15 ms·

Nexus 7, Made for Google Play

230 points by sindhiparsani 14y ago

pedrocr 14y ago
"Sorry! Devices on Google Play is not available in your country yet. We're working to bring devices to more countries as quickly as possible. Please check back again soon." Anyone have a screenshot perhaps?
- lunarscape 14y ago
  Same here. I just used a proxy site I picked at random and it works: http://www.uswebproxy.com http://www.uswebproxy.com
  - pedrocr 14y ago
    Thanks. Turns out the corporate VPN routes to the Internet somewhere where this is available. This is probably a better link (seems to work everywhere): http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7/specs http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7/specs The UX of putting up this ugly banner is pretty crappy. It would be fine if this was splattered on top of the page or covering the ordering buttons but you could still see what devices are available. I think I've even gotten some form of Google Play advertising (an email perhaps) that directed me to a link that then showed me this.
- sindhiparsani 14y ago
  Try this link instead http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7 http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7
- seiji 14y ago
  Same here: "Los dispositivos en Google Play aún no están disponibles en tu país. Estamos trabajando para ampliar la disponibilidad de los dispositivos en otros países lo antes posible. Inténtalo de nuevo en unos días." The link http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7 http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7 works.
esutton 14y ago
Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ unlocked is now 350 through the play store
btipling 14y ago
It ships with Jellybean... I've been waiting for the Samsung 10 inch tablet with the stylus, but it's already out of date and hasn't even shipped yet. I don't want a 7inch tablet and it is going to be years by the time a Jelly Bean 10 inch tablet comes out and by that time there will already be a new version of the OS! I already have a Fire and I can't read magazines on it, it's too small. I'm just going to give up and get an iPad.
- gte910h 14y ago
  While I'm all over you getting an iPad (I'm primarily an iOS dev), the Nexus line of phones, other than the G1, have shown markedly more updatability than the run of the mill random crapware phones you get for free by doing X or Y. Perhaps you'll get a few years of updates out of it?
  - jonny_eh 14y ago
    The OP wants a 10" tablet, which Google's not making. He's saying that if he buys a Samsung produced Jelly Bean 10" tablet, it won't be future proof.
    - metrop0219 14y ago
      Surface!
    - rplnt 14y ago
      What is future proof exactly? While updates matter, how it's bad not to have them? It's like saying you don't like the Android (that's fine) and you will like the next one (that's weird).
- UnFleshedOne 14y ago
  You mean they should stop working on the OS to save you some "not the latest" anxiety?
  - rayiner 14y ago
kadjar 14y ago
"your own copy of Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Oops! Accidentally a word, there.
- keeran 14y ago
  I always think 'side' should be in there, but it isn't :) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399103/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399103/
  - SoftwareMaven 14y ago
    Wow! I have seriously never noticed that. My brain has always just filled in Dark Side of the Moon. It wouldn't surprise me if they wanted it to be that, but some copyright/trademark issue with Pink Floyd prevented it.
  - kadjar 14y ago
    Wow, you're right. I've been saying it wrong for some time, then!
  - HorizonXP 14y ago
    Mind = blown
dt7 14y ago
£159/£199 in the UK... very reasonable I think, compared to the current prices of Android tablets in the UK.
- al_james 14y ago
  Yes, nice to see there is not a huge mark-up for the UK prices. $199 is £127 + 20% tax = £152... Close enough.
  - dt7 14y ago
    If only they could get some form of deal to bring TV content over. I don't think there's any way to pay to watch Season 4 of Breaking Bad in the UK.
  - bonaldi 14y ago
    ... except that they add the tax on top of the £159. It's actually £168 here, I've just discovered.
    - pja 14y ago
      It's an extra £10 shipping. VAT is already included in the price. (Although £10 for shipping is a bit steep tbh.)
ivanbernat 14y ago
> Sorry! Devices on Google Play is not available in your country yet. At least show me what it looks like!
- earl 14y ago
  http://earlh.com/dump/hn/nexus/details.html http://earlh.com/dump/hn/nexus/details.html
  - kibibyte 14y ago
    Anyone else also get user-agent related errors on that site with Chrome? For those that did, anyone know why it's happening?
- why-el 14y ago
  Was exactly what I thought. I know its a google search away but at least show me specs/pictures so that I know whether to wait few weeks or just get your-competitor's tablet.
  - rplnt 14y ago
    I'm pretty sure the price will be at least $400 in my region. So the super low price factor won't help me. Other thing is most of the new play content (music, movies, tv series and magazines at the minimum) won't work here as well.
- pandeiro 14y ago
  http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7 http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7
Splines 14y ago
No SD card slot? Urgh. 8/16GB is not a lot of room, especially for a tablet that is not going to be online all the time.
- guynamedloren 14y ago
  but nobody complained when the original ipad didn't have one (with same internal storage).
  - ghshephard 14y ago
    Well, lots of people complained about the lack of an SD card - and indeed, one of the differentiators that people look to google for are things like replaceable batteries, USB connectivity, and SD card expandability. Those people who are content to live in a walled off protected garden, might be well served in the Apple world. Those people who want to root their boxes, add USB accessories, and swap out SD cards previously could go the Google route.
    - will_work4tears 14y ago
      I swap my batteries (and always have a spare which doubles my battery time - with my phone I have three), on my laptop, on my phone, and if I had one, on my tablet. I'll never buy Apple until they have replaceable batteries. I know several people like me, and there are probably a lot out there just like me. I don't know why Apple people think "why not get an IPad" if price is comparable. I'd pay a bit extra for the same specs just for the battery being swappable.
      - greedo 14y ago
        So you always carry two extra batteries around? That must be fun. What model phone do you have that you need 3 batteries to get through the day? Wouldn't it be easier just to carry around a charger?
        deleted 14y ago
dchuk 14y ago
Just ordered the 16gb version. I'm not much of an android guy, but for that price and the fact that it's pure android (not manufacturer customized shit) and it's running the newest OS update...meh, why not.
- MartinCron 14y ago
  I just did too. I hope that I don't regret this decision like I did the Kindle Fire. It seems that $200 is my price point for impulse-buying tablets. If Microsoft can manage to get their Surface out for $200, I guess I'll have to get one of those, too.
  - greedo 14y ago
    $200 for the Surface? Sure, in Bizarro World.
    - gvnonor 14y ago
      Never say never. If someone had told me that i'd be able to buy a high-end(processor and brand) tablet for $200, I would've laughed in their face.
      - greedo 14y ago
        Sure. Care to specify the "high-end" tablet you're buying for $200? I'm a bit skeptical. If you're claiming the Nexus 7, that's not in the class of the iPad nor the proposed Surface.
        CraigRood 14y ago
