Google Takes Aim at Apple with New Nexus 7, Google Play Games and Chromecast

[Winni]

Apple REALLY need a Retina Mini now.

Maybe, but it would still cost much more than the Nexus 7. And except for the "Retina" display, it would also probably still feature inferior specs.

That being said, my personal favorite in this device category at the moment still is the Acer Iconia W3-810. It comes with the Intel version of Windows 8 (read: a REAL operating system) and Office 2013 and only costs 300 bucks. So basically, this is a real computer in a tiny form factor that can run all the software that I need to do my job -- and that is something that even after all these years I still cannot say about Android and iOS.

At the end of the day, the operating system doesn't matter. The applications matter, and that's where the Microsoft platform still is the undefeated king of the hill.

 

[janstett]

Google Android's paradigm is still windows. An Android tablet app is given various screen sizes upon launching. iOS eliminated this layer.

Really?

There's phone size (standard and retina), tablet size (standard and retina), and iPhone 5. 5 different screen resolutions the developer has to account for.

 

[Lancer]

Apple REALLY need a Retina Mini now.

If I thought it would be this long and still no update I would have got a Mini months ago, as its going to end up superseded one day anyway.

 

[twintin]

Stating people are not smart enough to find out what is correct really reflects on YOUR own issues.

I have neither stated nor implied this. That's just your imagination. What I stated was lot (if not most) people in this thread do not seem to find out what is correct by them self. Whether that is because they are stupid, lazy or because information is hard to find or interpret is up to others to judge.

I know netflix is 1080p, but If that is right it's still better than my airplay on the atv 3. All of my itunes movies (All ripped myself) are 720p and far better than airplay I get. For 11.00 after netflix discounts it's really not in competition, it's in it's own category. Not to mention very easy to take on trips.

What are you babbling about ?

Nevertheless, my original post had nothing to do with "which is best", just how it works and what the limitations may be.

 

[GoodWatch]

Yeah why don't they have the same opinion as you!?

The funny thing is that, unless you are a mind reader, you don't know my opinion! Have a nice and slim bezel day

 

[apolloa]

Easy now you might shatter his entire bubble and then he'll finally realize who REALLY has been the big winner all these years.

haha, I better go back and edit my post to state the mini has extra special memory from aliens and unicorn blood solder etc haha.

 

[Menneisyys2]

Really?

There's phone size (standard and retina), tablet size (standard and retina), and iPhone 5. 5 different screen resolutions the developer has to account for.

Nope, "only" 3 if you write an Universal app. Plain GUI programming (where different layouts must be carefully fine-tuned for all possible configs) is the same for retina and non retina screens, the difference is only in different aspect ratios and device classes.

 

[JGRE]

Actually, a goodly portion of Android tablets are 16:10. I know the Nexus 10 is at least, and it's one of the better selling models out there. The Nexus 7 is one of the relatively few that use 16:9.

16:10, 16:9 Big difference: NOT

 

[leblackazam090]

Google Takes Aim at Apple

What are the benefits of owning an apple mac instead of a regular pc? Just want to know if it's features are worth paying a little extra for a macbook?

 

[jaw04005]

Chromecast is what I've wanted for years.

1 simple cheap HDMI plugin that allows any platform to stream to your TV's.

As more apps upgrade to support this it will change the living room as we know it today on any platform.

Miracast dongles for Android devices have been available for awhile. I'm not sure what the big fuss is. On iOS you're not going to see the major players update their apps to the support this since they have AirPlay. Therefore, it's only really platform agnostic in theory.

 

[twintin]

You seriously can't stream local media from a source like an iPad or Macbook (alternatively for the difficult cases: or a Tablet or PC )? Are you sure?!

According to the google's dev suite, the Chromecast device runs a striped-down version of the chrome browser, so anything you throw at it must basically be an URL pointing to a WEB server. To play local content e.g. on your NAS you need a local WEB server of some sort (perhaps a solution like Plex/WEB may work, not 100% sure).

It is a little bit more cumbersome solution for playing local content, but then Chromecast main focus is not local content, but content in the cloud.

 

[organerito]

And yet you're willing to try and sound like some kind of expert on the subject when you haven't "seen an Android tablet"?

Why do I care what kids in A third world nation are using.

You talk as if Australia was rich thanks to you.
You are just another little person like in any other people in a rich or third world country.

If you are the brightest light in the world, please let us know.

 

[BigHonkingDeal]

Wow, that's a thick bezel.

Really?

 

[pirg]

I'd expect so. It's using newer hardware. And when the other companies release their newest flagship phones, they'll probably outperform the Apple.

Sigh. Newer hardware for Apple not the newest hardware available or possible. Again...Apple doesn't need to get into a spec war because their phones outperform every other phone out there. You seem to have forgotten how this discussion started. It started with you saying something along the lines of "I'd kill for 'insert updated spec here' on an iPad because we all know what they can do for you'....You've yet to provide one single tangible benefit of having better specs would do for Apple vs the competition.

