Google’s Nexus 7 tablet is 7 inches and it runs on the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The display beats the likes of Kindle Fire and Nook. It also has an impressive 1280×800 resolution IPS display.
For all those techies out there working around an unforgiving budget, there may yet be reason to rejoice. If you are on the lookout for a budget tablet PC, the newest entrant in the segment promises to liven up your options. Nexus 7 is the result of a collaboration between Google and Asus. It is a 7 inch tablet running on the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and should prove to be stiff competition to budget tablets such as Amazon’s Kindle Fire or Barnes and Noble’s Nook.
To start off with, the display beats the likes of Kindle Fire and Nook hands down. It has an impressive 1280×800 resolution IPS display. It’s not quite up there with Apple’s new iPad retina display but then again, it doesn’t quite empty your pockets the way that the iPad does. The design is spiffy and it has a reassuringly solid built.
The Nexus 7 is light in more ways than one. It’s light on your pockets of course, but at .74 pounds, it’s hardly going to be any physical burden either. For those with a penchant for light, sleek and compact tablets, the Nexus 7, with a thickness of 10.45 mm and 7” size hits just the right spot.
The Nexus 7 disappoints on the count of being versatile. Only Wi-Fi models are available with no option of a 3G or 4G model yet. The lack of a backend camera is also a major dampener. There is, however, a front facing camera which can be used only for video chatting, which is disappointing in the least for the grainy picture quality it displays.
The internal hardware happens to be of sublime quality, as would be expected with an ASUS collaborated product. The tablet is powered by a quad core Nvidea Tegra 3 processor and a 1 GB ram. For the uninitiated, that makes for a seriously fast tablet.
The tablet comes in the standard 8 GB and 16 GB variants with the former priced at $200 and the latter being priced at $250.
The Android 4.1 Jelly Bean experience is quick and enjoyable as it ensures that the apps open fast and even the browsing on the Chrome browser is speedier as compared to all the other Android based tablets in the market.
Perhaps the most anticipated feature of the new Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is the introduction of Google Now, a voice enabled search option which is sure to be Google’s answer to Apple’s Siri. So what improvements does Google Now have over Siri? For starters, Google Now employs the usage of what is widely being recognised as a sexier voice. On a more technical note, Google Now gives you more accurate results and gets acclimatised to your frequent queries and refines its responses accordingly.
Google continues to throw sizeable punches at its competitors with the updation of the Google Play store. There has been a manifold increase in the content available at Google Play so as to enable it to compete with Apple’s iTunes or Amazon’s multimedia content. Yet, despite the improvements, it is still a far cry from the standards being set by iTunes.
Overall, a smart buy for techies on a budget. Nexus 7 may prove to be the best $200 you ever invest.