        Not really sure what you mean by "not in the class of the iPad". For less than half the price you get more than half the performance. I don't think theres benchmarks out there yet but I don't think its fair to say that a Tegra 3 Quadcore is 'low-end'. It's on par with the A5& A5X technically.
peapicker 14y ago
It would be almost a must-have if it supported a user-supplied microSD card.
recoiledsnake 14y ago
Looks like even Google is afraid to directly take on the 800lb. gorilla that is the 10" iPad at the $500 price point. Xoom, Touchpad, Playbook(7") and countless others seem to have bit the dust trying. HTC and LG have even temporarily quit the tablet market to stem the bleeding. Wonder if ASUS is seeing volume on its Transformer line. Also, does anyone know how the Galaxy Tab is doing? Even Kindle Fire's sales are slowing, so lets see how the market reacts to this. Unlike phones, which are must-haves, people have a lot of discretion when it comes to owning a tablet or not. Sadly, the only real competition to take the iPad head on this year seems to be the Surface and we'll have to wait and see what the price is.
- bergie 14y ago
  HTC quitting the game is actually a bit of a shame. The 7" HTC Flyer has been the best home browsing device I've had. This new Nexus 7 sort of fills the same gap, but without the tap the screen with the stylus to take a screenshot, doodle on it, and send it onwards aspect that is so handy for web/mobile developers.
- keltex 14y ago
  "Even Kindle Fire's sales are slowing" You have any evidence to back this up? Seems like just the opposite is happening: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/26/kindle-fire/ http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/26/kindle-fire/
  - scubaguy 14y ago
    The article says "According to a recent report from Pacific Crest Securities, a Portland, Oregon-based investment bank, orders for components used in Amazon's standard e-readers have fallen 75% from the bank's previous expectations."
    - AncientPC 14y ago
      - Kindle Fire: Android Tablet - Kindle Everything Else: E-reader > But while Kindle sales may be falling, demand for the Kindle Fire is climbing, with requests for components up nearly 60%. The article is about how Kindle Fire may be cannibalizing sales from the e-readers.
Cd00d 14y ago
Is this a Kindle killer? I have the original iPad (twas free!), which I've really loved, but the cost is significant compared to the newer 7" tablets. I use the 3g a ton, but suppose I could fix that with a personal cellular wifi solution. But, being a Kindle (e-ink) user since inception, I've always felt that if it were my dollars talking, I'd go with the Fire. I can't justify the cost of the iPad, but could with the Fire. Anyone who's really in the market look over the specs and have an opinion re: google vs. amazon in the small tablet market? How great is it that these three tech giants are all making desirable media toys? Being a fan and heavy user of all three company's products, I'm happy to see them each working to innovate something more exciting than a browser war.
- colkassad 14y ago
  If there were a "Trade your Kindle Fire" button on that page I would click it in a second. I like my Kindle Fire but it has issues. I'd kill for just a hardware volume control. It's hard to say without handling one, but my guess is to choose the Nexus over the Fire.
  - Cd00d 14y ago
    Thanks for that. I had no idea the Fire lacked a hard volume button. I almost compulsively use the one on my iPad, as I find quantified increments far easier than sliding my fat finger over something my fat finger is blocking.
    - MartinCron 14y ago
      Not only that, but the soft volume controls aren't uniformly available. When you're watching a movie in Netflix, you have to stop the playback to adjust volume, but you can't hear the volume until you start playback again. Just painful. Note: this experience may have been fixed, I haven't used my kindle fire for watching movies in months, for obvious reasons.
      - napillo 14y ago
        What's worse is that flash videos have their own volume control, and some of them default to having volume at half staff, and for some reason, sliding your finger on the (flash) volume bar doesn't adjust the slider at all, it moves the whole webpage around. Really frustrating watching flash videos on an Android device.
deleted 14y ago
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guynamedloren 14y ago
I loooove Google, but I can't get over this "Play" nonsense. I get that it's short and (maybe) easy to remember, but it just sounds stupid. They certainly could have come up with a better name than that.
- k3n 14y ago
  Kind of flies in the face of conventional wisdom, too IMO, as productivity and business-related apps certainly aren't something to "play" with. What's next, a "work" marketplace, but with conrflower-blue themes and more mundane blurbs and graphics?
  - ok_craig 14y ago
    Tablets still aren't generally thought of or used as productivity devices, they are viewed and used more as consumption devices. I'm not saying this can't or shouldn't change, I'm just saying this is how it is right now. It seems smart to market to that.
    - k3n 14y ago
      But, Google's Play is not just for tablets; Play is the market for ALL of Google's apps, from Android to Chrome (browser) to ChromeOS. Chrome is already heavily used for commercial purposes, and ChromeOS has the potential to be (and might be used for such already). That's kind of where I was going with that.
- biot 14y ago
  I thought RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook name was brilliant. To the consumer market, they read it as "play book" and think of all the fun things they can do while playing with it. For the business market, they read it with the sports metaphor as a "strategic playbook" which fits their purposes well.
  - rmckayfleming 14y ago
    Anecdotally, they've also done relatively well here in Ontario ever since they dropped the prices to 200$ and up. Many of my friends and family have one (no Kindle Fire up here).
georgemcbay 14y ago
meh. I don't really like the 7 inch tablet form factor (even as an 'Apple hater', I think Jobs was spot on about 7 inches being too small). Also lack of any sort of SD option is just another reinforcement of Google blindly walking down the path of Apple. I guess I'm sticking with my OG Asus Transformer TF101 for now. I was hoping that with Asus' involvement in the Nexus there would be a transformer/hybrid variant (for more money of course), but they seem to just be trying to attack the Kindle here. It seems more likely than ever that my next hybrid tablet/netbook will be running Windows 8 instead of Android. Pseudo-ironically at least I'll be able to write Go code on that device.
- sigzero 14y ago
  Possibly. But there are millions of Kindle(fire) owners that would disagree. I guess it depends on what you are actually using it for.
- protomyth 14y ago
  It seems like there is really 3 form factors: 1 hand operation, 1 hand hold / 1 hand operate, and big tablet. It seems once you get past being able to hold it in one hand comfortably, you might as well go for the 10".
alaskamiller 14y ago
Ships in 2-3 weeks. Pre-order page here: https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_7_8gb https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_7_8gb As an iOS guy for years, I look at this as finally having an equivalent of an iPod touch to play with in the Android ecosystem. Who knows, maybe I'll be convinced to switch off my iPhone.
- endemic 14y ago
  Agreed. The price is low enough that I pre-ordered one on impulse, just to play around with and possibly use for development.
npsimons 14y ago
