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GKDAIR

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 4, 2011
230
4
Don't get me wrong, I like the Nexus 7, but the more I use it the more I liked Apple better.

My first big annoyance came with Wallpaper. I was trying to use an image for a wallpaper and unlike Apple I have to section off a piece of the image because it scrolls, and there is no way to change this in the default android launcher, why in the world would they not give us an option for this? I'm not using another launcher just to be able to do this.

Secondly is a personal complaint, but I could never find widgets to match any themes I was going for with my Nexus 7. I'm a bit neurotic, and certain things just have to be certain ways. I don't understand how Android could give me the freedom to do anything, and yet I cannot decide on anything. IOS was so restricted but at least it was uniform and everything matched.

Next is Google Play. On the Free section of IOS, you would see some pretty useful apps, whereas on Google Play I just see FREE RINGTONE LIVE WALLPEPR GIRLFRIEND APP etc.

Finally, the ease of use. My Nexus 7 will open apps randomly, and it's taken me forever to figure out how to turn them off. Facebook seems permanently open, even though it wasn't like that before. It took me forever to figure out that the Battery Usage was just the total percent of use time on the battery, not how much the app was using. If so there's no excuse Dungeon Hunter 4 needs to take up over 50+ of my battery.

I've downloaded apps and literally had them dissapear from my apps list, I want to uninstall them but I can't seem to find them anywhere, and no googling has helped.

Google Now is nothing like people said it would be, the only thing it ever shows for me is the Weather, and anything I've ordered from Amazon.


Bottom line, while I do enjoy the tablet, I plan to switch back whenever the newest generations of Ipads come out. Android just apparently is not for me.
 

Fanaticalism

macrumors 6502a
Apr 16, 2013
908
158
Next is Google Play. On the Free section of IOS, you would see some pretty useful apps, whereas on Google Play I just see FREE RINGTONE LIVE WALLPEPR GIRLFRIEND APP etc.

LOL! This was pretty funny. The biggest annoyance I find with the free apps is the crap advertisements they implement into the games. I understand they have to get paid, but the random pop ups that occur at the same exact moment that you need to click next to whatever the case may be, is pretty ridiculous.This is not the norm for free apps, but annoying nonetheless.
 

appledes7

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2011
756
0
Don't get me wrong, I like the Nexus 7, but the more I use it the more I liked Apple better.

My first big annoyance came with Wallpaper. I was trying to use an image for a wallpaper and unlike Apple I have to section off a piece of the image because it scrolls, and there is no way to change this in the default android launcher, why in the world would they not give us an option for this? I'm not using another launcher just to be able to do this.
Yes, the stock launcher should have this option. But if you do decide to look into other launchers for added customization, check out NOVA.

Secondly is a personal complaint, but I could never find widgets to match any themes I was going for with my Nexus 7. I'm a bit neurotic, and certain things just have to be certain ways. I don't understand how Android could give me the freedom to do anything, and yet I cannot decide on anything. IOS was so restricted but at least it was uniform and everything matched.
The basic structure of widgets means this will always be a problem. When you open an app from a specific developer, it was made with a certain design language. So different apps with different design languages aren't a huge deal because they are all contained within themselves. Once you have widgets on a home screen, you have different design languages fighting with one another. This really can't be fixed unfortunately.

Next is Google Play. On the Free section of IOS, you would see some pretty useful apps, whereas on Google Play I just see FREE RINGTONE LIVE WALLPEPR GIRLFRIEND APP etc.
Haha thats the free section for you. I find the best way to find cool free apps is to monitor Android forums and blogs. Lifehacker always seems to show off cool apps on all platforms.

Finally, the ease of use. My Nexus 7 will open apps randomly, and it's taken me forever to figure out how to turn them off. Facebook seems permanently open, even though it wasn't like that before. It took me forever to figure out that the Battery Usage was just the total percent of use time on the battery, not how much the app was using. If so there's no excuse Dungeon Hunter 4 needs to take up over 50+ of my battery.
This is because of the way some apps do notifications, or so I've heard. But also because many apps are always running in the background. That also contributes to battery drain. You will never see an Android device with the same battery capacity as an iPhone that gets the same battery life. Android devices just need larger batteries to compete. I also have a theory as to how larger screens got started. Android manufacturers couldn't get good battery life out of their devices in sizes similar to the iPhone. So they had 2 options: Thicker or wider/taller. If it was thicker, the argument could be made against the phone because people like thin phones. If it was wider/taller, it would allow for a bigger screen and could be used as a point against the iPhone.

