I went to the mall and dropped by best buy mobile. I saw what looked like a black blackberry tablet of some sort. Upon further inspection, it appears to be a Nexus 7 2nd generation model.
I don't care to test it out but it's alluring enough - so I turn it on from the side power button and instantly fall in love with how crystal clear "retina" the screen looks. From any angle, even extreme angles, the screen retains color. Then I realized from the sales guy it runs 1920x1200 (16:10) screen resolution!
In short, I buy it for a whopping $229+tax. What a bargain price and I didn't even bother asking about the internal specs. Only to come home and look it up to realize it's pretty well spec'ed out - GPS, quad core, adreno 320 gpu, dual band wifi, bluetooth 4.0 LE, NFC, wireless charging, dual side speakers, man, everything but the kitchen sink!
So coming from an iPad mini and having own ipad 1 thru 4, I will just sum this up for those who are thinking of getting a device to surf the web and do pretty much anything the ipad can do (sans a few apps that aren't even available on android):
BUY IT. Don't need to get an ipad mini - the loser is clearly the ipad mini. It's only been about 3 days using it and I am just loving how fluid and lag free the entire system is with JB 4.3 android.
Aside from the customizations that don't exist in any apple iOS device, this thing really looks amazing with the high resolution screen. It's only 7.02" and yes, viewing websites does work and if you do a side by side with an iPad mini's 4:3 ratio screen, you can see 4:3 trumps the 16:10 for websites. BUT the low resolution of the ipad mini is a clear deal breaker for me. The N7 is clearly superior to the ipad mini just on screen resolution itself.
The major deal KEEPER for me is the ALWAYS ON VPN. I cannot believe how pathetic my iOS device is: i can't even maintain a VPN connection; everytime it sleeps, it disconnects. Really stupid. Another thing I am so impressed is with is the battery life. It's just as long compared to my iPad 4. The fit and finish is obviously not aluminum but the gorilla glass 3 on it is just amazing. No screen protector! The bezels are huge but I realize why it only comes in black.
I would say while the N7 is comfortable holding it in one hand, I still have to use two hands to use it. But weight wise, it's very very close to an iPad mini - the ipad mini is just a small dab lighter than the N7. The camera surprisingly takes pictures just as good as the ipad mini but there is huge smudging noise when less light is available. The video is just as good.
Overall, I cannot fault this N7 - for the price and the specs you get, it's clearly the winner. I urge every one of you ipad mini (retina) waiters to just go buy the damn thing- I am just very impressed about the new Nexus 7 that I am going to keep it. I am NOT going to wait for the new iPad mini regardless - the nexus 7 price is just too sweet. Even with 32GB + LTE, it's still $349. You can't even get the same level of hardware on an iPad mini + LTE period.
The loser is really apple and the ipad mini - if there is no retina ipad mini, you'd gotta be pretty crazy to overlook the Nexus 7 and buy the 2nd gen ipad mini without retina. The screen is just absolutely gorgeous.
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I wanted to also add:
The biggest issue with Android always has been security - I do from time to time get a message regarding how a PDF can be damaging to my system before I open it.
I also do not like the tracking mechanisms google has in place. Sure I don't have concrete evidence but using any android device, I feel like I don't trust the damn thing with any of my personal info such as emails from gmail acct etc. That's why I am also disappointed there is no PUSH icloud support and I have to use a gmail acct which you all know google sifts thru everything in your inbox and it's just not secure.
With any apple product, I can rest assured they don't do the same type of ad revenue generating email peeping tom crap on you. Every time I use the nexus 7, I kinda have to think about the sites I visit because I know something is tracking my every move! It's very distracting unless someone can tell me right now there is no such thing happening on the nexus 7.
Other than the paranoia, I see the only way the ipad mini can compete is holding on to its ecosystem and even that is about to get hurt by the chrome usb device! $35 vs $99. The apps I can find some equivalent but man, that's about the only thing helping apple's iOS devices these days!
I don't care to test it out but it's alluring enough - so I turn it on from the side power button and instantly fall in love with how crystal clear "retina" the screen looks. From any angle, even extreme angles, the screen retains color. Then I realized from the sales guy it runs 1920x1200 (16:10) screen resolution!
In short, I buy it for a whopping $229+tax. What a bargain price and I didn't even bother asking about the internal specs. Only to come home and look it up to realize it's pretty well spec'ed out - GPS, quad core, adreno 320 gpu, dual band wifi, bluetooth 4.0 LE, NFC, wireless charging, dual side speakers, man, everything but the kitchen sink!
So coming from an iPad mini and having own ipad 1 thru 4, I will just sum this up for those who are thinking of getting a device to surf the web and do pretty much anything the ipad can do (sans a few apps that aren't even available on android):
BUY IT. Don't need to get an ipad mini - the loser is clearly the ipad mini. It's only been about 3 days using it and I am just loving how fluid and lag free the entire system is with JB 4.3 android.
Aside from the customizations that don't exist in any apple iOS device, this thing really looks amazing with the high resolution screen. It's only 7.02" and yes, viewing websites does work and if you do a side by side with an iPad mini's 4:3 ratio screen, you can see 4:3 trumps the 16:10 for websites. BUT the low resolution of the ipad mini is a clear deal breaker for me. The N7 is clearly superior to the ipad mini just on screen resolution itself.
The major deal KEEPER for me is the ALWAYS ON VPN. I cannot believe how pathetic my iOS device is: i can't even maintain a VPN connection; everytime it sleeps, it disconnects. Really stupid. Another thing I am so impressed is with is the battery life. It's just as long compared to my iPad 4. The fit and finish is obviously not aluminum but the gorilla glass 3 on it is just amazing. No screen protector! The bezels are huge but I realize why it only comes in black.
I would say while the N7 is comfortable holding it in one hand, I still have to use two hands to use it. But weight wise, it's very very close to an iPad mini - the ipad mini is just a small dab lighter than the N7. The camera surprisingly takes pictures just as good as the ipad mini but there is huge smudging noise when less light is available. The video is just as good.
Overall, I cannot fault this N7 - for the price and the specs you get, it's clearly the winner. I urge every one of you ipad mini (retina) waiters to just go buy the damn thing- I am just very impressed about the new Nexus 7 that I am going to keep it. I am NOT going to wait for the new iPad mini regardless - the nexus 7 price is just too sweet. Even with 32GB + LTE, it's still $349. You can't even get the same level of hardware on an iPad mini + LTE period.
The loser is really apple and the ipad mini - if there is no retina ipad mini, you'd gotta be pretty crazy to overlook the Nexus 7 and buy the 2nd gen ipad mini without retina. The screen is just absolutely gorgeous.
----------
I wanted to also add:
The biggest issue with Android always has been security - I do from time to time get a message regarding how a PDF can be damaging to my system before I open it.
I also do not like the tracking mechanisms google has in place. Sure I don't have concrete evidence but using any android device, I feel like I don't trust the damn thing with any of my personal info such as emails from gmail acct etc. That's why I am also disappointed there is no PUSH icloud support and I have to use a gmail acct which you all know google sifts thru everything in your inbox and it's just not secure.
With any apple product, I can rest assured they don't do the same type of ad revenue generating email peeping tom crap on you. Every time I use the nexus 7, I kinda have to think about the sites I visit because I know something is tracking my every move! It's very distracting unless someone can tell me right now there is no such thing happening on the nexus 7.
Other than the paranoia, I see the only way the ipad mini can compete is holding on to its ecosystem and even that is about to get hurt by the chrome usb device! $35 vs $99. The apps I can find some equivalent but man, that's about the only thing helping apple's iOS devices these days!