I have to say, 7" is enough for me. I've got a Samsung Tab 7.0 from work, and it fits in my pants pockets; can't see that happening with anything bigger. Also, it's just about the right single-hand holding size and weight (anything bigger/heavier would be too much). What gets me about this offering from Google is the storage. 8GB and no microSD? Seriously? Some of us don't have 24/7 high-speed connectivity, and even if we did, we don't necessarily want to use the cloud.
deleted 14y ago
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- dorianj 14y ago
  Specs say 216ppi? "7” 1280x800 HD display (216 ppi)" The Retina iPad is 264ppi.
  - Samuel_Michon 14y ago
    1280x800 on 7" is a very high resolution, it will make everything look tiny. I think what parent was referring to is that the OS doesn't scale the text and UI elements, like the new iPad does. The new iPad has a 2048x1536 screen, but the UI looks like it's 1024x768, it's simply twice as sharp. I have very bad eyesight, looking at the tiny UI in the screenshots on Google's tablet page made me cringe. I wouldn't be able to work with a tablet like that. I had the same problem with the MacBook Air 11", which has a resolution of 1366x768.
    - DiabloD3 14y ago
      Uh, thats false. Android scales the UI across foir sizes.
      - Samuel_Michon 14y ago
        Judging from the screenshots on the page of Google's tablet, text and the UI is really small. I hope it can be adjusted.
    - king_jester 14y ago
      Android OS scales items to match the density of the device. Also, you can adjust text size via the accessibility or display settings as of 4.0 (there may be an accessibility option on older device but that is inconsistent).
- deleted 14y ago
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- 14y ago
mayneack 14y ago
No HDMI?
- kevhsu 14y ago
  MHL compatible probably. (The Galaxy Nexus is...) $15 adapter from monoprice.
lbotos 14y ago
I haven't been following much of android development but is it starting to look like WP7? I only say this because both of the screenshots on the page look very very much inspired by WP7. https://lh3.ggpht.com/3Pu3EHP1QUr9oI-YdIPQE5BxWYVGZ_DzPwhReSX9XSBRckTHFrBr6PV8DDQIY7S8usk https://lh3.ggpht.com/3Pu3EHP1QUr9oI-YdIPQE5BxWYVGZ_DzPwhReS... - Metro-esque https://lh4.ggpht.com/p-eZmyce7_T2-_eOwltQxU6glPj6f53kDXvDvN8GPzRZXY4qe_pxHBdmXmtJeyRIZ8qA https://lh4.ggpht.com/p-eZmyce7_T2-_eOwltQxU6glPj6f53kDXvDvN... - Big airy sans, open spaces, riding the line of minimalist, etc.
- recoiledsnake 14y ago
  There have been many instances of Google design resembling Metro. For example: http://www.google.com/events/io/2011/sessions.html http://www.google.com/events/io/2011/sessions.html
- mtgx 14y ago
  Google started that design language quite a while ago with Google+ and all the new designs for their services. The big images thing came a long time ago in the Chrome Webstore as well: https://chrome.google.com/webstore https://chrome.google.com/webstore Why do people have to immediately associate something with something else even if it's only 5-10% similar?
  - lbotos 14y ago
    Metro: http://andrewtechhelp.com/images/stories/windows8devpreview/MetroAppBar.png http://andrewtechhelp.com/images/stories/windows8devpreview/... Google: https://lh4.ggpht.com/p-eZmyce7_T2-_eOwltQxU6glPj6f53kDXvDvN8GPzRZXY4qe_pxHBdmXmtJeyRIZ8qA https://lh4.ggpht.com/p-eZmyce7_T2-_eOwltQxU6glPj6f53kDXvDvN... If I remove the "Google" logo from the second image would you think it was just Google's design language? Design doesn't happen in isolation. It's a product of everything that influenced the designer. I thought it was interesting because: 1) They look to be headed the same direction as microsoft. 2) The images they chose to use to showcase their new tablet look to be "metro".
ToesByNoon 14y ago
No VGA port! rabble rabble rabble
estel 14y ago
It's curious how the Nexus 7 seems to be using a phone ui rather than a tablet one; it seems to make for a lot of wasted screen space.
- myko 14y ago
  Yeah, one of the major UX failings of the iPad is the way the notification shade is handled. It seems extremely out of place on a tablet. I'm surprised the Nexus 7 seems to have a similar style shade. Also centering the buttons in landscape mode? Seems like it could be inconvenient.
tiger0915 14y ago
sweet jesus thats a big bezel
Johnyma22 14y ago
I don't want Google to provide my hardware. They control too many things already.
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  afaik it's made by ASUS so I don't imagine how it would be much different from buying something ASUS branded. Besides if they have control of all of the software already I don't see what difference the hardware would really make.
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  afaik it's made by ASUS so I don't imagine how it would be much different from buying something ASUS branded. Besides if they have control of all of the software already I don't see what difference the hardware would really make.
deedubaya 14y ago
"I've already taken it on a camping trip to read books" What a bunch of nerds. Tell me about something exciting you actually did with your new product.
- lmm 14y ago
  I took it out clubbing to take photos of my friends puking, that cool enough for you?
nsns 14y ago
Am I missing something? Why is this made by Asus and not Motorola Mobility?
- ok_craig 14y ago
  Google has stated very often and very clearly that they're trying to maintain a separation between them and Motorola. They don't want owning Motorola to mess up their relationships with other hardware companies.
- ConstantineXVI 14y ago
  The acquisition closed a little over a month ago; communication during a buyout before it's approved is seriously restricted. A month isn't anywhere near enough time to get a product from scratch to market. Besides the logistical issues, Google's stated that Motorola doesn't get special treatment, so going by their word, Motorola has to compete for Nexus bids just like everyone else.
- exhilaration 14y ago
  Motorola Mobility will never build a Nexus device. The other Android manufacturers (particularly Samsung) need to be reassured that Google will not simply lock them out of Android's future by leveraging its own hardware division.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
no_more_death 14y ago
You can't get a quad-core desktop for $200! This tablet is a powerhouse.
frazerb 14y ago
I struggle here with Google's business model, and the impact their efforts have on other Android tablet vendors. At this price point the profit (if there is any to speak of) must be wafer-thin. But Google can handle such wafer-thin margins because the secondary markets that this tablet secures for them. No other Android tablet vendor can enjoy the same control over the underlying OS, the same footprint in terms of Apps ecosystem (and importantly the revenue derived from this), the same intimacy between online applications/services and hardware. All these things mean Google can 'get away' with pricing this tablet as cheaply as they do. But where does that leave Samsung, LG, and the others ? The big risk for us as consumers here is that Google will in fact reduce, not increase, the amount of credible competition against Apple by jeopardizing the competitors' capacity to derive profit from tablets.
- jonny_eh 14y ago
  But it's Apple that already has this advantage, controlling the HW and the app/media ecosystem. Someone needs to step in and compete with that, and it looks like Google (and MS someday?) is the only one in a position to do that. These other vendors like Samsung just aren't hitting it off. So it's a choice of "Apple and a bunch of overpriced tablets that can't compete" or "Apple and Google". Despite there only being two options with the latter, at least the second option is actually viable.
- AncientPC 14y ago
