Nexus 7 better than iPad Mini? LOL. Thanks for the joke of the day.
fAndroids are delusional. They seem to have this idea that one can have both a high quality device and a cheap price. Doesn't happen. Never will. You get what you pay for.
In my opinion the Nexus 7 remains the best tablet you can buy at this time, regardless of price.
Tablets are a mix of size, comfort, display and performance, and I think the 7 is the best to hit shelves so far. Here's how I see the competition:
~Retina iPads would be second with their awesome displays, but simply weigh too much and are too awkward to handle for long periods of time.
~The Nexus 10 is nice, but I'd rather have iOS if I'm choosing between equal prices and great displays.
~The Mini iPad is ok, but not nearly as compelling. I prefer its 8" screen size, but the display quality is worse, so that you notice it if you come from a Nexus 7. The Nexus 7 is, in my opinion, quite a bit better to hold and handle. Nearly every review comments on this, and it's true--they just nailed the rounded back and soft-textured surface. People love to hold it--when you show it to friends they'll handle it all night (reminds me of the iPhone 3gs that way). The Mini is light, but too narrow and flat, so that you have to oddly pinch on the sides.
I like the App store, but the Google Play store is really just a carbon copy. Maybe if you're not running stock Android there are limitations I don't know about, but I've yet to have any issue finding apps. In fact, I've gotten into some games on the 7, which run nicely on it's 4 core Tegra 3. Heck, I even have some NES and SuperNES emulators running old Mario, Zelda, Punch-Out!, Metroid, and Tecmo SuperBowl--I don't think you can get those in the official App Store.
I do still prefer iOS to Android, but my eyes have been opened recently. Android 4.2 on the 7 is just as smooth--or smoother--than iOS, and the capacitive back, home, and app-switcher buttons are superior to iOS navigation. I hope Apple adopts it as it's FAR better than the iOS double tap to multitask. This isn't as important on phones, but on a tablet, I multitask on the 7 in a way that's simply not possible on iOS currently.
Build quality is much better for the Mini, as it appears to be a real issue for some with the Nexus, but no issues with mine after at about 4 months so far. And hardware-wise the Nexus has GPS on all models (unlike the WiFi-only models of the Mini)...useful for things like Yelp, weather apps, and mapping.
Price makes this even easier, I paid 260 (tax inc) for my 32gb Nexus 7, whereas the iPad mini would have been 340 or so for only 16gb.
~The Note 8, is interesting. It has what I think is the right sized screen, at 8", and a stylus. Haven't tried it out, but I'm curious even if it's not as attractively priced as the 7.
Finally...I would be interested in a retina Mini for my next tablet (probably not interested for another year). The size is right and retina would make the screen superior. I would especially like a little thicker case which perhaps Apple could convince Ive to allow rounded edges (probably wishful thinking).
The Mini was set to blow iPad out of the water. They just needed to make it 300 bucks with a retina screen and EVERY kid in the world would want one, every school district would put in orders. Sadly, Tim Cook wanted to hit a price point and maintain existing price-tiers so it had to be 330 and have a screen even 200 dollar Android tablets from a year earlier would best.
on it. Build quality is great, but take away the skin you don't have much left to justify the price.
