64GB model or a micro SD slot kills it for me.Sunburn74 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
You watch all 40gb on a daily basis? This is a mobile device, not a media server.Broo2 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
You have 40GB of videos that you like to watch on a re-occurring basis? or is the 40GB a collection of movies you have purchased that you may want to watch again? (i.e. a digital version of a shelf of DVD/Blu-Ray movies.)mr_tawan - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
You can just install the custom rom, plug-in a card reader in with the OTG cable. Then you can plug your media card (even CF).Well I would say setting up a media server is a lot more convenience.
Impulses - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
You don't even need root to use USB OTG (at least not with the original Nexus 7), much less a custom ROM, just an app... And USB OTG is far more versatile in general since you can hook up fast USB 3.0 flash drives that way, if you actually need tons of storage then you're also transferring tons of content from a PC and USB 3.0 helps immensely with that (microSD cards can't touch the 200MB/s speed of some of the cheap drives out there).I fail to see the usage case for card slots that can't be satisfied by USB OTG.
leomax999 - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Would you rather carry a usb thumb drive,cables and adapters everywhere or have a microSD card in its slot?Let's try to break down. Assuming 32Gig Nexus has ~27Gigs of free space.
Couple of 1080p movies + videos = ~12G
A bit of music, Say ~10G
Some pictures ~1G
Applications + Games (No offline Maps,No big games!) ~2G
Which leaves you about 2Gig of free space which is a bit too full for flash performance, without counting any other space required for app data/cache etc.
The new Nexus is a good upgrade,But google has yet to sort the storage.
deathgod1 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I'm with you on the micro SD. I currently have a Tranformer Infinity 32GB with a 32GB SDcard and I'm constantly having to delete items off both to free up space. I don't live in a country where wifi is everywhere (or where streaming options are offered), so I keep all my media on my tab. That includes app backups with Titanium, backups of the ROM i'm using, nandroid backups, movies, music, music videos, pictures,books, comics, etc. HD games like NOVA are several GB's in size. It's really easy to run out of space if you're a media centric person like me. My tablet has basically replaced my laptop, but I guess I'm in the minority of people.bznotins - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
My video library is 8TB. Since this doesn't have capability for 8TB of SD storage, it's not an option for me.deathgod1 - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
I'm sorry, what's your point?deathgod1 - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Ignore above, typed in the wrong window.phillyry - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
he's probably being sarcastic:People harp about not being able to fit their entire media collection on their smartphone or 7" tablet and it seems that he's pointing to how ridiculous it is.
user777 - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
It is possible to share any folder or external HDD at your laptop and to use like WiFi Network LAN storage using ES File Explorer. It is possible to play any movie using streaming (without downloading) from the Network LAN storage (MX Player or BS Player). It is even possible playing movie from WiFi FTP server.bleached - Tuesday, August 20, 2013 - link
I have a 8GB Nexus 4 and have a couple GB free. Google music or other streaming options for video and music make storage space unnecessary. I can save a couple GB of music for the rare times I don't have a connection and don't really watch videos on my phone because that sucks 16GB on my tablet is fine because I mostly use it at home and can save a few movies on it if I am going out with it and will need them or can tether my phone for Netflix.superflex - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
He asked about replaceable memory, not storage.You're not too bright.
phillyry - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
no. removable storage. memory is RAM, which is never user accessible in a table or smartphone.phillyry - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
*tabletjt122333221 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
In my opinion, this one isn't missing anything - it's got one of the best displays for a tablet it's size, one of the best processors available (quad core based on the S300 Krait core), a pretty good graphics processor, and it's going to get constant updates from Google. Some people don't agree with it not having a Micro SD card, but there are services you can use so you don't need one (cloud combined with 32GB of storage can greatly stretch your data).Krysto - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
It looks like Adreno 330 will be pretty close in performance to AMD's Kabini.FwFred - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
At what power level? Temash level power for Temash level performance with an Ivy Bridge die size. Amazing!vailr - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Any rumors on whether Amazon will be updating their Kindle Fire HD soon? Note that: Amazon's $200 8.9" Android tablet has had stereo speakers for almost a year now. Would also be nice if they could add an SD memory slot to the Kindle Fire HD.Krysto - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Amazon's 1080p 8.9" Kindle Fire was $300, and it's $270 right now it seems.tom300 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I find it hilarious that Brian's Nexus 7 mini-review is 10x more in-depth than The Verge's full "review" (if you can call it that). Nice job as always.Alpeshkh - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
My thoughts exactly!Krysto - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Not only that, but there are a lot of inaccuracies in the Verge review, too, such as all the talk about whether it will slow down or not in the future, without even knowing why the first one was slowing down in the first place, and researching the issue.phillyry - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
Ya. Tweeted @piercedavid about that one, just in case he hadn't read the anandtech mini review since posting his own.Nimer55 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I think I could have written the Verge review; i didn't learn anything i hadn't learnt while reading the hands on. It was mostly a "my experience with tablets and reading on them + nexus 7 (2012) problems + Nexus 7 (2013) hands on. "phillyry - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
I, personally, like the hands on feel that The Verge's reviews go for.I find that that combined with the detail here on anandtech give a nice Type A-Type B balance.
thesavvymage - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Any word on if this supports usb otg out of the box?rhx123 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Yes I too would love to know if even USB OTG Keyboard/Mouse works.Bob Todd - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I'll third this request. I assume it is, but Brian can you confirm if USB OTG is working properly? I've actually ended up preferring USB OTG to a micro sd card for my most common use case for oodles of storage (obviously having both would be best). It's more convenient for me to quickly slap a bunch of HD movies onto a fast 64GB USB 3.0 flash drive before a long flight than it is to screw around with painfully slow microSDXC cards. I get 60MB/s on the flash drive writes vs. < 15MB/s on a 64GB microSDXC card (that's actually performing above spec). The write speeds are just way too slow on the micro cards to make transferring copious amounts of data an enjoyable task. The flash drives are cheaper as well. And if I need more space I can just use a cheap 1TB 2.5" external (Timur has kernels for powered USB OTG for the original Nexus 7 so battery life isn't an issue).Brian Klug - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I always forget to test, I will do so.I should mention that I brought USB-OTG up with some Googlers, they said this is not a priority at present, but it's on their long laundry list of things. I'm not sure what that means, but it backs up my impressions that again, it just isn't a focus and has inconsistent support.
