3 ms·

The Nexus 7 was Google’s only great tablet, and it has never tried to replace it

40 points by elorant 3y ago

morog 3y ago
Loved my Nexus 7. Still have it and it works, although it was rendered completely unusable through a software update about 6 years ago (jellybean?)
- adhesive_wombat 3y ago
  Not just me then. It was great and then suddenly it became completely unusable. Lineage OS got a few more years out of it. Technically it still works but even Lineage dropped it. Sadly the Samsung Tab A 10.1 that came later also suffered a huge performance drop (like many seconds to open the keyboard) and there's no supported Lineage for it, so it'll probably just go in a drawer and be forgotten. Another family member got an iPad mini around the time I got my Nexus, and that's still going.
  - mindslight 3y ago
    IIUC LineageOS didn't drop it. Rather it requires repartitioning, and is thus referred to by another code name. https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/flox/ https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/flox/
    - adhesive_wombat 3y ago
      Oh, wow, I completely missed that happening. Well, I know what my evening activity will be!
    - bxparks 3y ago
      I don't recommend doing this. I followed those instructions to the letter, and got a completely broken Nexus 7. I somehow managed to recover enough to reinstall the factory image, but it took many many iterations and blind shots in the dark, consuming several hours of my time.
      - mindslight 3y ago
        More anecdata: I've done it on two or three devices without issue. I thought the factory image install scripts rewrote the partition table, so even if you screw it up it should come back as long as you still have fastboot? Or maybe I'm thinking of another model.
rchaud 3y ago
The Nexus 7 has been replaced, just not by Google. Small tablets rule the Android world; they're cheap and disposable, everything the Nexus 7 was. Emphasis on the 'disposable' bit, as Asus (N7 OEM) used an eMMC with a high failure rate, in order to meet Google's $200 price point with a 1200p display. No one wants to admit it, but that was a big reason as to why Android tablets are seen as cheap today; you can't everything right with price that low. Google's hardware efforts outside the N7 have sales numbers that would be a rounding error compared to Samsung and Apple. Their new foldable phone costs almost $2000 and doesn't have pen support or a desktop mode, things that were available on the Galaxy Fold years ago.
- nikau 3y ago
  Was going to say the same thing, my Nexus 7 was a piece of crap as the storage went to floppy disc speed.
- least 3y ago
  It's a damn shame, too... the original nexus 7 was a great form factor and a great looking device. As soon as an OS update came out it destroyed it. I thought that was what destroyed it and had no idea that the emmc was also a problem until much later. I also loved my nexus 5... until it got stuck in a bootloop. It was a week or two out of warranty but Google replaced it for me anyway... only for the replacement to start bootlooping as well. Which is another damn shame, because the Nexus 5 (not P) remains my favorite looking phone ever. Nothing even comes close aesthetics wise. It was at that point though that I completely swore off Google hardware and given their track record since, that was probably a good choice. Maybe not every device, but enough that, along with just how unreliable Google has since been as a company on the software side, has basically killed any enthusiasm for Google. Enough so that I doubt I'll buy another Android phone, unless Apple does something remarkably stupid, and I'm not even sure what that might look like.
- goosedragons 3y ago
  I'm using a ~$100 Amazon Fire 8 right now. Is it speedy? Is the hardware amazing? Hell no but it's good enough, cheap enough and feels like it's built out of old Game Boys so I have no problem tossing it around. And it even runs Emacs unlike my old far more expensive and powerful iPad Pro.
lvl102 3y ago
I still have the 7. It was not a good device and I really wanted to give it a try. What really annoyed me was the constant and lengthy updates required (and often times the device wasn’t fully functional without the updates). And the lack of apps.
- doubled112 3y ago
  At the time, my wife’s Nexus 7 tablet was amazing compared to my ASUS tf700 Transformer tablet. I spent more time installing ROMs on the ASUS than using it. There was a hope each time that it would make it feel fast enough it to not be frustrating. It was apparently a cheap storage problem. The ASUS was also twice the price. Amazing screen, and that was about it.
w4rh4wk5 3y ago
Wasn't this the tablet they bricked (for a lot of people) with an update? I remember encountering multiple that no longer booted, and trying to unlock the bootloader caused the device to hang during the deletion of the user partition.
bythckr 3y ago
One thing weird of Android tablets, it's so under underpowered (during the Nexus 7 era). Only recently after m1 ipads, I see good spec tablets coming out. I like how the Pixel tablets has a charging dock that doubles as a speaker. Would be cooler if the charging dock has a better graphics card that can be connected to a monitor, mouse & keyboard and turned into a desktop setup.

