Google Nexus 7 winging its way towards me
Well, curiosity got the best of me and a new Google Nexus 7 is on its way towards me (thanks, Cathy).
I had some money left on a 7 year old American electronics store card (Best Buy) and the new Nexus 7 is so inexpensive, I couldn’t resist.
Not that I’m abandoning Apple or the iPad. Necessarily. But I’ve never considered myself an “Apple fanboy” (these are all just tools after all) and I’m curious about a few things.
For example, I wonder how tied am I really to the so-called “Apple ecosystem”? That is what strikes fear in most Apple users when they consider trying something different. My suspicion is that I am not as locked into Apple as I might think. Consider all the cross-platform apps I use now, including Dropbox, Evernote, Skype, Gmail, Google docs, etc.
Also, there are some interesting things about Android which intrigue me. For example, being able to set my own default browser, or switch out to a different keyboard if I want to. Apple doesn’t permit that, which is irritating. (Apple fans would say they are just being safe. More objective people might say Apple is just too controlling.)
And there are some things you can do in Android that you can’t do easily in iOS. For example, attaching any type of file to an email! I can’t believe how easy that is in even an older version of Android – and not something you can do directly in iOS.
Anyway, I’m curious. And not spending any extra money. And it is also worth exploring the developer potential.
And I’m also curious if I would use a smaller tablet more than I do my iPad 2.
The specs, and price, when compared side-by-side with the iPad Mini are really impressive. Compared to the iPad Mini, the Nexus is much less expensive, yet has a better-than-retina display (323 pixels per inch, compared to just 162 ppi for the iPad Mini), more RAM, a better and faster cpu and, spec-wise at least, beats the iPad Mini in just about every category.
. iPad Mini Nexus 7
Screen size 7.9″ 7.0″
Resolution 768 x 1024 1920 x 1200
PPI 162 323
Aspect ratio 4:3 16:9
cpu speed 1 GHz 1.5 GHz
cpu type dual-core quad-core
RAM 512 MB 2.0 GB
Rear camera 5 Mpixels 5 Mpixels
Front camera 1.2 Mpixels 1.2 Mpixels
32 MB price $429 $269
Of course the bottom line will be how well it works, and how easy and useful it is. I’ll report back after it arrives!
doug
I’ll be very interested in your reaction to the smaller size. I’ve had the original Nexus 7 for about a year, and I use it constantly. The size seems good to me but I have never used a larger tablet for more than a few minutes so I have no basis for comparison.
The size is one of the things I’m very interested in. I have an iPhone 5 and an iPad 2. If I’m just sitting around, even if both are within hands’ reach, I almost inevitably reach for the iPhone. I like the iPad, but I think it’s too heavy to use all the time.
And I never bring the iPad up to my bedroom for reading at night. It’s too large and heavy to hold while lying down to read a book. But the iPhone is really too small for reading a book.
I’m thinking the new Nexus 7 might be just right – almost book size – and the new display is supposed to be very comfortable for reading.
So I look forward to trying that out.
I have read many, many novels on my Nexus 7, I’m sure you’ll love it for that. I find though that while I often check my email and RSS feeds on it, for any kind of detailed response (like this one) I generally move to a computer with an actual keyboard. Typing on the Nexus 7, for me at least, is just not very much fun.
I wonder if it has a dictation feature, like on my iPhone 5. If I respond to email and stuff from my iPhone I prefer to dictate as much as possible. Even with corrections it’s faster than typing things in.
Yes, dictation is a standard Android feature. It works better for some people than for others – I often dictate short responses but if I talk too fast it stumbles badly. I have learned to talk like a robot when dictating, in a monotone with distinct spaces between words. Jeanne doesn’t seem to have that problem, dictation works much better for her than it does for me. I’m curious to see whether you think the iPhone or Android dictation systems is better.
I don’t have to go monotone with Siri, and it’s mostly good, but sometimes makes dumb mistakes. What’s interesting is that if I happen to be in Japanese input mode it also takes dictation well in Japanese, which can be a time saver.