Nexus 7 - Love it!

tudyniuz said:

Doesn't anyone get it? They don't care about specs. They care about performance. I have never heard of anyone using an iPad and called it slow. And when you use much more powerful tablets which are slower you start wondering how Apple does it. Don't think about specs when buying a tablet, think of the performance. That's what you need. I couldn't care less about the processors in any tablet, I just care which one is the fastest.

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At least for me when I said specs, I specifically meant screen. It's OK, but not as good as the Nexus 7 or Nook HD. When it gets better I'll buy it...but for $329 it was a compromise I didn't want to make.

For others it's no big deal. They don't notice it (like my daughter) or rationalize as 'not that bad.' The second group makes amuses me a bit, because many of them will rave about a higher resolution screen being 'amazing' when it comes out.

mantan said:

At least for me when I said specs, I specifically meant screen. It's OK, but not as good as the Nexus 7 or Nook HD. When it gets better I'll buy it...but for $329 it was a compromise I didn't want to make.

For others it's no big deal. They don't notice it (like my daughter) or rationalize as 'not that bad.' The second group makes amuses me a bit, because many of them will rave about a higher resolution screen being 'amazing' when it comes out.

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Well. If apple fits a retina display from the iPad 4 into that small of screen and keeps battery the same it will be "amazing".

I'm quite sure Apple will equip the next iPad mini with a retina display. The big question is just how high they will jack up the price.

JoEw said:

Well. If apple fits a retina display from the iPad 4 into that small of screen and keeps battery the same it will be "amazing".

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Yawn.

Same boring square apps, round home button. I prefer change.

petey2133 said:

Yawn.

Same boring square apps, round home button. I prefer change.

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+1

What he says.

maxosx said:

I'm quite sure Apple will equip the next iPad mini with a retina display. The big question is just how high they will jack up the price.

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I'm sure Google/Asus are working on a new version of the N7 with the same resolution screen as the N10.

Plus it will probably be cheaper than a Mini with a Retina display.

How bad is it using "scaled up" apps rather than using apps that were made specifically for the iPad's size?

Sounds Good said:

How bad is it using "scaled up" apps rather than using apps that were made specifically for the iPad's size?

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App scaling works fine on a devices of the Nexus 7's for the most part and the ability to scale on Android sometimes has a massive advantage over what Apple offer (at least on my iPad 2)

Take Angry Birds for instence. I've bought the phone version of Angry birds on both the Amazon Appstore for Android and the App Store on my iPhone.

On the phones, they both look excellent and comparable:
iPhone 4: (click to enlarge)

Nexus 4.


So far so good!
Now how do these phone apps work on my tablets:
Nexus 7:

iPad 2:


At default zoom levels, the differences in scaling is obvious:


On a Nexus 7, you can just about afford to get away with some phone apps but I do prefer tablet optimized apps on mine still.

ChazUK said:

App scaling works fine on a devices of the Nexus 7's for the most part and the ability to scale on Android sometimes has a massive advantage over what Apple offer (at least on my iPad 2)

Take Angry Birds for instence. I've bought the phone version of Angry birds on both the Amazon Appstore for Android and the App Store on my iPhone.

*pics removed for space*

On a Nexus 7, you can just about afford to get away with some phone apps but I do prefer tablet optimized apps on mine still.

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To be fair - there are a few things wrong with this comparison:

1) the iPad 2 is a 9.7" screen. The scaling from 3.5" > 9.7" will undoubtedly give a grainier image versus scaling from a 4.7" > 7".

2) There is a separate iPad app that is much higher quality than what you get from scaling. Yes, you pay again but the fact remains the option is there for a higher quality game.

Android's scaling ability is without question more robust than Apples - it has to be. With all the screen sizes and the LACK of tablet optimized apps out there for Android, devs have to work on their apps so they are good enough for any device - whether its a 4" screen or a 10" screen.

As a better comparison I'd like to see the same test run but instead of using an iPad 2, use an iPad mini. The Nexus 7 has the better ppi so it will probably still do better, but the loss of quality in scaling won't be as extreme. Also - while the N4 and N7 examples might look very similar (indicating you aren't losing much quality even after blowing up the app) - I wonder what the tablet optimized Angry Birds would look like on the iPad mini versus the N7. That would be the true test to see exactly what you are missing out on graphically.....

Not to mention those apps whose tablet counterparts add much more functionality as well (which was my main peeve with the N7 vs. my iPad mini).

jrswizzle said:

As a better comparison I'd like to see the same test run but instead of using an iPad 2, use an iPad mini. The Nexus 7 has the better ppi so it will probably still do better, but the loss of quality in scaling won't be as extreme.