  The PC hardware industry profits are already razor thin, while the laptop industry is marginally better. This doesn't mean an ecosystem can't exist. Amazon retail / grocery stores are another example of an industry that survives off volume to make up for razor thin profit margins.
programminggeek 14y ago
Android's UI as a "media consumption" device is terrible compared to what Kindle Fire and Nook have done. The average user (say your parents), aren't going to go to the Google Play Store (which is a terrible non-obvious) name to buy books, movies, apps, etc. unless you explain to them that you have to use the Play app to download content. Kindle Fire nailed the obviousness of this with the top bar being labeled with Movies, Music, Apps, Books, Web. Nexus 7's home screen widget is a poor attempt and trying to shoehorn media discoverability into an OS that isn't built for media consumption, it's built for phones primarily. You could make the same arguement for iOS, but iTunes has already trained users that you go to iTunes to get content or you go to the obviously named App Store. Make it easy, make it obvious. Nexus 7 is a small step in the right direction, but it needs work.
- ten7 14y ago
  Have you used it? At this point, these are just opinions based on a demo and no hands on experience.
- ajross 14y ago
  I think the first point is pretty suspect, and definitely not a trait of the "average user" (who, on a tablet, remains a techie early adopter). You get content the same place you get apps. You're saying that the "average user" can't download an app, either? I tend to agree that "Play" as a brand is a terrible name, though. But then I feel that way about most marketing, and find my intuition there routinely wrong. So I won't judge.
  - cheeze 14y ago
    My grandmother and parents all have iPads. No, they wouldn't be able to download an app unless it was blatantly obvious (see: app store).
    - ajross 14y ago
      That seems to be getting pretty far off into silly now, though. Your contention is that grandparents with iOS devices can download apps (and presumably view media) there, but not on Android, precisely because the "app store" is called "Play Store". Really? Is there any research at all that bears this out?
guelo 14y ago
Nexus One, S, Galaxy, 7 and Q Pretty confused branding I think.
- bconway 14y ago
  At least they're not reusing names, that's a start. iPad, iPad 2, iPad.
troels 14y ago
Pff. I was expecting a remake of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvUYYUd-Ye0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvUYYUd-Ye0 - and then it's just another phone.
donniezazen 14y ago
Do any of you use a 7 inch tablet as a distraction-free writing device? I have got a 10.1 tablet that I use for reading and writing. A smaller tablet will be more friendlier for reading.
- lmm 14y ago
  I use my 10-inch transformer as a writing device, if by writing you mean typing (I wrote a novel on it, if by novel you mean 50000 word work of prose fiction). Honestly I think the "distraction-free" aspect works against it - forcing me to move out of google docs and into something else to check train times or skype messages makes me less productive, not more. But ymmv.
mindslight 14y ago
You know the tech world is in a sorry state when "Made for Google Play" is openly touted as a good thing. Where's the mobile platform that aims to be a computer instead of the next TV?
awolf 14y ago
The 7" form factor: big enough to be a pain in the ass to carry and small enough to be useless for most tablet stuff anyway. In my opinion, a mobile device should have a keyboard big enough for me to type using ten fingers, or it should fit in my pocket. Using something in between baffles me.
- objclxt 14y ago
  It's a Kindle Fire competitor. Without doubt. Having played with one at one of the IO Extended events today, and given the massive emphasis on the play store and video/audio/written content being made available Google are definitely making a play for Kindle territory here. Like you, I'm pretty ambivalent on the 7" format, but that isn't stopping people from buying Kindle Fires...
  - falcolas 14y ago
    I'm a Kindle Fire and an iPad owner, and I love my Fire. It's large enough to read on comfortably, and about the weight of a similarly sized high quality book, meaning that it is light enough to handle for a long time without trouble. It carries by hand very easily, and just doesn't get in my way. The iPad (v3, btw), in contrast, is bulky and heavy to carry around and hold. The keyboard still isn't big enough to touch type on comfortably, and I am not able to produce content on it with a reasonable speed (after 1mo of use, I gave it to my wife). When I need to create, I usually ended up using my notebook computer, due to the size limitations and difficulty of using the keyboard while holding the device anyways. In the end, the Fire is the perfect size for portable media consumption, and the addition of an unlocked (and high quality) operating system makes this new offering by Google a no brainer for me.
    - awolf 14y ago
      >The keyboard still isn't big enough to touch type on comfortably The iPad virtual keyboard is the same size as the keyboards on all MacBooks. Size is not why you're unable to type fast on the iPad.
- drzaiusapelord 14y ago
kennon 14y ago
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if this is selling below manufacturing cost? At least, I thought that was the case with the Kindle Fire, which has less impressive specs? Either way, could be interesting times ahead if Amazon, Apple, and Google are all marking out their tablet+store territory...
pja 14y ago
Seriously? £40 for an extra 8Gb of flash with no SD card slot? That's reaching iPad levels of customer value extraction. Otherwise, looks like a nice piece of hardware: Tempted to grab one.
rsanchez1 14y ago
The Nexus 7 just made the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet obsolete. I've been holding back on buying a Kindle Fire, but I think I may just pull the trigger on the Nexus 7.
drawkbox 14y ago
Looks like a solid Android gaming device. The Kindle is pretty nice in that aspect. There still is really no competitor to the iPod which holds down almost half of handheld gamers on the iOS platform. Android has no match for that still really being solely phone based for the smaller devices for the most part.
veidr 14y ago
One of the things I hate about Google Play is: Sorry! Devices on Google Play is not available in your country yet. I agree; that is sorry. They even show me this when I log in, go to the 'My Orders' screen, and click on the Galaxy Nexus I just bought from them this month (when I visited the US for WWDC). I was going to ask for a summary, but this is good enough: http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/27/3120992/asus-nexus-7-android-tablet-hands-on http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/27/3120992/asus-nexus-7-andro...
confluence 14y ago
Just bought the 8GB version. I don't know about anyone else, but I think the 7 inch form factor is much malaligned. It fits perfectly in between my smart phone (Galaxy Nexus) and my (relatively) massive tablet (Transformer Prime), and gives me a Kindle sized form factor for TV/Film/music (which as much as I love my wonderful Kindle - I sorely need content on the go). I didn't get the Amazon Fire - felt like it was too locked down. The G7 is cheap enough for an impulse buy, and honestly the Android fragmentation has been greatly overstated - most apps work for the 95 percentile use case - and seeing as how massive the Android market is - I'm surprised that it isn't even more fragmented. All in all, I'm quite sure that this and the Nexus Q (despite it's rather unique design) will be winners in their respective spaces. This is not an iPad competitor. It's a Kindle for the rest of your content - without the lockdown.
hollerith 14y ago
Is the case metal or plastic?