Right now, I think the snapdragon chips are currently the fastest mobile processors on the market, beating the iPhone 5 by a decent margin. When the iPhone 6 comes out, it'll beat the current Snapdragons. Then when Samsung, HTC, and the rest come out with their phones after that, they'll beat the iPhone 6.

The difference being that the latest Samsung will have way more RAM, way more cores and beastly specs on paper and still get outperformed by Apple. Why are you ignoring that fact? Because it doesn't mesh with your argument, perhaps?

They leapfrog each other. It's like comparing AMD to Nvidia in the GPU market. Every other year they jump ahead of each other in performance.

Yep except Apple is leapfrogging dual cores with a single core, leapfrogging quad cores with a dual core and will leapfrog whatever silly thing they stuff into an Android phone next, with last generation's hardware. Specs don't matter.

Question is, why do you think Apple doing this is proof of some profound thing, but everyone else doing the same is...

Profound? Let's not get silly. The real question is what tangible benefit do the quad core phones have over the iphone5. Tangible. As in measurable. Please don't reply "but but but quad core!!!!"

Right, because it'll be using newer hardware. Apple's building off the same basic ARM chip design as everyone else. They add their own tweaks and touches to the mix, but the differences these make aren't so profound that it jumps them an entire generation ahead of everyone else.

No one is saying it's profound. But you're not defending your original point which was that having better specs means you can "get" more things. What do the Android tablets "get" that the iPad doesn't.

Right. I'm not saying the iPad is bad in any way. It's perfect for what we're currently doing on it. So was the iPad 1 when it first came out.

Ok? Not sure what the point of this is...

Your argument is kinda spinning it's wheels and not going anywhere, then contradicting yourself. What you're saying is the 4 doesn't need any more than what it got because it's fine the way it is.

is that what I'm saying?? Or is that what you wish I was saying so your off topic replies to my post would make more sense?

I'm sure you thought the iPad 2 was perfectly fine when it came out, too. So why'd they add an extra 512MB ram to it with the 3? For Retina? So now that retina is out, is the iPad only now just fine? So why'd they make the 4 with a faster processor? If the iPad 5 comes out with 2GB ram, what are you gonna say then? That's it's offering up a perfectly fine user experience as it is, and the 6 doesn't need an extra 2GB of ram on top of that to keep up with the 4GB Android tablets, because it's already the fastest tablet out, and adding that extra bit won't make it fastest times 2?

What you're basically telling me is that specs don't matter...until they do.

Bravo on the strawman. Its evident that what you want to do is misconstrue everything we've discussed to further your point.

And no I didn't think the iPad 2 was perfect when it came out. But my solution to perfecting it wouldn't have been "just stuff a quad core in there, we'll get more things".

 

[Oletros]

Actually, a goodly portion of Android tablets are 16:10. I know the Nexus 10 is at least, and it's one of the better selling models out there. The Nexus 7 is one of the relatively few that use 16:9.

I think that Nexus 7 is 16:10

 

[kevinof]

actually it's not chrome browser in it but chrome OS.

What I think google's game is here is that they want you to store ALL your media in the cloud. Why keep your video's, photos and other stuff on a local nas drive when you can upload it to the cloud and then, using the appropriate app, direct it to your chromecast.

Maybe we'll see things like dropbox album viewer or other cloud storage apps supporting this in the future.

According to the google's dev suite, the Chromecast device runs a striped-down version of the chrome browser, so anything you throw at it must basically be an URL pointing to a WEB server. To play local content e.g. on your NAS you need a local WEB server of some sort (perhaps a solution like Plex/WEB may work, not 100% sure).

It is a little bit more cumbersome solution for playing local content, but then Chromecast main focus is not local content, but content in the cloud.

 

[nia820]

Dont care for nexus 7. But will definitely be picking up that chrome cast. For $ 35 it's irresistible.

 

[twintin]

actually it's not chrome browser in it but chrome OS.

From https://developers.google.com/cast/

The receiver device runs a scaled-down Chrome browser with a receiver application that receives data over Internet Protocol and transmits it to the television via HDMI.

Nevertheless, I agree that they want you to place all your content in the cloud, so they can in one way or other make more money on ADs and in future possibly on paid services.

 

[dannys1]

Also, iPad Mini needs get better processor and larger memory. The new Nexus 7 gets quad core, 2GB and NFC...

Why? Can you tell me at what point you were using your iPad mini and thought "this really needs a better processor and larger memory now"??

Its a logical upgrade, the iPad mini is 7-8 months old now, of course it will get an upgrade for iOS7 but at no point using it did I think it was slow or sluggish, not once.

Specs are TOTALLY IRRELEVANT, it all depends how the software works on the device - according to many many of the original Nexus 7 users, that was pretty bad after a few months, their devices slowed down to a halt, will be interesting to see if Asus have fixed that for Google first as its a lot more important than what random irrelevant specs they've shoved inside it.

