The Google Nexus 7 by Asus is the world’s first 7-inch quadcore tablet to run on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
Unveiled at the Google I/O developer conference, the search engine giants worked with Asus to build a device that packs premium specs, but a not so premium £159 price tag.
As speculation continues to intensify around the possibility of Apple announcing an ‘iPad mini’,
we find out if the cheap Android tablet can help Google gain ground on
the Cupertino company and rain on the hotly anticipated Amazon Kindle Fire's parade.
When you take the Nexus 7 out of the box, it looks and feels like a tablet you would not be ashamed to take out in public.
Having successfully launched the Samsung Nexus
smartphone range, Google has chosen well again for its foray into the
tablet market by working with Asus which has made some of the best
Android tablets on the market, notably the Asus Transformer Prime.
The black bezel display seems to be the standard for Android tablets
these days, but Asus has given its surroundings a more aesthetically
pleasing feel particularly the textured dimple-like back that sits snug
in two hands making it ideal for prolonged use.
Weighing in at 340g, the Nexus 7 is lighter than the Amazon Kindle Fire (413g) and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0
(345g). At 10.5mm thick it’s not the most slender, but this is barely
noticeable in the grand scheme of the overall design of the Nexus 7.
Physical buttons-wise it is much the same as other Android tablets, with
on/off button and volume rocker situated on the edge of the device and
the micro USB charging and syncing port found at the bottom next to the
headphone jack.
If you’re expecting a new iPad 3-style Retina display quality in the screen department, then you’re going to be mildly disappointed.
While the 1280 x 800 HD display with 216 ppi might not put it in the
same category in terms of clarity and vibrancy as the Apple tablet, it
easily surpasses the 1024 x 600 resolutions sported by its closest
7-inch tablet rivals and proves excellent for watching movies and
browsing.
There’s a corning glass coating to give the screen more durability
and a magnetic layering which means the Nexus 7 has the capabilities to
support SmartCover-style cases.
Source: T3