40 points by elorant 3y ago

Loved my Nexus 7. Still have it and it works, although it was rendered completely unusable through a software update about 6 years ago (jellybean?)

adhesive_wombat 3y ago
Not just me then. It was great and then suddenly it became completely unusable. Lineage OS got a few more years out of it. Technically it still works but even Lineage dropped it. Sadly the Samsung Tab A 10.1 that came later also suffered a huge performance drop (like many seconds to open the keyboard) and there's no supported Lineage for it, so it'll probably just go in a drawer and be forgotten. Another family member got an iPad mini around the time I got my Nexus, and that's still going.
- mindslight 3y ago
  IIUC LineageOS didn't drop it. Rather it requires repartitioning, and is thus referred to by another code name. https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/flox/ https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/flox/
  - adhesive_wombat 3y ago
    Oh, wow, I completely missed that happening. Well, I know what my evening activity will be!
  - bxparks 3y ago
    I don't recommend doing this. I followed those instructions to the letter, and got a completely broken Nexus 7. I somehow managed to recover enough to reinstall the factory image, but it took many many iterations and blind shots in the dark, consuming several hours of my time.
    - mindslight 3y ago
      More anecdata: I've done it on two or three devices without issue. I thought the factory image install scripts rewrote the partition table, so even if you screw it up it should come back as long as you still have fastboot? Or maybe I'm thinking of another model.

rchaud 3y ago

The Nexus 7 has been replaced, just not by Google. Small tablets rule the Android world; they're cheap and disposable, everything the Nexus 7 was. Emphasis on the 'disposable' bit, as Asus (N7 OEM) used an eMMC with a high failure rate, in order to meet Google's $200 price point with a 1200p display. No one wants to admit it, but that was a big reason as to why Android tablets are seen as cheap today; you can't everything right with price that low. Google's hardware efforts outside the N7 have sales numbers that would be a rounding error compared to Samsung and Apple. Their new foldable phone costs almost $2000 and doesn't have pen support or a desktop mode, things that were available on the Galaxy Fold years ago.

nikau 3y ago
Was going to say the same thing, my Nexus 7 was a piece of crap as the storage went to floppy disc speed.
least 3y ago
It's a damn shame, too... the original nexus 7 was a great form factor and a great looking device. As soon as an OS update came out it destroyed it. I thought that was what destroyed it and had no idea that the emmc was also a problem until much later. I also loved my nexus 5... until it got stuck in a bootloop. It was a week or two out of warranty but Google replaced it for me anyway... only for the replacement to start bootlooping as well. Which is another damn shame, because the Nexus 5 (not P) remains my favorite looking phone ever. Nothing even comes close aesthetics wise. It was at that point though that I completely swore off Google hardware and given their track record since, that was probably a good choice. Maybe not every device, but enough that, along with just how unreliable Google has since been as a company on the software side, has basically killed any enthusiasm for Google. Enough so that I doubt I'll buy another Android phone, unless Apple does something remarkably stupid, and I'm not even sure what that might look like.
goosedragons 3y ago
I'm using a ~$100 Amazon Fire 8 right now. Is it speedy? Is the hardware amazing? Hell no but it's good enough, cheap enough and feels like it's built out of old Game Boys so I have no problem tossing it around. And it even runs Emacs unlike my old far more expensive and powerful iPad Pro.

lvl102 3y ago

I still have the 7. It was not a good device and I really wanted to give it a try. What really annoyed me was the constant and lengthy updates required (and often times the device wasn’t fully functional without the updates). And the lack of apps.

doubled112 3y ago
At the time, my wife’s Nexus 7 tablet was amazing compared to my ASUS tf700 Transformer tablet. I spent more time installing ROMs on the ASUS than using it. There was a hope each time that it would make it feel fast enough it to not be frustrating. It was apparently a cheap storage problem. The ASUS was also twice the price. Amazing screen, and that was about it.

w4rh4wk5 3y ago

Wasn't this the tablet they bricked (for a lot of people) with an update? I remember encountering multiple that no longer booted, and trying to unlock the bootloader caused the device to hang during the deletion of the user partition.

bythckr 3y ago

One thing weird of Android tablets, it's so under underpowered (during the Nexus 7 era). Only recently after m1 ipads, I see good spec tablets coming out. I like how the Pixel tablets has a charging dock that doubles as a speaker. Would be cooler if the charging dock has a better graphics card that can be connected to a monitor, mouse & keyboard and turned into a desktop setup.