I've downloaded apps and literally had them dissapear from my apps list, I want to uninstall them but I can't seem to find them anywhere, and no googling has helped.
Which ones in particular? I don't uninstall apps from the home screen, I uninstall from my app drawer. If they aren't showing up there, check your apps inside settings. If not there, check Google Play and search for the app. If a box says "open" or "uninstall" then it is installed. Otherwise there will just be a box that says "install" meaning you don't have it on your device.

Google Now is nothing like people said it would be, the only thing it ever shows for me is the Weather, and anything I've ordered from Amazon.
Google now is definitely over-hyped on here. It isn't hands free and isn't as easy to use as Siri. Try sending a text, making a calendar event, sending an email, or setting a reminder. All of which require touch input. Google Now won't speak what you said to make sure you got it right, and it won't allow you to just say "yes" to create an event or send an email. It requires touch input, effectively meaning it is not a hands free assistant. But you can't say that around these forums or people will get mad. So shhhhhhhhhhhh ;)

Bottom line, while I do enjoy the tablet, I plan to switch back whenever the newest generations of Ipads come out. Android just apparently is not for me.
I think it is still good that you gave it a try. A lot of people just write off iOS or Android because of their 5 minute experience with a device 4 years ago. Hardly still relevant. But I hope the new iPad is what you are looking for! :)
 

ReanimationN

macrumors 6502a
Sep 7, 2011
724
0
Australia
Next is Google Play. On the Free section of IOS, you would see some pretty useful apps, whereas on Google Play I just see FREE RINGTONE LIVE WALLPEPR GIRLFRIEND APP etc.
:D

Plus, the paid section seems to always feature the same apps- "Titanium Backup! HD Widgets! Weather app 1, weather app 2, weather app 3..". ;)
Google Now is nothing like people said it would be, the only thing it ever shows for me is the Weather, and anything I've ordered from Amazon.
I'd definitely agree there, Google Now is one of the biggest tech disappointments I've ever encountered. Most of its features are useless in Australia.
 

Macman45

macrumors G5
Jul 29, 2011
13,197
135
Somewhere Back In The Long Ago
I gave the N7 my best shot too. I had no real gripe with Android, but the device just didn't fit in anyplace. The screen was a little too small ( I'd have the same issue with a mini) and I also found the KB clunky and unresponsive.

Apart from that the device, whilst built down to a budget, seemed well made, and there was a wide range of apps etc. available.

I wound up giving it to my buddy who has an Android phone and will get more use out of it. In short, my Apple eco-system was the deal-breaker in the end.
 

GKDAIR

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 4, 2011
230
4
Also, in response to the comment above me, I find the keyboard and device itself to just randomly freeze for no reason, and for long periods of time.

It's not enough to be annoying, but it is enough to remind me this was a cheaper tablet.
 

LIVEFRMNYC

macrumors G3
Oct 27, 2009
8,878
10,987
Next is Google Play. On the Free section of IOS, you would see some pretty useful apps, whereas on Google Play I just see FREE RINGTONE LIVE WALLPEPR GIRLFRIEND APP etc.


Your being exaggerating.

What free section are you looking at? Your description seems to only fit "Top New Free". Under regular "Top Free" you'll find the same amount of useful apps as in Apple's App store "Top Free".
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
8,952
a better place
Also, in response to the comment above me, I find the keyboard and device itself to just randomly freeze for no reason, and for long periods of time.

It's not enough to be annoying, but it is enough to remind me this was a cheaper tablet.

I'm getting this too. Most infuriating.

I also have found that a number of apps fail to work properly when returning to them if they were open prior such as tapatalk. Meaning I have to clear them from the background and relaunch them. I have also found on a couple of occasions my nexus decides to reboot itself.

In going to keep it so that I have an android tablet for future app development, but will pick up an iPad mini retina.
 
Last edited:

fredaroony

macrumors 6502a
Aug 1, 2011
670
0
Next is Google Play. On the Free section of IOS, you would see some pretty useful apps, whereas on Google Play I just see FREE RINGTONE LIVE WALLPEPR GIRLFRIEND APP etc.

Stopped reading after this as this thread is obvious bait....
 

samcraig

macrumors P6
Jun 22, 2009
16,786
41,983
USA
Opposite experience here. Well not opposite (on the extreme). I have both an iPad and new Nexus 7. Love the Nexus and never have had any of the issues or concerns you have. And my iPad has had lockups, freezes, apps behaving weirdly, etc.

No machine or OS is infallible.
 