-Brian
Bob Todd - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Awesome, thanks Brian! And I'll just add to the chorus (and something I've mentioned before) that I'm really happy with the "mini" reviews. I know the big ones take a lot of time to put together, but the smaller reviews here are still 10x more insightful than you'll get from any gadget blog. So much so in fact that these are useful for real purchasing decisions. I originally thought I'd upgrade my old N7 to this, then decided I'd just wait for a Silvermont (or possibly Temash) Windows 8.1 tablet, and after reading this I'm probably back to upgrading if USB OTG works. The inclusion of Krait 300 cores is a nice bonus even if we're only talking about a ~15% IPC improvement.Impulses - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
I'd like to know as well, it isn't crucial for me but it'd make it a whole lot more pleasant to use... 60MB/s? I've seen USB 3.0 flash drives that can easily do triple and quadruple that for sequential transfers. USB OTG for me satisfies every possible usage case I'd have for a card slot, and more. I'm hoping it works with that importer app at least, like the original Nexus... It should, unless there's some glaring hardware omission like with the Nexus 4.Bob Todd - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
Yup, there are definitely much faster flash drives. But the ones I'm talking about in the ~60MB/s range are cheap (regularly on sale for ~$0.57/GB). You can get over 2X the performance, but it's over 2X the cost. There's obviously a big form factor advantage for the flash drive, but once you start talking about ~$90 for a very fast 64GB flash drive I'd personally rather just buy a 128GB SSD/enclosure that is much faster still. I actually bought a 256GB Agility 4 to use as a "big ass fast flash drive". I still think it was a good idea for my use cases, too bad that drive was absolutely unreliable trash and it needs its third RMA.aylak - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Thank you for the review. I'm not sure it was mentioned and I missed it but does it have haptic feedback?_jsw_ - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
No, it does not. No vibrating motor at all.fatso485 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I fail to see why this is a mini review. Its better and a lot more detailed than the other "big tech blogs" reviewsKeep doing what you are doing anandtech
Roland00Address - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
The only thing this mini review is lacking compared to a normal review is the battery tests, that and the writer felt rush but Brian did a great job with such limited time.thesavvymage - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Anand will personally be doing an incredibly in-depth analysis of nearly everything this tablet has to offer in the near future. You should go look up one of anand's iPad reviews, they are probably 3 or 4 times as long as this one. He does an amazing jobchrone - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Great reviews as always. Does it still have transition animation micro stuttering when autobrightness is on and in outdoor?psyside1 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Can anyone tell me, is the unit tested 16 or 32GB version? i never saw clarification about it, which is the only thing missing in this review, other then that fantastic job.Also how much faster should the 32GB model be, if this one was 16GB version? (knowing flash benefit from size) 16 vs 32GB, might be nice to see for the future Anand review.
Krysto - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Why would flash benefit from size? Either way, there shouldn't be major differences in speed.psyside1 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Why bigger SSD/USB drives, are always faster then smaller?Krysto - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
They might, but I doubt it has anything to do with the size, and more with the manufacturer's "strategy" of making higher store that is more expensive, also have higher speed.But that's like saying cameras with more MPs are automatically better because they have more MP's, when in fact they are usually better because the camera makers work in parallel to also improve the overall quality of the camera module, while increasing the MP count, too, for the next generation cameras.
Death666Angel - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
You should educate yourself on that one, your first statement is clearly wrong. The way SSDs get their exceptional speed is by using packages of NAND in parallel. And how many packages of NAND an SSD has directly corresponds to the size of the SSD. Look up a few reviews of SSDs on Anandtech and you will get a break-down of packages vs size, the one of the 840 EVO being a great example to study because of the inclusion of all sizes. It is not just an arbitrary decision to justify the price tag. The explanation is in the technology, not in the marketing this time.psyside1 - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6130/the-16gb-nexus-...How about you educate your self, instead of me? thanks.
Bast - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Actually he's right. your link is not relevant as the eMMC devices most probably use only one chip and no parallel controller like SSDs do. In addition, in HDDs, the higher storage is because of higher densities of data on platters that rotate at the same speed as lower capacity drives which translates to higher rates.psyside1 - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Did you even read the article from the link? also Brian already confirmed that 32GB will be faster.Death666Angel - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
Well, he didn't reply to an eMMC based comment, the comment he replied to specifically talks about SSDs. No idea why you bring HDDs into this either, you are replying to nothing I said.Death666Angel - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
Your comment was in reply to SSDs (and USB drives), not eMMC controllers, so I maintain that you are incorrect in this paragraph:"They might, but I doubt it has anything to do with the size, and more with the manufacturer's "strategy" of making higher store that is more expensive, also have higher speed."
phillyry - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
His initial question was about the 32GB model vs. the 16GB one, so it was about eMMC.His source, written by Anand about last year's Nexus 7s, supports that his question is valid.
So, Brian, do we get the details on any noted differences in I/O performance between the two models?
phillyry - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Anand replied to my tweet clarifying that he has a 16GB to review but that he can't of confirm that there will not be multiple controllers, which could affect storage speed:@phillyry @nerdtalker yep I've got a 16GB model here, I don't know how many places ASUS sources eMMC from though. That could matter as well
phillyry - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
My question was:@nerdtalker @anandshimpi are we going to get the I/O performance numbers for both #Nexus7 models in the full #anandtech review?
lightsout565 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
At least with SSD's, larger models benefit from increase write speeds. I'm not sure if you'd notice a difference in 16 vs 32GB models though. I'll wait till a more informed person responds hahaEgg - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Brian Klug said on twitter that he was sampled the 32 GB version.With regards to performance, https://twitter.com/nerdtalker/status/361201767733...
More flash is faster. Please do your research before making bogus claims.
eio - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
waiting for a storage performance comparison between 16G/32G models...will AnandTech be the first to do this?psyside1 - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Me to bro, i already suggest this :)phillyry - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
Anand also mentioned that it's possible for the different capacities to have different eMMC controllers.However, they didn't last year.
Would be good to know for this year's models.
Broo2 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
There should not be a difference and the 16GB/32GB flash is used only for storage.phillyry - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
Did you read the article?Brian addressed the real lagging issues that Nexus 7 gen. 1 users have been having. He stated that it was likely caused by the storage I/O and that it should be fixed via software.
Point is, storage is usually the performance bottleneck of a system.
et20 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Thanks for the review.I really appreciate it much more than your standard review format.
I only read those if I'm 90% sure I want to buy the product because they are too long.
phillyry - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
+1Ya, we should have this short, sweet, and immediate reviews initially for all major products.