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Really?

More so at the top and bottom - I mean, people forget having all this "space" is how its easy to shove more processor, more ram in there - but they just better hope like the last nexus 7 it doesn't grind to a halt after 3-4 months.

 

[Chub]

I find it amusing that the only thing Apple fans can mouth down about the device is the bezel size, even though it really isn't that big. Either way this will make for some good competition between the new iPad Mini when it comes out.

It will be interesting to see how the AAPL and GOOG shares change when the market open again because it looks like GOOG premarket is dipping and AAPL has gone a little stale.

 

[DaveN]

The Google fanbois tell us that chrome cast brings the Internet to my tv. My tv already has the Internet. Why do I need chrome cast to give me something I already have?

 

[Todd B.]

Yep. This is the first salvo.

Apple knew this was coming, but did little to do anything about it. If Apple TV had an SDK and apps available, it would have ruled the market by now.

Instead, it is more likely that this is the day that Google will start taking over the living room, after a few failed attempts. Just like they did with Android in the phone market.

The bad news for Apple: Google is releasing the Google Cast SDK later today. Cross-platform. Open.

Sadly, Apple had the lead, has the fan-base, has the knowhow. But it always prefers to squeeze another buck and keep the system closed. And this invariably results in it ending up as a niche player.

This Chromecast dongle is rather ugly, just like most things Google. I really wish Apple had seen it coming and preempted it.

By the time Apple releases its own SDK (and they will, just like they are finally implementing real multitasking in iOS 7), it will be too late for most to care.

No offense, but this will end up like everything Google does. DOA.

How is that Google+ or Google Glasses working out for them?!? Sure the tech nerds will get worked up about it but nobody else will care next week.

People need to realise that Google might put out cheap things but they just don't have an edge of coolness or hip to them; they're just... THERE.

It will be interesting to see how the AAPL and GOOG shares change when the market open again because it looks like GOOG premarket is dipping and AAPL has gone a little stale.

You're forgetting that the stock market means absolutely nothing. I honestly don't care what rich snobs think about something. When will this fascination over stock prices end?

 

[silentbob007]

Specs are TOTALLY IRRELEVANT, it all depends how the software works on the device - according to many many of the original Nexus 7 users, that was pretty bad after a few months, their devices slowed down to a halt, will be interesting to see if Asus have fixed that for Google first as its a lot more important than what random irrelevant specs they've shoved inside it.

There are two different paradigms ... one about specs and one about usage. Android users will always care about specs because it does matter. iOS users will not care (at least as much) because there's little reason to (they have little to no choice anyway). Apple knows they can milk every last bit of performance out of dated-tech because they can optimize their code for very specific hardware. Android simply cannot do this ... hence the emphasis on specs running fairly "generic" code.

 

[eichwulf]

This new Android OS seems wasting a lot of space on status bars - now there are two. What was the point of adding another status bar on top.

 

[Elit3]

How do you guys seem to make everything about Apple??? Google makes a product, it is to take down Apple, no it is to make profit.

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This new Android OS seems wasting a lot of space on status bars - now there are two. What was the point of adding another status bar on top.

WTF? Status Bar, you mean notifications bar, bloody fricking iOS has that, android has had it for ages as well, "this new android", and we have had 2 bloody bars for two version now, it makes no extra clutter to have two than one.

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Are you high? What about this makes it "really bad" for the mini now? Other than a retina screen the other stuff is just spec crap that doesn't matter much in the real world. My mini is a dream. Would I like retina? I guess, but that doesn't stop me from using my mini all day long at work and home. And Android is still klunky to use and fugly. I'm not leaving the Apple ecosystem for this thing.

I'll see how chromecast goes but I already have 2 ATVs that work great. Kudos to Google for catching up a bit on Airplay but catching up is not particularly innovation.

Oh yeah, I forgot: Apple is doooomed.

HAHAHAHA N7 out sold the Mini really well. And retina is a marketing ploy, retina is actually below average. And specs crap? That specs crap makes it last for a 2 year cycle, unlike the bloody Mini which you all have to update because it has iPad 2 specs.
Android is fugly? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Is it really?

And kudos to google? Google did this 1 and a half years ago, it just didn't pick up, not sure when Airplay came out.

Kudos to Apple, welcome to holo theme
welcome to minimal theme
welcome to quick settings
welcome to more than 8 safari tabs
welcome to Quad core phones (HAHAHAHA Sorry not out yet, the iPH5s will be the first)
welcome to phablets
welcome to smaller tablets (this and the last one Apple said were stupid)
welcome to HD dis......wait....Sorry, we don't believe in HD displays at Apple.
Welcome to radio
Welcome to cheap phones, that aren't cheap.
Apples ecosystem? What the App Store? iTunes, you can take songs from the folder, Apple has no real ecosystem.
Apple are still playing catch up in all areas (including desktops), $2000 for a quad core 2.4GHz, 2000$ PC would get you the best machine money could buy.