JackieInCo

Suspended
Jul 18, 2013
5,178
1,601
Colorado
I have the original Nexus 7 32GB that I use on T-Mobile and AT&T. My only problem is that the battery on this thing rarely gives me more than two hours screen time and I have to charge it every day. It's probably related to this being the cellular capable model. I did get five hours screen tine once when I used it immediately after charging to watch Netflix. Other than that, I like it.

I bought the Nexus 7 in February just a few days after buying a Nexus 4. I later bought an iPad Mini that I also use on T-Mobile and AT&T. If I had bought the Mini first, I probably would never have bough the Nexus 7. The apps that I use are so much better on the iPad.

Some people keep telling me that I have to find equivalent apps to use then but there are no equivalent apps to many of them such as SiriusXM. 9News and several others. These apps actually have iPad apps that differ from the iPhone apps. On Android, these same apps are simply phone apps that will scale up to fill the screen on the Nexus 7 or any other Android tablet.

I have no plans to get rid of my Nexus 7 but I won't be buying the new Nexus 7. I will be buying the next iPad Mini.
 
Last edited:

Ddyracer

macrumors 68000
Nov 24, 2009
1,786
31
I also have been getting freezes and random reboots as well as lag, and crashes and dodgy touch, with a weird freeze state when I tap something like the back button, the highlighter freezes but the tablet itself doesn't.

It seems better lately, I got rid of apps that are dodgy and require root and disabled root as well. Seems to help by 50 percent.
 

GKDAIR

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 4, 2011
230
4
Here are some other things I would like to mention since other users have brought them up.

I know the screen resolution is 1920 x 1200, and yet everything always looks blurry when I'm looking at pictures. The images will be the same resolution at the screen and it just doesn't look that great at all when it becomes my wallpaper.

Also I fully agree about apps just simply working and looking better on IOS. I'm amazed to see how awful some big name apps look on the platform.

Another gripe with wallpaper, I hate it when I make a wallpaper that looks nice, and when I go into landscape mode it will cut off someones head or body part, making an odd wallpaper.

Why can't it just give me the simple image as my wallpaper no matter which way I orient the screen?
 

swpars

macrumors newbie
Sep 14, 2012
27
0
Seattle, WA
Also, in response to the comment above me, I find the keyboard and device itself to just randomly freeze for no reason, and for long periods of time.

It's not enough to be annoying, but it is enough to remind me this was a cheaper tablet.

My Galaxy S III also does this, and it's very irritating.
 

mKTank

macrumors 68000
Jul 2, 2010
1,537
3
Don't know what store you're looking at, bub.


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----------

Don't get me wrong, I like the Nexus 7, but the more I use it the more I liked Apple better.

My first big annoyance came with Wallpaper. I was trying to use an image for a wallpaper and unlike Apple I have to section off a piece of the image because it scrolls, and there is no way to change this in the default android launcher, why in the world would they not give us an option for this? I'm not using another launcher just to be able to do this.
Then you're missing the entire essence of Android. Don't complain that it doesn't do something that you can easily fix with a simple free market app. Aftermarket launchers are better than most stock launchers anyway. If you're too scared to tinker, then maybe you need a more dumbed down OS like iOS after all.

Finally, the ease of use. My Nexus 7 will open apps randomly, and it's taken me forever to figure out how to turn them off. Facebook seems permanently open, even though it wasn't like that before. It took me forever to figure out that the Battery Usage was just the total percent of use time on the battery, not how much the app was using. If so there's no excuse Dungeon Hunter 4 needs to take up over 50+ of my battery.

I've downloaded apps and literally had them dissapear from my apps list, I want to uninstall them but I can't seem to find them anywhere, and no googling has helped.
So yeah you need a simpler OS that wipes your ass for you. Android's a bit out of your league.

Bottom line, while I do enjoy the tablet, I plan to switch back whenever the newest generations of Ipads come out. Android just apparently is not for me.
It's certainly not.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
8,952
a better place
Don't know what store you're looking at, bub.

Then you're missing the entire essence of Android. Don't complain that it doesn't do something that you can easily fix with a simple free market app. Aftermarket launchers are better than most stock launchers anyway. If you're too scared to tinker, then maybe you need a more dumbed down OS like iOS after all.


So yeah you need a simpler OS that wipes your ass for you. Android's a bit out of your league.
.

This kind of response is why Android users get a bad name.

Every region store is different so the top paid and free items will be different in each store. A lot of the OP's gripes are actually on the mark here in Ireland store.