TareX - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I enjoyed having an Nexus 7 (till it became unbearably buggy, slow, and eventually broke with no trauma)... but I must say, walking around with two Androids is extremely cumbersome. Having apps and files scattered between two devices is annoying... This lead me to the conclusion that I need to invest in a phablet. It comes with the added advantage of excellent battery life on your one and only Android. That said, a viable alternative would be an affordable version of ASUS' Padphone product. But their screen dock is ridiculously overpriced, I can only see a +5.5" phablet as my only choice here. I hope the HTC One Max comes with a split-screen functionality so I wouldn't have to go for the Note III.torp - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
How about comparing wifi signal between the nexus 7 old and nexus 7 new? There are spots in my home where the old nexus 7 simply doesn't work, and it's not a big home.Brian Klug - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Good question, I was never a huge fan of the Azurewave WLAN combo inside the original Nexus 7, I believe WCN3660 and its front end might be better. I would need to compare FCC disclosures and do some testing to find out, unfortunately most mobile devices are pretty constrained, and perform around the same (outliers being those with poor enclosure designs).-Brian
torp - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Oh forgot an important data point: i also have an iPad 1 and that one has no problems with wifi anywhere in my home... so basically I could say the nexus 7 old's wifi was a bit crap :)zepi - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
When you do a battery life test, could you run one test at much higher brightness level than the standard? On my 3rd Gen iPad I've noticed that the device really struggles with max brightness setting that is more or less required when using the device outside in sunshine.Unlike often far too hefty laptops, people actually carry their tablets around want to use them things on their patios, balconies and outdoor cafeterias.
Otoh, it's not just the peak brightness, but overall visibility and readability of the screen that'd need to be normalised for such testing. Contrast ratios of screens can vary greatly under plentiful exposure to external light, as manufacturers employ different coatings and "clearblack" technologies, not to mention oled vs tft etc.
charleski - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Great review Brian. I'm just interested to know where you got the info on the APQ8064–1AA having Krait 300 cores. Searching for that part no just turns up references to your tweet and this article.Brian Klug - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
There's no public disclosure I can link you to about it, however internal documentation and confirmation I got from PR acknowledge that APQ8064-1-AA (or APQ8064-1AA as I wrote it for simplicity reasons) is 4xKrait 300 at 1.5 GHz with DDR3L support.-Brian
karasaj - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
So my local best buys were selling them early and I picked one up last night :D I haven't played with it much but this mini review makes me extremely glad that I did!MarcVenice - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Great review. I don't see how some reviewers don't think this isn't an epic tablet. I mean, it's beating the iPad Mini on all fronts, and it will probably be equal to the new iPad Mini, except for build quality, but the new iPad Mini will cost an arm and a leg compared to the Nexus 7 (2013).Compared to most other 7" android tablets, it's simply a steal? I'm not sure if I want to upgrade from my current Nexus 7, but if I didn't have one yet, I definitely would.
kascollet - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
This new Nexus is great, for sure, but honestly, I don't see myself replacing my ipad Mini with it for one unique reason : the size of the screen. Even if the low ppi screen of the Mini is not that great, it's still way larger (30 square inches vs 22) and as I mainly use it to browse the web, it's a no brainer. I guess many customers feel the same when they see both devices side by side. Then there is the ecosystem, again immensely better on every iPad.I seriously hope Apple upgrades the Mini with modern and powerful components like Google just did with the Nexus, but whatever pieces they choose, any iPad with this 4:3 ratio screen is better to me than a 16:10 below 9" Android slate.
MarcVenice - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Hmm yeah got me there, screen real estate is bigger on the mini, but I find that I mostly use the tablet for reading or watching shows/movies, and then it's not a problem at all, in fact it's a plus since with 4:3 you get the black bars.As for eco-system, well, since I mostly read / watch shows, I'm not to bothered. But it should also be picking up, with ipad sales slowing down, and android-tablets grabbing a larger marketpercentage, should mean more devs making android tablet-apps. Of course the fact that there's so many resolutions out there will make it harder (and slower going).
doobydoo - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
The Nexus loses out on just about every single on screen GPU benchmark. Yes, I know this is partly because it has to push more pixels but it DOES have to push more pixels so real world FPS is much slower on this Nexus 7 - even though it's 9 months newer.I have no idea why you think it wins in every category, and it also has a smaller screen despite being larger in terms of volume, and we've yet to compare battery life.
nerd1 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I don't think 7.9" 1024*768 screen is any better than 7.1" 1920*1200 screen to browse the web.kascollet - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
To each his own of course, by size matters very much to me.The iPad Mini is not much bigger than the N7, but the screen is.
http://goodereader.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/uploads/i...
guidryp - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I definitely prefer the iPad Mini screen size/aspect.But owning neither today, there is no way I could consider buying a Mini, with the new Nexus 7 on the market, that is pretty much better in every other way.
If Mini Retina fails to show up this Fall, I see Apple losing a lot more tablet market share.
doobydoo - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
I guess this it what happens when you compare devices nearly a year apart...smartypnt4 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I'll have to agree with you and others here. I do much prefer the 8" size to 7" (as an aside, the 8" 16:10 seems to be the best of both worlds that I've used. Sadly only Samsung makes one of those.), but that screen would have me buying the N7 every time.I've used the iPad Mini countless times trying to convince myself the low PPI and comparatively worse color accuracy (vs. my current 4th gen iPad) wouldn't matter, but I can't sell myself on it. The screen on the mini is disgraceful in 2013. By pure numbers, it traded blows (and was often beat) by the 2012 Nexus 7, to say nothing of the 2013 N7. I can't deal with a screen like that in 2013. Not when it'd become the worst screen I use daily.
Now that the N7 is out, honestly, Apple has no excuse not to show up with a "retina" iPad mini this fall. If they do, it'll be a tough choice for me to make on which to get, but at that point, you really can't lose. If I was buying this instant, there's no competition. The Nexus 7 has too many advantages over the Mini for me. I understand if you value form factor to the exclusion of everything else, though. I've been known to do that myself on occasion.
guidryp - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
"Now that N7 is out", doesn't really apply, the iPad Mini design was likely set in stone 6 months ago. They can't just change their mind when someone ships something better than expected.I think we are only 50% likely to see a Retina Mini and if we do, the price will likely go up as well, so it still won't be huge competition for the N7.
smartypnt4 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
My point was this: previously, it was speculated that the iPad mini in "retina" guise didn't exist Due to the technical limitations presented by trying to pack a screen like that into a chassis this small and light. Now that ASUS/Google have made it apparent that something can be performant and thin and light, while having a screen that's about on par with the iPad 4 in terms of color and contrast, no Apple apologist can claim that there are technical limitations on creating an iPad mini with an awesome screen.Unfortunately, I have a feeling that you're right on the likelihood of getting a retina mini. Then again, I was adamant that the iPad 3 wouldn't have a 2048x1536 screen, so what the hell do I know? And if it does so happen that ewe see a retina mini, I doubt it'll be in any way a competitor to the Nexus 7 due to the cost of the thing. I'd love to see it stay at $330 to keep some semblance of competition alive, but I'm starting to doubt that'll happen. Only time will tell, I suppose.
doobydoo - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
Well arguably they haven't done it properly - because the FPS we're seeing on all of the onscreen benchmarks it vastly inferior to that on the iPad Mini.Anyone can shove a high res screen in, but packing the power to drive that screen was the challenge, and I don't think Google (Asus) have done this.