230 points by sindhiparsani 14y ago

"Sorry! Devices on Google Play is not available in your country yet. We're working to bring devices to more countries as quickly as possible. Please check back again soon." Anyone have a screenshot perhaps?

lunarscape 14y ago
Same here. I just used a proxy site I picked at random and it works: http://www.uswebproxy.com http://www.uswebproxy.com
- pedrocr 14y ago
  Thanks. Turns out the corporate VPN routes to the Internet somewhere where this is available. This is probably a better link (seems to work everywhere): http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7/specs http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7/specs The UX of putting up this ugly banner is pretty crappy. It would be fine if this was splattered on top of the page or covering the ordering buttons but you could still see what devices are available. I think I've even gotten some form of Google Play advertising (an email perhaps) that directed me to a link that then showed me this.
sindhiparsani 14y ago
Try this link instead http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7 http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7
seiji 14y ago
Same here: "Los dispositivos en Google Play aún no están disponibles en tu país. Estamos trabajando para ampliar la disponibilidad de los dispositivos en otros países lo antes posible. Inténtalo de nuevo en unos días." The link http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7 http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7 works.

esutton 14y ago

Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ unlocked is now 350 through the play store

btipling 14y ago

It ships with Jellybean... I've been waiting for the Samsung 10 inch tablet with the stylus, but it's already out of date and hasn't even shipped yet. I don't want a 7inch tablet and it is going to be years by the time a Jelly Bean 10 inch tablet comes out and by that time there will already be a new version of the OS! I already have a Fire and I can't read magazines on it, it's too small. I'm just going to give up and get an iPad.

gte910h 14y ago
While I'm all over you getting an iPad (I'm primarily an iOS dev), the Nexus line of phones, other than the G1, have shown markedly more updatability than the run of the mill random crapware phones you get for free by doing X or Y. Perhaps you'll get a few years of updates out of it?
- jonny_eh 14y ago
  The OP wants a 10" tablet, which Google's not making. He's saying that if he buys a Samsung produced Jelly Bean 10" tablet, it won't be future proof.
  - metrop0219 14y ago
    Surface!
  - rplnt 14y ago
    What is future proof exactly? While updates matter, how it's bad not to have them? It's like saying you don't like the Android (that's fine) and you will like the next one (that's weird).
UnFleshedOne 14y ago
You mean they should stop working on the OS to save you some "not the latest" anxiety?
- rayiner 14y ago

kadjar 14y ago

"your own copy of Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Oops! Accidentally a word, there.

keeran 14y ago
I always think 'side' should be in there, but it isn't :) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399103/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399103/
- SoftwareMaven 14y ago
  Wow! I have seriously never noticed that. My brain has always just filled in Dark Side of the Moon. It wouldn't surprise me if they wanted it to be that, but some copyright/trademark issue with Pink Floyd prevented it.
- kadjar 14y ago
  Wow, you're right. I've been saying it wrong for some time, then!
- HorizonXP 14y ago
  Mind = blown

dt7 14y ago

£159/£199 in the UK... very reasonable I think, compared to the current prices of Android tablets in the UK.

al_james 14y ago
Yes, nice to see there is not a huge mark-up for the UK prices. $199 is £127 + 20% tax = £152... Close enough.
- dt7 14y ago
  If only they could get some form of deal to bring TV content over. I don't think there's any way to pay to watch Season 4 of Breaking Bad in the UK.
- bonaldi 14y ago
  ... except that they add the tax on top of the £159. It's actually £168 here, I've just discovered.
  - pja 14y ago
    It's an extra £10 shipping. VAT is already included in the price. (Although £10 for shipping is a bit steep tbh.)

ivanbernat 14y ago

> Sorry! Devices on Google Play is not available in your country yet. At least show me what it looks like!