Secondly Google DO need to add basic customisation options such as number of home screens and app drawer management into their OS. We buy nexus devices for timely updates, but we should not have to use a third party launcher to add some of the most basic abilities to our device.

And no its nothing to do with needing a device that wipes your backside, that kind of elitist superiority complex is nothing but stupid juvenile posturing.

Seriously as a poster on the alternatives forum, your post is a bad reflection.
 

Rodster

macrumors 68040
May 15, 2007
3,177
6
My very first tablet was an Android device. I was reluctant to try iOS but when I did and purchased my first iPad, I find myself using it more than any of my Android devices. I like the simplicity and smoothness of iOS even if it's somewhat restricted vs Android.
 

JH-

macrumors 6502
Feb 25, 2009
392
2
For me the best combo is an android phone and iOS tablet. The versatility offered by an android phone in any situation is more valuable to me than the slight downfalls. However the polish of an iOS tablet crushes the android competition.
 

GKDAIR

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 4, 2011
230
4
Lol. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Again, I'm not saying I don't like Android or that I don't like my Nexus 7, but I just find it frustrating that I can't do some simple basic things on Android that I could do on IOS without the need to install 3rd party software.

There's absolutely no need I should be forced to download a 3rd party launcher just to get my wallpaper the way I prefer. It should be a default option, and it wouldn't be hard to add in.
 

mclld

macrumors 68030
Nov 6, 2012
2,658
2,127
I can totally see why someone would prefer ios to Android, some people just cant get other people have different opinions.
 

Drunken Master

macrumors 65816
Jul 19, 2011
1,060
0
I bought the original Nexus 7 last year and gave it a shot but ended up sending it back.

One thing that bothered me was that I couldn't find a genuinely good Chinese language learning app in the Play Store. I have Mind Snack's Mandarin app on my iPhone and its great, but couldn't find a comparable one on Android.

The stock music app was also very slow and clunky for me too.

Setting wallpapers was a bit of a pain compared to iOS.

I didn't like the fact that I was always signed into Gchat too. My ex-girlfriend sent me messages and told me that even though I was surfing the net or playing a game, her Gmail had me listed as logged on. I was having chats pop up all the time because of that.

Was not a fan of how Android wants you to use the Notification Center. I never use the NC in iOS and it's fine not to, but the Nexus required me to go in there despite Android's NC being too busy and visually off-putting.
 

thelezzy

macrumors newbie
Feb 22, 2013
21
3
I was a android fanboy, apple hater. The nexus 7 made me move to an ipad

That's right from the title, I don't think you're an apple fans it simpilly because android tablets are rubbish.
Android fans recommend me (ex android fan fan) whythe N7 was better than any tablets.

My biggest disappointments came, initial impressions, large screen, build quality seems ok for the price. Disappointments lots

"iOS on tablets is just a blown up version of the iPhone", same for jelly bean when google removed the tab UI, worse thing is, iOS has evenly spaced out icons that makes it tablet friendly, androids icons are not too well spaced and plus the widgets don't fill lithe screen like it does on a phone.

"Android is better, more customisable" yes but phone customistions makes any tablet look bad

"Android has better processor = better performance than icrap", 100% not true. 3rd party android apps (from video) has way slower loading times than a iPhone 2g. That doesn't matter me as much on a phone as it does on a large screen tablet.

"Nexus 7 has 12 times better graphics than the iPad Mini" not true the iPad's dual core powervr sgx543mp2 has about x1.8 more raw horses and in combination with Ioses optimisations it a big plus. iOS devices tend to have smoother graphics at higher graphics setting despite slower hardware, android is the opposite, most low graphics game now lags with last years flagship.

tHD effects are just gimmick

Now I am reatively unbiased, I tend to like any device, android windows phone ios
 

mellofello

macrumors 65816
Feb 1, 2011
1,258
556
I agree. I am going to get the retina mini day 1. The nexus will be getting mounted on my dash in my car. Whatevs it was cheap. IOS is better on tablets, Android is better on phones
 

Dontazemebro

macrumors 68020
Jul 23, 2010
2,173
0
I dunno, somewhere in West Texas
[/COLOR]
Then you're missing the entire essence of Android. Don't complain that it doesn't do something that you can easily fix with a simple free market app. Aftermarket launchers are better than most stock launchers anyway. If you're too scared to tinker, then maybe you need a more dumbed down OS like iOS after all..

Really you don't even need a launcher. A simple app like "image 2 wallpaper" is an easy solution for the op's issue.
 
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