Also - the iPad Mini was not retina because it was released nearly a year ago, technology changes.
doobydoo - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
I doubt they'd push the price up - they didn't when they made the iPad retina.Impulses - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
8" 16:10 would be my preference too, but for $230 and being a Nexus device I'll easily settle for 7". I can't stand 4:3 and I can't fathom why a ton of people seem to enjoy web browsing in landscape (even with 16:10 tablets!).Mugur - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
... and I though I was alone. Yes, after playing with all sizes, 8" 16:10 seems to be the option I like best. But this Nexus looks so nice... :-)zhenya00 - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
The N7 doesn't show 1920x1200 pixels of content though. I presume that the new N7, like the old, shows some lesser number of points, probably still 960x600 points, meaning that it has less effective resolution than the mini, especially in width where you'll notice that it is often unable to show the entire width of a web page. In my opinion this is what makes the iPad so perfect for web browsing; it fits the majority of modern web pages perfectly in portrait orientation with no wasted space and no side-scrolling necessary.abazigal - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
I expect the ipad mini 2 to be identical to the ipad4 in terms of specs. A6x processor, 1gb of ram, 326 PPI (little reason to go higher when retina apps run well on such specs). We may see a 8mp camera, but otherwise, I don't see much differentiating it from the Nesux7 apart from ecosystem.Let's admit it. For all this comparisons, the Apple users are still going to stick with an ipad, while the Android users are going to get the Nexus7, simple because they are all too deeply invested in their ecosystem of choice to consider switching camp. You have your google play, I have my app store. I value my airplay mirroring just as you want to root your ROM.
phillyry - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Not necessarily. I'm an iPad user but almost want the Nexus more because of that. It makes me want to have another device that is different from the one I have, so that I don't just have a bunch of repeats of essentially the same iOS device, with different screen sizes.Having a Nexus 7 in the middle of an iPhone 5 and iPad 3 might be more distinguished than a Retina Mini (if it ever comes to fruition).
ESC2000 - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
The screen on the mini may be physically bigger but as you note, there are more pixels on the nexus 7. Thus you can actually display more on the nexus 7 screen even though it is smaller. One review noted that the mini only has 34% of the pixels the nexus 7 has, so even though the mini has 25% more screen t real estate, the nexus 7 displays more on its screen than the mini.The nexus 7 2013 blows the mini out of the water. I have used them side by side and the only potential positive for the mini is the apple ecosystem if you care about that. IOS may be somewhat more advanced in terms of tablet-specific apps but android is quickly catching up and at this point I don't think it makes sense to choose a device on that basis especially when there is a better device at a fantastic price.
Someone said it is unfair to compare the 2013 nexus to the 2012 mini which may be true but you have to keep in mind that the "2012" mini came with 2010 parts. (I suspect apple had extra parts from the first and second iPads that it wanted to use up.) A $330 (for the base model! Add $100 for 16 GB more storage and another $150 for cellular) device that has an 8" 1024x768 screen, a dual core A5 processor, and 512 MB RAM in late 2012? Pretty pitiful. If any other company made such a product for $330+ everyone - reviewers, consumers, etc - would laugh it out of the room if they were even aware of it. As for the tired argument that apple products perform above their specs in real world usage, try again. I have used my brother's mini and the nexus together and the nexus is more responsive and doesn't slow down when I have a lot of tabs open and a lot of apps running at the same time. The home button on my brother's mini no longer works, which also makes navigating on it a pain. Plus the mini's screen looks terrible next to the nexus. Oh and the lack of swipe on the mini makes typing more tedious. This of course is because sole won't let you change your default keyboard for cripe's sake.
So, yes, in some ways the comparison of the 2013 nexus and the 2012 mini is unfair, but apple exacerbated its failure to measure up by gimping the mini with 2010 parts. The 2013 (2014?) Mini will likely some some of these problems but if apple fixes all the mini's defects, the result would cost an arm and a leg, so I'm not holding my breath. Either we get another meh product at $330+ or we get a better product at $400+ (or more).
Krysto - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
There's a very high chance there won't be an iPad Mini this year.They are already losing money on tablets, because the Mini is outselling the regular iPad, and they get less profit on each. So they'll want to milk that as long as possible, while the cost of components drop, and they don't want to put a retina display in it for the same reason.
Plus, are they just going to release all iOS devices at once this year? That doesn't make sense. My guess is they also want to release the more expensive iPad and the new iPhone with the new iOS, to entince people to buy the more expensive versions...and then only release the iPad Mini with iOS7 next spring.
But, by then there will be only a few months left until 3rd gen Nexus 7 comes out (next year it will probably be released end of May or in June).
Daniel Egger - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Very nice. So I guess only a couple of questions remain:1) How can I get HDMI out the thing?
2) Can it play Flash 10+?
3) When will there be an alternative operating system without all the google spyware available also capable of Flash?
Broo2 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
1. you can buy a SlimPort adapter to convert the MicroUSB to HDMI2. It doesn't appear to support flash out-of-the-box and Adobe has discontinued flash for all mobile products. Someone may compile a version for Android 4.3, but better if it just dies off.
3. Very doubtful. You can eventually unlock and install a custom ROM, but those will all be mostly enthusiast variants of Android. Mayhaps an enthusiast will will make a custom version of Linux, but it will require them to recompile/debug all of the hardware drivers for the device.
Death666Angel - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Great "mini" review! :)This thing looks fantastic. I've been meaning to get a 7" tablet for a while. Still would like a 6.5" phone more, but those are rare. The LTE pricing is a bit high (2012 model costs only 50€ more for modem variant). And your table shows the 2012 Nexus 7 with 8/16GB when all I can find now on the Google PlayStore is 16/32 for 199€/249€.