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The iPad Mini would generate the same screenshots on any display they are viewed on as they both have the same native irresolution.

The only real way to see how grainy scaled phone apps look on the mini compared to the iPad2/Nexus 7 would be either photograpic or phyisically having all 3 in front of us (which I don't have sadly!).

That was the advantage I was speaking of though, in a few instances, I can but a phone version of a game and it look fine on my N7/N4/Xperia U. With the iPad, to get the best out of both, I have to buy the iPhone and iPad version separately unless it's a universal app, then it's great either way!

I still do think that more tablet optimized apps would be a massive benefit to Android tablets the world over either way.

EDIT: Real Racing 2 is another game I've bought that's fine on a tablet and phone.

ChazUK said:

The iPad Mini would generate the same screenshots on any display they are viewed on as they both have the same native irresolution.

The only real way to see how grainy scaled phone apps look on the mini compared to the iPad2/Nexus 7 would be either photograpic or phyisically having all 3 in front of us (which I don't have sadly!).

That was the advantage I was speaking of though, in a few instances, I can but a phone version of a game and it look fine on my N7/N4/Xperia U. With the iPad, to get the best out of both, I have to buy the iPhone and iPad version separately unless it's a universal app, then it's great either way!

I still do think that more tablet optimized apps would be a massive benefit to Android tablets the world over either way.

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Oh ya - lol I didn't mean you needed to do the comparison, just speaking in general.

And I know it would scale the same way given the same resolution, however the grainy-ness of the image would be lessened due to the higher ppi in the mini. But I assume you were mainly talking about the letterboxing all the way around the game - which would annoy the heck out of me!

Android definitely has the edge in scaling - which is good in that apps can accommodate many different devices and still look pretty good - but could possibly be bad if devs don't feel the need to do the extra work to create tablet optimized apps.

jrswizzle said:

Oh ya - lol I didn't mean you needed to do the comparison, just speaking in general.

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Doh!

jrswizzle said:

Android definitely has the edge in scaling - which is good in that apps can accommodate many different devices and still look pretty good - but could possibly be bad if devs don't feel the need to do the extra work to create tablet optimized apps.

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A part of me thinks that's exactly what some Devs are doing. "Good enough" is not always good enough.

ChazUK said:

Doh!


A part of me thinks that's exactly what some Devs are doing. "Good enough" is not always good enough.

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Ya - I went for the N7 as my Android test device because of how cheap it was and the fact that I didn't want to give up my iP5....but I think the N4 will be a better way for me to get into the Android space.

Since I'm carrying two phones now anyway, I figure why not make one of them an Android.

Sounds Good said:

How bad is it using "scaled up" apps rather than using apps that were made specifically for the iPad's size?

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To me the difference isn't so much in how it looks...it's the added functionality developers in the tablet version. Apps written specifically for tablets make use of the extra real estate that isn't available/practical on a phone size version.

How do people feel about the screen size and colours on the nexus 7?

The birghtness is the biggest draw of the screen. At least when you compare it to an iPad.

Samtb said:

How do people feel about the screen size and colours on the nexus 7?

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I was very hesitant about these issues at first. And I must say that the colors did seem a bit off to me when I first bought the nexus 7. But now I am used to it. Not sure if anything changed with the software from 4.1 > 4.2 but the colors seem fine now.

I thought I would prefer the 4:3 ratio of the ipad mini (because I like portrait mode best). While I wouldn't say no to a 4:3 android tablet I have had no problems with the nexus 7 size. It is vastly better than browsing on my phone while being portable enough to feel like I am reading a book that just happens to have the entire internet on it! And don't forget that Android is much better than iOS at customizing font sizes so you won't be squinting to read anything (I am very sensitive to small font sizes).

Love my nexus 7 much more than i thought I would.

Samtb said:

How do people feel about the screen size and colours on the nexus 7?

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I will be the first to admit that I'm loving my Nexus 7 more than my iPad 4, or my iPad mini. And that's hard for this long time Apple loyalist to reveal.

Especially since I only bought it to see what Android was like and was sure that it couldn't possibly be as much fun as my iPads.

The mini had already taught me the advantages of the smaller, lighter, form factor. But this slightly narrower Nexus 7 is the sweet spot ergonomically. So easy & comfortable to hold one handed, its grippy textured rear panel adds a very secure feeling providing good piece of mind.

As a result I find myself using it almost constantly. Having a full file system ready at hand, its capable of syncing & interfacing with my network as easy as my MBP or MBA, something that can't be said for either of my app dependent iPads.

Now I no longer am bothered by the small display of my iPhone 5, since the Nexus 7 has become my constant companion.

What an ideal tablet the Nexus 7 is.