7 inches of Tegra 3 oomph packed into a compact body with a great display and the legendary Nexus branding. What’s there not to like about it? Well let’s find out!
On first look, the Nexus 7 is quite a beauty. Even though it is adorned with a plastic back and a plastic bezel, it’s nothing short of a premium device. The back of the Nexus 7 has a very nice “soft touch” surface with corrugated bumps that makes the N7 a joy to hold. Around the sides of the device, we find a metal coloured plastic bezel that runs around the whole of the tablet. On the front we find the glorious 7″ 1280×800 IPS panel which we will look in depth later on. The glass by the way is no ordinary run of the mill cheap tablet glass. It’s a full fledged Corning Gorilla Glass which helps the Nexus 7 protect against minor drops and scratches. Moving on to the hardware inside the Nexus 7. Now being a sub-$200 device, it is really hard to fathom how Asus managed to stuff such an amazing spec sheet into the Nexus 7. Lets just reiterate what you are getting for your $199.
NEXUS 7 SPEC SHEET- Quad core NVIDIA Tegra 3 @ 1.2GHz
- ULP 8-core GeForce T30 GPU
- 1GB DDR2 RAM
- 16GB storage
- 7″ IPS display
- NFC
Now, read that all out and then read the price: $199. Now that’s what we call a bargain. The Tegra 3 in the Nexus 7 is pretty decent even in 2013. It’ll run everything on the Play Store properly and without hiccups. In Isle of Droid’s testing, we managed to run through a nice hour-long gaming session with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City without even noticing any lag or considerable heating issue. Isle of Droid isn’t a benchmark mojo so we won’t be showing you any benchmarks here. Actual usability is a lot more important than synthetic benchmarks.
Inside the Nexus 7 we find Android 4.2.2 Jellybean. Now because this is a Nexus device, it is running the purest form of the Android user experience, the Holo UI. Jellybean runs buttery smooth, every single animation is presented in full 60fps with no lag whatsoever. Google Now is amazing too, every command I gave to the assistant was recognised without flaw and the ability to launch apps without having to unlock the device and go in to the app launcher to launch an app is a nice time saver. Just swipe up from the lock screen and Google Now will launch, say “Launch Facebook” and Facebook will launch. Sweet.
Camera wise, the Nexus 7 is missing the usual rear camera which I actually condone! Using a tablet to take photos is just ridiculous. Firstly, it makes you look like a massive spanner. Also, if you use your tablet to record an event, you are effectively blocking the view of anyone behind you. I’ve experienced this so many times. Some idiot using his iPad to take videos in some packed concert and i’m standing right behind him. Good on you Google and Asus for removing the rear camera (even though I think that the real reason for the absence of the rear camera is for cost cutting). There is a proper 1.2MP front facing camera, though, for some properly good video chats with your friends and family. This addition is great especially with the release of Google’s wonderful Hangouts app which allows you to chat with 10 different people simultaneously.
Of course, what is a review about a tablet without talking about the screen? The screen. The screen. The Nexus 7 arguably has one of the best displays ever fitted on a 7 inch tablet. The viewing angles is just absolutely spot on with little screen fade even while viewing it at the most extreme of angles. And the colour vibrancy is another thing. It’s just gorgeous! However, some of you out there may challenge my view and say that at just 216ppi, the Nexus 7 has a pixellated display but I can safely say that in regular use, you can barely even make out the pixels of the N7’s screen. Compare that however to the comparatively jagged screen of the iPad mini at just a mere 163ppi and the Nexus 7’s screen really shines. One hitch that I found with the display though is that at minimum brightness, the N7 tends to flicker once in a while, just like some other smartphone displays. But really, that is just nitpicking about a display that is just so good.
All in all, at just $199, the Nexus 7 is one of the seven wonders of the world when it comes to a good deal. No other tablet comes close at this price range. Would I buy it? Of course! I have one myself! Should you buy one now even though it’s nearly a year old? Oh yes. Oh yes. It’s still a hell of a bargain. And it is a thing to behold as well.
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