Death666Angel - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Oh, and since I sometimes berate you for using US units, I now want to applaud you for using metric units. :)Laksefar - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Does anyone know if we'll be able to make GSM calls with the 4G version? Would love the new Nexus 7 to be my next "phablet"baileyjr1972 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Thats what I was wondering myself :-)Sunburn74 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Use groove IP with google voice on your tablet and its essentially a phablet anywhere you have wifiLaksefar - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Sadly Google Voice is not available in my country. And although there are plenty of other voip apps I could use instead with any tablet it would not work for the majority of the people who only call me on my GSM phonenumberedsib1 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Does the new Nexus 7 have Miracast support ?? The old one didnt.Mr.Draper - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I was wondering the same thing, I have seen no mention of Miracast. Is Google trying to kill Miracast and push people towards Chromecast?jt122333221 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
The Nexus 4 supports Miracast, but I can't find any info on Product Pages on Amazon, GPlay, or other pages that directly say Miracast, so it's entirely possible (I'd say definitely likely) that it has Miracast support.barich - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
It definitely supports Miracast. Mine has the wireless display option available. The better question is why Chromecast doesn't.nerd1 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I am now seriously considering to replace my galaxy tab 7.7". It'll be great if they make a slightly larger version (I like 8" alot more than 7" myself) and enable voice call capability for LTE models.eek2121 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Purchase this tablet from staples yesterday after being a holdout for years. Its amazing! Also, nice review!baileyjr1972 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
So Brian, does this mean the SOC will support openGL ES3 like the "official" S600+S800 chips?Brian Klug - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Absolutely, OpenGL ES 3.0 is demonstrated in the initial video, if it's Adreno 3xx, it has OpenGL ES 3.0 support beginning with Android 4.3-Brian
Sunburn74 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Would like to see HDMI out from this thing so it can be used as a mini media server/netflix streamer.Sunburn74 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Actually wow I just learned there is a 30 dollar adapter that will convert the micro usb to a HDMI out! Amazing!Brian Klug - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Yes, you can buy a USB SlimPort HDMI adapter and get HDMI output, same as the Nexus 4.-Brian
Impulses - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Is there anything else out there that uses SlimPort? Not sure what advantage it has over MHL which was already on the way to being pretty common (and even convenient with the new style of cables split at the HDMI port, see Monoprice). I think you covered this in an old pipeline article (potential advantage/reason for Slimport) but I forget...Da W - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Are you kidding?SOMEONE PLESE MAKE A 7" AMD KABINI WINDOWS TABLET!!!! I'M A BUYER!
Krysto - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Doesn't Kabini have like an 18W TDP?TheinsanegamerN - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
yes, it does.Death666Angel - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
No, it doesn't. There are Kabini variants in the 9W/15W/25W TDP ranges. Too much for 7", but could be fitted in a 10.x" and definitely a 11.6" tablet/convertible.enealDC - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
As an owner of both a nexus 7 (gifted) and a transformer prime, i'm done with android tablets. beyond consuming content, i really don't have any use for them. Not to mention the fact that not a month goes by that I don't wish i waited when buying my Transformer Prime. Asus rewarded me as a customer by immediately (almost) planning a better version of the device they sold me. As such, i will reward them by not purchasing another Android Tablet again.Broo2 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
you would prefer they not update their devices as technology improves? With that mentality, we would all still be running PalmOS phones with a 320x240 restive screen an EDGE network...It is likely Asus started planning the Prime in 2011 and the new Infinity screen fabrication and CPUs technology came along in mid 2012- while they were already starting to work on production of the Prime.
Never regret any decision you have made as you can never change what has already happened and it just causes stress and frustration. Instead of feeling a personal offense to Asus selling a new tablet, you could sell your Prime on eBay/Etsy and someone would likely be very happy to use it- and you can take the proceeds and put towards something else. :)
Broo2 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
lol; edit -etsy = swappaImpulses - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
As the happy owner of an OG Transformer, I'm looking forward to upgrading to the new Nexus 7 (I've come to realize I prefer a smaller tablet for my uses), the TF will probably go to my father. Happy to support ASUS either way as I'm generally happy with their entire Android tablet strategy.Affectionate-Bed-980 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
As much as I love quick reviews, please make sure that you follow up on your promises for a full review... soon. Where's that GS4 review Part 2 for example?FergusMackenzie - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
This look like an excellent tablet with one exception. 16:10 is a horrible aspect ratio on a tablet. Why does no major android manufacturer make a tablet with 4:3 aspect ratio?Broo2 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Most tablets are going 16:9 as that fits the 1920x1080 HD video standard and vendors probably get many complains from users watching HD 16:9 movies with black bars and the static sized Magazines/Comics/PDFs are a secondary concern.16:10 is not perfect for magazines/comics/PDFs, but it is better than 16:9; I have only seen the new Nexus 7 and the B&N Nook HD+ with this aspect ratio. The only 4:3s are the iPad and eInk eBook readers... :(
guidryp - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Most Android tablets are 16:10, not 16:9.B&N Nook HD+ is not 16:10. It is 3:2. Which is a pretty good compromise. We need more like that.
Bob Todd - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
Unless it was something odd with Cyanogenmod 10.1.2 on the Nook HD+, I'd have concerns about 3:2 in general. I always like the extra pixels, but I think that aspect ratio was rare enough that it tripped up a fair number of games that weren't tested properly on 3:2 (but worked fine on 16:9/16:10).charleski - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
In terms of rendering the varying aspect rations of books, comics and magazines 3:2 is probably the best compromise, but 16:10 isn't far off. 4:3 and 16:9 are both much worse.guidryp - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
It's irrelevant for regular novels which are just text, so you can read them on any ratio.Comics and Magazines would be good on 3:2, if your screen is big enough to show the whole page at once, which I would argue 7" isn't. If it isn't then matching ratios hardly matter. If you are going to be panning and zooming, I would definitely prefer 4:3 over 16:9/16:10.