earl 14y ago
http://earlh.com/dump/hn/nexus/details.html http://earlh.com/dump/hn/nexus/details.html
- kibibyte 14y ago
  Anyone else also get user-agent related errors on that site with Chrome? For those that did, anyone know why it's happening?
why-el 14y ago
Was exactly what I thought. I know its a google search away but at least show me specs/pictures so that I know whether to wait few weeks or just get your-competitor's tablet.
- rplnt 14y ago
  I'm pretty sure the price will be at least $400 in my region. So the super low price factor won't help me. Other thing is most of the new play content (music, movies, tv series and magazines at the minimum) won't work here as well.
pandeiro 14y ago
http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7 http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7

Splines 14y ago

No SD card slot? Urgh. 8/16GB is not a lot of room, especially for a tablet that is not going to be online all the time.

guynamedloren 14y ago
but nobody complained when the original ipad didn't have one (with same internal storage).
- ghshephard 14y ago
  Well, lots of people complained about the lack of an SD card - and indeed, one of the differentiators that people look to google for are things like replaceable batteries, USB connectivity, and SD card expandability. Those people who are content to live in a walled off protected garden, might be well served in the Apple world. Those people who want to root their boxes, add USB accessories, and swap out SD cards previously could go the Google route.
  - will_work4tears 14y ago
    I swap my batteries (and always have a spare which doubles my battery time - with my phone I have three), on my laptop, on my phone, and if I had one, on my tablet. I'll never buy Apple until they have replaceable batteries. I know several people like me, and there are probably a lot out there just like me. I don't know why Apple people think "why not get an IPad" if price is comparable. I'd pay a bit extra for the same specs just for the battery being swappable.
    - greedo 14y ago
      So you always carry two extra batteries around? That must be fun. What model phone do you have that you need 3 batteries to get through the day? Wouldn't it be easier just to carry around a charger?
      - deleted 14y ago

dchuk 14y ago

Just ordered the 16gb version. I'm not much of an android guy, but for that price and the fact that it's pure android (not manufacturer customized shit) and it's running the newest OS update...meh, why not.

MartinCron 14y ago
I just did too. I hope that I don't regret this decision like I did the Kindle Fire. It seems that $200 is my price point for impulse-buying tablets. If Microsoft can manage to get their Surface out for $200, I guess I'll have to get one of those, too.
- greedo 14y ago
  $200 for the Surface? Sure, in Bizarro World.
  - gvnonor 14y ago
    Never say never. If someone had told me that i'd be able to buy a high-end(processor and brand) tablet for $200, I would've laughed in their face.
    - greedo 14y ago
      Sure. Care to specify the "high-end" tablet you're buying for $200? I'm a bit skeptical. If you're claiming the Nexus 7, that's not in the class of the iPad nor the proposed Surface.
      - CraigRood 14y ago
        Not really sure what you mean by "not in the class of the iPad". For less than half the price you get more than half the performance. I don't think theres benchmarks out there yet but I don't think its fair to say that a Tegra 3 Quadcore is 'low-end'. It's on par with the A5& A5X technically.

peapicker 14y ago

It would be almost a must-have if it supported a user-supplied microSD card.

recoiledsnake 14y ago

Looks like even Google is afraid to directly take on the 800lb. gorilla that is the 10" iPad at the $500 price point. Xoom, Touchpad, Playbook(7") and countless others seem to have bit the dust trying. HTC and LG have even temporarily quit the tablet market to stem the bleeding. Wonder if ASUS is seeing volume on its Transformer line. Also, does anyone know how the Galaxy Tab is doing? Even Kindle Fire's sales are slowing, so lets see how the market reacts to this. Unlike phones, which are must-haves, people have a lot of discretion when it comes to owning a tablet or not. Sadly, the only real competition to take the iPad head on this year seems to be the Surface and we'll have to wait and see what the price is.

bergie 14y ago
HTC quitting the game is actually a bit of a shame. The 7" HTC Flyer has been the best home browsing device I've had. This new Nexus 7 sort of fills the same gap, but without the tap the screen with the stylus to take a screenshot, doodle on it, and send it onwards aspect that is so handy for web/mobile developers.
keltex 14y ago
"Even Kindle Fire's sales are slowing" You have any evidence to back this up? Seems like just the opposite is happening: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/26/kindle-fire/ http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/26/kindle-fire/
- scubaguy 14y ago
  The article says "According to a recent report from Pacific Crest Securities, a Portland, Oregon-based investment bank, orders for components used in Amazon's standard e-readers have fallen 75% from the bank's previous expectations."
  - AncientPC 14y ago
    - Kindle Fire: Android Tablet - Kindle Everything Else: E-reader > But while Kindle sales may be falling, demand for the Kindle Fire is climbing, with requests for components up nearly 60%. The article is about how Kindle Fire may be cannibalizing sales from the e-readers.

Cd00d 14y ago

Is this a Kindle killer? I have the original iPad (twas free!), which I've really loved, but the cost is significant compared to the newer 7" tablets. I use the 3g a ton, but suppose I could fix that with a personal cellular wifi solution. But, being a Kindle (e-ink) user since inception, I've always felt that if it were my dollars talking, I'd go with the Fire. I can't justify the cost of the iPad, but could with the Fire. Anyone who's really in the market look over the specs and have an opinion re: google vs. amazon in the small tablet market? How great is it that these three tech giants are all making desirable media toys? Being a fan and heavy user of all three company's products, I'm happy to see them each working to innovate something more exciting than a browser war.

colkassad 14y ago
If there were a "Trade your Kindle Fire" button on that page I would click it in a second. I like my Kindle Fire but it has issues. I'd kill for just a hardware volume control. It's hard to say without handling one, but my guess is to choose the Nexus over the Fire.
- Cd00d 14y ago
  Thanks for that. I had no idea the Fire lacked a hard volume button. I almost compulsively use the one on my iPad, as I find quantified increments far easier than sliding my fat finger over something my fat finger is blocking.
  - MartinCron 14y ago
    Not only that, but the soft volume controls aren't uniformly available. When you're watching a movie in Netflix, you have to stop the playback to adjust volume, but you can't hear the volume until you start playback again. Just painful. Note: this experience may have been fixed, I haven't used my kindle fire for watching movies in months, for obvious reasons.
    - napillo 14y ago
      What's worse is that flash videos have their own volume control, and some of them default to having volume at half staff, and for some reason, sliding your finger on the (flash) volume bar doesn't adjust the slider at all, it moves the whole webpage around. Really frustrating watching flash videos on an Android device.