Impulses - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
I like 16:10 in portrait a lot for web browsing and email, which is like 80% of my tablet use. Not sure why you'd prefer anything else for that or for media... 16:9 is noticeably narrower, grab any Win 8 tablet and see.Yofa - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
the original nexus 7 had a 1.2mp front-facing camera. that point is omitted from the comparison chart.prince2013 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
what is your basis that the LTE model doesn't include a Qualcomm RF360 chip? How else could it work with all US carriers?Brian Klug - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
RF360 isn't a chip at all, for some reason I see this all over the place. Rather it's a portfolio of front end components from Qualcomm with a stacked PoP (RF this time) architecture. The core of the RF360 family is a CMOS Power Amplifier and switch, the rest of it is just packaging. For reasons I've discussed, MDM9x15 family doesn't need "RF360" family font ends (of which there's only one compatible, it's primarily going to start with MDM9x25) to do Band 13 and 17 coexistence, just the right discrete PAs and filters, and there's plenty of space for that in a tablet.-Brian
nofumble62 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I don't see any compelling reason to upgrade my current Nexus 7 though.Dribble - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Current N7 is still working fine, will skip thing gen and get V3 next year.easp - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Is there a discussion of battery life I missed, or is that not relevant for mobile devices any more?Death666Angel - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
You've missed the headline, where it says "mini". He didn't have time to do the battery life tests, which take up most of such a review, as a single charge takes 2 to 4 hours and discharging them takes 5 to 10 hours most of the time.Brian Klug - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Battery life testing is ongoing at present, Anand is running those as I write this.-Brian
EnzoFX - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
This may have been brought out by the tests, but is the display panel wide gamut? Or at least as much as the iPad 3/4 are?Vigneshj - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
//dismayed why more OEMs don’t use the full encode capabilities of APQ8064 (20 Mbps H.264 High Profile) but that’s what it is by default on the new Nexus 7//Can any third party android app helps to overcome this?
Brian Klug - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Yeah or editing build.prop after you've rooted it to change settings.-Brian
wrkingclass_hero - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
^adfly linkstexasti89 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
If they had included a SD slot (likely a dollar or so worth of parts), this tablet would have been the perfect tablet for me.CityBlue - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
"What’s a little awkward is how tall the bevel at top and bottom looks on the Nexus 7"I think you mean bezel, not bevel...
Brian Klug - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Oops, fixed, thank you!-Brian
techtoll - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Price is what is the most tempting. Surely going for this whenever available in India.flashbacck - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
people on the androidcentral forums are saying the headphone jack does function as a line-inImpulses - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
This mini war of small HDMI connectors is getting out of hand... Maybe I'm just the only oddball with this particular issue, but right now I have three different devices with three different HDMI output implementations, and the Nexus 7 will be a fourth...My pocket camera uses micro HDMI whereas my M43 mirrorless camera uses mini HDMI. Ok, I can understand that, I can even understated why we'd want a combined USB/HDMI port on phones and even tablets... Didn't MHL already solve that tho? AFAIK HTC & Samsung are still using MHL, now Google's pushing Slimport!
I can charge a phone, a small tablet, an MP3 player, a Bluetooth headset, a small portable speaker, a USB battery pack/back, and even a pocket camera with one micro USB charger/cable... Yet I need four different dongles for HDMI output. One step forward and two steps back I tell ya.
Impulses - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Looked up Brian's old pipeline port on the Slimport adapter and answered my own question, I'd forgotten Slimport dispenses with MHL's need of powered adapters... I guess that's worth dealing with yet another port, why aren't other manufacturers transitioning to this? Not like MHL ever materialized on TVs (which promised power AND HDMI over a single cable if it came to pass). $30 is kinda steep tho, is no one else offering Slimport adapters still?JNo - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
wireless charging (Qi) ?!?!This will be such an awesome feature in the UK when they never bring out the charging orb, just like they haven't for the Nexus4 almost a year after release!
Well done google! Selling products based on imaginary features!
/angry sarcastic rant over
weiran - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
It's a bit disingenuous to say the Nexus 7 dominated it's form factor, the iPad mini probably sold 3-5x more than the OG Nexus 7.I say probably as we don't know for sure because Google refuses to release sales data, which also makes me believe sales either were under expectations or Google takes a big enough hit on each sale they don't want it public info.
Krysto - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Or maybe you're just not paying attention. They said they sold over 7 million Nexus 7's.abazigal - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Is there any mention of its battery life in real-world tests?kmand - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Does it support NEON? I know the Tegra-3 did.Wombat2013 - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
It would be helpful if the upcoming full review would address:- OTG compliance
- Slimport output testing
There have been varying opinions online about whether/how well these features work on the Nexus 7 (2013). (Not surprising - opinions, not AT real testing..)
Written from my new Nexus 7.
bznotins - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Thanks for the great review, Brian. Definitely "mini" in name only and typical of why Anandtech is my most reliable tech review source.On going to hold-out for the LTE version with the hope that it can/will allow me to use it as a mobiles hotspot and replace my TMob Sonic 2.0 LTE hotspot. I know the 4G Nexus 7 stock wasn't capable of operating as a hotspot but I have my fingers crossed for the new LTE version.
Any speculation on a release date? "Weeks" feels pretty nonspecific.
yun - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Pity no Tegra 4, my friend Squall-le am disappoint.kgh00007 - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Hi, what link speed does the new nexus 7 connect with on 2.4 & 5Ghz? The OG nexus 7 only connected at 65Mbps?Cheers!
jojo98 - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
When testing WiFi, average throughput is nice but you should measure the variance as well. Even better would be under controlled interference if you have a lab setup to do it. Maybe a time graph vs data rate and latency would be nice.I'd rather have a consistent 20 Mbps connection than 100 Mbps average one that varies a lot in both data rate and latency. These kinds of things will show in voice and video over IP applications where the quality will be reduced when even only a short hit in speed and or latency occurs. Streaming sites like Netflix, Amazon and others will also reduce quality. The low quality will persist for a while even when your WiFi link gets better right after the dip.
MarkP23 - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
Yes, only testing the average WiFi throughput is like only testing sequential accesses to SSDs when it comes to gauging what real world experience would be like.We need to know how stable the connection is over a prolonged amount of time (how much latency and data rate changes). All too often my WiFi connection blips during a Skype call or video stream causing the app to lower the quality. Even if it's only a momentary blip, most applications' algorithms won't immediately go back to the original quality. It may take minutes or until you reconnect because you can't stand watching blocky video and tinny audio.
bobak - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Whilst AnadTech's articles and reviews are always excellent, the first place I go to read up on devices / components, a simple fact remains.Companies can bring out as many new android phones as they like, high spec, huge screens, packed with features... but they all run android. I tried it, i didn't like it. I tried it again and again and I still absolutely hate it. It feels old, clunky, disjointed, overcomplicated, ugly and not at all intuitive.
I'll be the first to admit, this is entirely based on my personal opinion, however every single person I know who has bought an android phone has turned round to me and asked "how much do you reckon i'll get for this on ebay... i hate it" within the first month.
Great article, i'll keep on reading them and enjoying them, but I just feel android misses the mark by a long shot. I'd rather a Windows phone - at least the OS looks and feels nice.
I'm well aware i'll probably get a load of replies telling me how I'm a fanboy or hater or whatever, but at least I tried to like it with an open mind, several times.
lordlad - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
you are definitely entitled to your opinion (being freedom of speech and all) and i will be the first to agree with you if it's android v1 till v3.0. But since 4.0 ICS and above, many of the UI quirks had been ironed out at a rapid pace and android is still the most featured (functional wise) mobile OS out there.Which mobile OS currently allows you to access your home NAS and copy/paste file from/to your mobile device? Such a no-brainer use-case but IOS can't do it. Windows Phone 8 can't do it. I have no idea about BB10 so i can't comment but Android can do this among others. Most of the Mobile platform out there to me are more like appliances OS platform whereby the function of the OS and devices are defined by the makers and app-creators. It's like a vacuum cleaner can only do vacuum cleaning. An appliances.
Android, at least from my perspective, it's a mobile computing platform. The OS performed a certain functions but there's no pre-defined role of what it can do or can't. You can probably put android in a nuclear missile launching silo and it will probably worked (with some re-tooling of course).
All I'm saying is android is more akin to having a full computer in a phone/tablet form factor.....while else the other platforms (IOS, Windows Phone) are more like phone and tablet appliance. I'm sure their user experience, being much more curated, resulted in a 'tighter' experience...but it also resulted in a much more 'restricted' experience..
I must have pulled out a few hairs when i am trying to attach certain files to an email i am typing on my ipad. Such is the result of a constrained, 'appliance' experience..
but alas, to each his own. ;-)
akdj - Saturday, August 3, 2013 - link
Interesting take. Especially Android tablets in launching silos. Word is most of those were built in the 60s 70s and 80s...the power in any of today's tablets far surpasses what computing power was available when those missiles were deployed. So you're right...they very well COULD work as a missile launch and targeting system....that said, they'd get the app AFTER iOS does;). Already over a half million iPads have been deployed by major airlines across the world. Including updated Jep charts and plates, real time weather and traffic conditions, etc. They decided to go with iOS. Not Android. While I'm brand agnostic (I've got iOS and Android devices) and prefer not to trumpet my opinions on a board read and provided by folks many times smarter than me...your take on Android is a bit 'over the top' at this time. iOS is a simple to use device that many 'power' users won't find able to fulfill their needs...but many moms n dads and grandmas and gramps...kids as well....checking email and Facebook, posting n manipulation of stills and video, watching Netflix or Hulu...messaging and browsing, the things they ONLY used their old desktop or laptop for, it's an absolute answer to their needs. Android is a bit more tricky to learn, a bit different to set up and use, and its lack of optimized tablet apps is a killer.While the case can be made that Android COULD in fact be a better all around computing device, I guess we'll just have to wait for the developers to take notice and advantage of such an excellent subsystem.
We'll see. Until then....you're definitely entitled to your opinion, as you say...according to the constitution (though not all readers of Anand are from the USA)...however, you're wrong. Sorry
J
kascollet - Sunday, August 4, 2013 - link
I connect my iDevices to my NAS on a daily basis. Works perfectly over SMB and AFP. The app is FileBrowser but there are others to perform this use case. With my former Nexus 4, I couldn't do it as flawlessly, whatever the app I tried.Smartphoneuser - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
This is flame bait. You are in the minority. I always ignore trolls, but could not resist the temptationfor2015nexus7 - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
this got to be the best tablet review site. anyways, how is the.speaker comparing to kindle fire hd in terms of loudness and clarity. thax a lot!andypost - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
Asus Memo Pad 7" @ $90 might be a better value buy for a lot of folks.harishlj - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
Brian's mini review is more detailed than most full-reviews done by others. Love the detailed run-down of the hardware and the features.geniekid - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
I believe the popular opinion regarding the use of Snapdragon vs Tegra 4 was that the LTE capable version of the Tegra (the Tegra 4i) wasn't ready fast enough to meet the release schedule of the new Nexus 7.Bob Todd - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
I'd say Tegra 4 not fully supporting OpenGL ES 3.0 is a bit of a problem when that's one of the marquee features of Android 4.3 which is debuting on this device...aliasfox - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
To be fair, my 2010 iPad (with its single core processor and a whopping 256 MB of RAM) is already dog slow on iOS5, which I feel was built with the A5 chip in mind (iPhone 4s, iPad 2/3). iOS7 will likely be built with the A6 chip in mind, so with 1/2 the cores, 2/3 the clock speed, and 1/4 the RAM, an original iPad would be left breathless right at startup.As for the Nexus 2013, I like it a lot. My gf has the original Nexus, and while it's a fine product, it doesn't feel particularly premium. The new one looks to be nearly as thin and nearly as light as an iPad mini, but $100 cheaper. Even if Apple were to thoroughly update the mini (A6, retina display), this would still be very, very tempting to grab for a weekend getaway tablet.
spinportal - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
If you are needing space on the go, hate dongles for USB OTG, and lacking as SD card slot, don't want to spend on a data plan for LTE/3G, and don't want to set up a your own Plex media server or depend on Wifi streaming being available for your Box/Google Drive/ Skydrive / Dropbox, don't want to spend on Spotify / Pandora / Rdio, then bring your own 1 TB wifi storage box from Seagate (Satellite or Wireless Plus) and add the special firmware modification and might as well through in a portable power brick for recharging in between pitstops at the wall outlets. The Seagate Wireless+ with mod can act as a wifi bypass bridge so you can use the media server functions of the drive, and still go on the 'net. Without the mod, you do not have a wifi bridge option. And the SW+ can feed up to 8 connected devices. I've tried Plex media from a home server over cable internet to public wifi at Starbucks and 720p music videos were choppy so forget 1080p 2-hr feature length videos being an enjoyable experience. Music streaming was not so bad on remote Plex, and I'm spoiled to not enjoy 480p DVD quality video anymore since it looks so pixelated and blurry (unless you're on a really small 4" smartphone screen)spinportal - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
Also, where's the pet projects of turning a Nexus 7 (32GB/LTE) into a car infotainment system with Waze / Google Maps (+ offline maps) / Garmin-TomTom apps, Dragon (Vlingo) for handsfree calls (assumed internal tablet mic), emails and texting (narration as well), dashboard mount, bluetooth integration to car stereo so audio outputs to car speakers with call muting other audio apps (assumed built-in functionality by now)? What is needed is for the Big Motors to integrate bt into their buttons on the steering wheel, or otherwise 3rd parties are going to build their own bt kits to do navigation (vol +/-, OK, left/right/up/down cursor, etc.) from the wheelaliasfox - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
This was supposed to be a reply to somebody about 10 pages ago who commented on tablets not getting updated past the first 2-3 years. Completely out of context here.vision33r - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
It looks like a very large 2011 Android phone with all that gap on the bottom. In 2013, most android phones have very little gap or wasted space in the bottom.Wwhat - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
So annoying how such tablets are all infused with monitoring you by google and such (and 'partners' if you know what I mean)I like tech and wish I could use a tablet without that ever present feeling of being monitored and watched and monitored and monitored, oh and logged.