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guynamedloren 14y ago

I loooove Google, but I can't get over this "Play" nonsense. I get that it's short and (maybe) easy to remember, but it just sounds stupid. They certainly could have come up with a better name than that.

k3n 14y ago
Kind of flies in the face of conventional wisdom, too IMO, as productivity and business-related apps certainly aren't something to "play" with. What's next, a "work" marketplace, but with conrflower-blue themes and more mundane blurbs and graphics?
- ok_craig 14y ago
  Tablets still aren't generally thought of or used as productivity devices, they are viewed and used more as consumption devices. I'm not saying this can't or shouldn't change, I'm just saying this is how it is right now. It seems smart to market to that.
  - k3n 14y ago
    But, Google's Play is not just for tablets; Play is the market for ALL of Google's apps, from Android to Chrome (browser) to ChromeOS. Chrome is already heavily used for commercial purposes, and ChromeOS has the potential to be (and might be used for such already). That's kind of where I was going with that.
biot 14y ago
I thought RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook name was brilliant. To the consumer market, they read it as "play book" and think of all the fun things they can do while playing with it. For the business market, they read it with the sports metaphor as a "strategic playbook" which fits their purposes well.
- rmckayfleming 14y ago
  Anecdotally, they've also done relatively well here in Ontario ever since they dropped the prices to 200$ and up. Many of my friends and family have one (no Kindle Fire up here).

georgemcbay 14y ago

meh. I don't really like the 7 inch tablet form factor (even as an 'Apple hater', I think Jobs was spot on about 7 inches being too small). Also lack of any sort of SD option is just another reinforcement of Google blindly walking down the path of Apple. I guess I'm sticking with my OG Asus Transformer TF101 for now. I was hoping that with Asus' involvement in the Nexus there would be a transformer/hybrid variant (for more money of course), but they seem to just be trying to attack the Kindle here. It seems more likely than ever that my next hybrid tablet/netbook will be running Windows 8 instead of Android. Pseudo-ironically at least I'll be able to write Go code on that device.

sigzero 14y ago
Possibly. But there are millions of Kindle(fire) owners that would disagree. I guess it depends on what you are actually using it for.
protomyth 14y ago
It seems like there is really 3 form factors: 1 hand operation, 1 hand hold / 1 hand operate, and big tablet. It seems once you get past being able to hold it in one hand comfortably, you might as well go for the 10".

alaskamiller 14y ago

Ships in 2-3 weeks. Pre-order page here: https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_7_8gb https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_7_8gb As an iOS guy for years, I look at this as finally having an equivalent of an iPod touch to play with in the Android ecosystem. Who knows, maybe I'll be convinced to switch off my iPhone.

endemic 14y ago
Agreed. The price is low enough that I pre-ordered one on impulse, just to play around with and possibly use for development.

npsimons 14y ago

I have to say, 7" is enough for me. I've got a Samsung Tab 7.0 from work, and it fits in my pants pockets; can't see that happening with anything bigger. Also, it's just about the right single-hand holding size and weight (anything bigger/heavier would be too much). What gets me about this offering from Google is the storage. 8GB and no microSD? Seriously? Some of us don't have 24/7 high-speed connectivity, and even if we did, we don't necessarily want to use the cloud.

deleted 14y ago

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dorianj 14y ago
Specs say 216ppi? "7” 1280x800 HD display (216 ppi)" The Retina iPad is 264ppi.
- Samuel_Michon 14y ago
  1280x800 on 7" is a very high resolution, it will make everything look tiny. I think what parent was referring to is that the OS doesn't scale the text and UI elements, like the new iPad does. The new iPad has a 2048x1536 screen, but the UI looks like it's 1024x768, it's simply twice as sharp. I have very bad eyesight, looking at the tiny UI in the screenshots on Google's tablet page made me cringe. I wouldn't be able to work with a tablet like that. I had the same problem with the MacBook Air 11", which has a resolution of 1366x768.
  - DiabloD3 14y ago
    Uh, thats false. Android scales the UI across foir sizes.
    - Samuel_Michon 14y ago
      Judging from the screenshots on the page of Google's tablet, text and the UI is really small. I hope it can be adjusted.
  - king_jester 14y ago
    Android OS scales items to match the density of the device. Also, you can adjust text size via the accessibility or display settings as of 4.0 (there may be an accessibility option on older device but that is inconsistent).
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mayneack 14y ago

No HDMI?

kevhsu 14y ago
MHL compatible probably. (The Galaxy Nexus is...) $15 adapter from monoprice.

lbotos 14y ago

I haven't been following much of android development but is it starting to look like WP7? I only say this because both of the screenshots on the page look very very much inspired by WP7. https://lh3.ggpht.com/3Pu3EHP1QUr9oI-YdIPQE5BxWYVGZ_DzPwhReSX9XSBRckTHFrBr6PV8DDQIY7S8usk https://lh3.ggpht.com/3Pu3EHP1QUr9oI-YdIPQE5BxWYVGZ_DzPwhReS... - Metro-esque https://lh4.ggpht.com/p-eZmyce7_T2-_eOwltQxU6glPj6f53kDXvDvN8GPzRZXY4qe_pxHBdmXmtJeyRIZ8qA https://lh4.ggpht.com/p-eZmyce7_T2-_eOwltQxU6glPj6f53kDXvDvN... - Big airy sans, open spaces, riding the line of minimalist, etc.

recoiledsnake 14y ago
There have been many instances of Google design resembling Metro. For example: http://www.google.com/events/io/2011/sessions.html http://www.google.com/events/io/2011/sessions.html
mtgx 14y ago
Google started that design language quite a while ago with Google+ and all the new designs for their services. The big images thing came a long time ago in the Chrome Webstore as well: https://chrome.google.com/webstore https://chrome.google.com/webstore Why do people have to immediately associate something with something else even if it's only 5-10% similar?
- lbotos 14y ago
  Metro: http://andrewtechhelp.com/images/stories/windows8devpreview/MetroAppBar.png http://andrewtechhelp.com/images/stories/windows8devpreview/... Google: https://lh4.ggpht.com/p-eZmyce7_T2-_eOwltQxU6glPj6f53kDXvDvN8GPzRZXY4qe_pxHBdmXmtJeyRIZ8qA https://lh4.ggpht.com/p-eZmyce7_T2-_eOwltQxU6glPj6f53kDXvDvN... If I remove the "Google" logo from the second image would you think it was just Google's design language? Design doesn't happen in isolation. It's a product of everything that influenced the designer. I thought it was interesting because: 1) They look to be headed the same direction as microsoft. 2) The images they chose to use to showcase their new tablet look to be "metro".