I'm not just bitching, it is a serious put-off for me, and since I'm not unique I have to assume many more people.
Also to get more to the tech side: No SD slot? And the changes supposedly reflect what users asked for? uh..
And not yet ac WiFi, but at this pricepoint and time I guess that's too early anyway. And it does have the 'WiFi version' BT 4.0 that has more possibilities than old BT.
Overall I do like it though, but the aforementioned feelings so far kept me away from such devices, makes me wonder if I'll continue that stance much longer or buy one and go through all kinds of desperate efforts to privatize it a bit more.
fteoath64 - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
I kinda agree on the monitoring part. Couple of things we can do. First wait for XDA Rom release that removes most of these junk. Second, wait for Ubuntu Touch to be released and a ported version will be done on the NExus 7. One cannot really complain too much about Google's approaches as it makes $20-25 per year on our balls for their advertising revenue. Additional Play Store revenue so they can release models such as these cheaper rather than $500 each or more. I still cannot figure out the lack of SD card slots as having one WILL facilitate Cloud usage much more more rather than much less. Firstly, less content can be populated on the tablet (ie photos, sound recordings, videos), then a lot less to traffic to the Cloud as well. Heck, anyone one can pull the content into a PC anytime they want if convenient. Apple mught have a good excuse but Not Google. They are just being mean for the sake of "want you to use Cloud more".darwinosx - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
A simpler way to say it is Nexus devices are sold at or a little below cost.almerickso - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
Do the speakers automatically switch between left/right when you rotate the device 180 degrees or is there only 1 "correct" orientation?crpcat - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
"I know a lot of people were hoping for inclusion of line in on the 3.5mm audio jack but I can confirm it isn’t present."Does this mean that the 3.5 jack only carries line OUT? I.e. you cannot use a headset with this tablet? That would be totally ridiculous. Even ASUS new $149 tablet (Memo Pad HD7) has a combined audio/mic jack.
I am looking to buy a small/light tablet for travelling, where on of the most frequent use case would be phone calls (i.e. VoIP/Skype). But if this tablet does not support connecting a standard headset then it totally disqualifies itself.
Sunburn74 - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
I don't understand. The original nexus did have a built in mic for VOIP/google chat. This one should too as well.hughlle - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Agreed, what is the issue. I do not know whether my N10 has dual line in line out for the very reason that I have absolutely no reason to have tested it, the built in microphone is more than sufficient in terms of quality for video calls and such.Hrel - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
Seriously with the no 802.11ac? It's 2013, no wireless devices should be shipped without 802.11ac; that's stupid.Arbie - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
-No micro-SD = no sale. As the author notes, tablets are widely used for watching videos. With SD you can swap media sets in and out infinitely faster than any other way. Like... 16GB in 5 sec. Google and Amazon can continue to pretend that it doesn't matter, but that's obviously idiotic. I'll buy something else, that's designed for ME. The price difference is worth it for a such major feature.
fteoath64 - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
Yeah. No SD no sale for many out there. Look at HTC, almost going OUT OF BUSINESS for omitting such a simple thing. In fact, none is so bold as to provide TWO microSD slots!!!. People looking to MicroSD slots flocking to GS4 by the millions and millions!, Like over 10 million!.darwinosx - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
Good for the few how care. Very few devices have them now and soon none will. Get used to it.netmann - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
Can someone please review Nokia Lumia 1020 since 920 review was skipped!darwinosx - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
Yeah! There's like 3 people who care!!Travis Jackson - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Very tempting... However, I think I'll wait a few months to see if a "Bay Trail" equivalent turns up - Preferably something with the same resolution (1920x1200), but an 8-inch screen.I would gladly pay extra for Intel inside.
fteoath64 - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
Forget Intel's BS of a chip for any tablets. Their gpus are so slow, you might only be watching videos and not playing cool games you wanted. Sorry, that chip has been left behind unless you are after a Windows RT tablet ?!.! Why would you want that ?.KDOG - Saturday, August 3, 2013 - link
No HDMI?? Why? It seems backwards that the Nexus 10 - with its already easier to view bigger screen has a HDMI out port but the smaller one - that you'd be more likely to want to send out to a bigger screen - doesn't have one. Its not like the hardware wouldn't support it.KDOG - Saturday, August 3, 2013 - link
Aaaahh ... SlimPort. Nevermind....KDOG - Saturday, August 3, 2013 - link
Still don't like the fact that they don't have mSD slots....piroroadkill - Tuesday, September 3, 2013 - link
milliSD? I didn't know there was such a thing.The only correct abbreviation is surely µSD.
d14b0ll0s - Saturday, August 3, 2013 - link
the specs chart is wrong for the old N7 -- I am a happy owner of a 32GB version, as it was '16 or 32' with the 2012 model as welljcsweeney - Sunday, August 4, 2013 - link
Brain, great review as usual, just wondering about the GPS performance.I just received my new nexus 7, and the GPS is not functional. If >1 app tried to use the GPS it looses lock, and won't regain lock until after a reboot. After searching a bit, this seems to be a common issue.
Did this show up during the time you were doing your mini review, or is it a new issue, potentially introduced with new software updates.
In any case, please cover the GPS performance in the full review.
darwinosx - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
GPS is a known issue that Google is working on.jcsweeney - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
I agree this is a known widespread issue. It's just that the review process missed it, and declared that the GPS worked great.Anandtech does the best reviews, benchmarks in the industry (IMO), and they seem open to updating the benchmarking process, hence the suggestion.
PointTruth1 - Thursday, August 15, 2013 - link
Great Article Brian, thanks for writing it. Wow there are so many different opinions on this forum! This is helpful. But I also feel overwhelmed when I try to identify just the main strengths and weaknesses. I just googled around, and found this page:http://productsummaries.com/Asus-Google-Nexus-7-Ta...
It claims that it parsed through hundreds of Asus Google Nexus 7 Tablet reviews and distilled a short list of dominant pros and cons. It helped me choose 7, hope it helps you as well.
lookit77 - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
I believe that the USA version supports lte band 3.lookit77 - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
From: https://support.google.com/nexus/7/answer/3248332?...North America:
GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
HSPA+: 850/900/1900/2100/AWS (1700/2100) MHz (Bands: 1/2/4/5/8)
LTE: 700/850/1700/1800/1900/2100 MHZ (Bands: 1/2/3/4/5/13/17)
ridafatima - Monday, October 14, 2013 - link
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