ToesByNoon 14y ago

No VGA port! rabble rabble rabble

estel 14y ago

It's curious how the Nexus 7 seems to be using a phone ui rather than a tablet one; it seems to make for a lot of wasted screen space.

myko 14y ago
Yeah, one of the major UX failings of the iPad is the way the notification shade is handled. It seems extremely out of place on a tablet. I'm surprised the Nexus 7 seems to have a similar style shade. Also centering the buttons in landscape mode? Seems like it could be inconvenient.

tiger0915 14y ago

sweet jesus thats a big bezel

Johnyma22 14y ago

I don't want Google to provide my hardware. They control too many things already.

jiggy2011 14y ago
afaik it's made by ASUS so I don't imagine how it would be much different from buying something ASUS branded. Besides if they have control of all of the software already I don't see what difference the hardware would really make.
jiggy2011 14y ago
afaik it's made by ASUS so I don't imagine how it would be much different from buying something ASUS branded. Besides if they have control of all of the software already I don't see what difference the hardware would really make.

deedubaya 14y ago

"I've already taken it on a camping trip to read books" What a bunch of nerds. Tell me about something exciting you actually did with your new product.

lmm 14y ago
I took it out clubbing to take photos of my friends puking, that cool enough for you?

nsns 14y ago

Am I missing something? Why is this made by Asus and not Motorola Mobility?

ok_craig 14y ago
Google has stated very often and very clearly that they're trying to maintain a separation between them and Motorola. They don't want owning Motorola to mess up their relationships with other hardware companies.
ConstantineXVI 14y ago
The acquisition closed a little over a month ago; communication during a buyout before it's approved is seriously restricted. A month isn't anywhere near enough time to get a product from scratch to market. Besides the logistical issues, Google's stated that Motorola doesn't get special treatment, so going by their word, Motorola has to compete for Nexus bids just like everyone else.
exhilaration 14y ago
Motorola Mobility will never build a Nexus device. The other Android manufacturers (particularly Samsung) need to be reassured that Google will not simply lock them out of Android's future by leveraging its own hardware division.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

no_more_death 14y ago

You can't get a quad-core desktop for $200! This tablet is a powerhouse.

frazerb 14y ago

I struggle here with Google's business model, and the impact their efforts have on other Android tablet vendors. At this price point the profit (if there is any to speak of) must be wafer-thin. But Google can handle such wafer-thin margins because the secondary markets that this tablet secures for them. No other Android tablet vendor can enjoy the same control over the underlying OS, the same footprint in terms of Apps ecosystem (and importantly the revenue derived from this), the same intimacy between online applications/services and hardware. All these things mean Google can 'get away' with pricing this tablet as cheaply as they do. But where does that leave Samsung, LG, and the others ? The big risk for us as consumers here is that Google will in fact reduce, not increase, the amount of credible competition against Apple by jeopardizing the competitors' capacity to derive profit from tablets.

jonny_eh 14y ago
But it's Apple that already has this advantage, controlling the HW and the app/media ecosystem. Someone needs to step in and compete with that, and it looks like Google (and MS someday?) is the only one in a position to do that. These other vendors like Samsung just aren't hitting it off. So it's a choice of "Apple and a bunch of overpriced tablets that can't compete" or "Apple and Google". Despite there only being two options with the latter, at least the second option is actually viable.
AncientPC 14y ago
The PC hardware industry profits are already razor thin, while the laptop industry is marginally better. This doesn't mean an ecosystem can't exist. Amazon retail / grocery stores are another example of an industry that survives off volume to make up for razor thin profit margins.

programminggeek 14y ago

Android's UI as a "media consumption" device is terrible compared to what Kindle Fire and Nook have done. The average user (say your parents), aren't going to go to the Google Play Store (which is a terrible non-obvious) name to buy books, movies, apps, etc. unless you explain to them that you have to use the Play app to download content. Kindle Fire nailed the obviousness of this with the top bar being labeled with Movies, Music, Apps, Books, Web. Nexus 7's home screen widget is a poor attempt and trying to shoehorn media discoverability into an OS that isn't built for media consumption, it's built for phones primarily. You could make the same arguement for iOS, but iTunes has already trained users that you go to iTunes to get content or you go to the obviously named App Store. Make it easy, make it obvious. Nexus 7 is a small step in the right direction, but it needs work.

ten7 14y ago
Have you used it? At this point, these are just opinions based on a demo and no hands on experience.
ajross 14y ago
I think the first point is pretty suspect, and definitely not a trait of the "average user" (who, on a tablet, remains a techie early adopter). You get content the same place you get apps. You're saying that the "average user" can't download an app, either? I tend to agree that "Play" as a brand is a terrible name, though. But then I feel that way about most marketing, and find my intuition there routinely wrong. So I won't judge.
- cheeze 14y ago
  My grandmother and parents all have iPads. No, they wouldn't be able to download an app unless it was blatantly obvious (see: app store).
  - ajross 14y ago
    That seems to be getting pretty far off into silly now, though. Your contention is that grandparents with iOS devices can download apps (and presumably view media) there, but not on Android, precisely because the "app store" is called "Play Store". Really? Is there any research at all that bears this out?

guelo 14y ago

Nexus One, S, Galaxy, 7 and Q Pretty confused branding I think.

bconway 14y ago
At least they're not reusing names, that's a start. iPad, iPad 2, iPad.

troels 14y ago

Pff. I was expecting a remake of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvUYYUd-Ye0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvUYYUd-Ye0 - and then it's just another phone.

donniezazen 14y ago

Do any of you use a 7 inch tablet as a distraction-free writing device? I have got a 10.1 tablet that I use for reading and writing. A smaller tablet will be more friendlier for reading.

lmm 14y ago
I use my 10-inch transformer as a writing device, if by writing you mean typing (I wrote a novel on it, if by novel you mean 50000 word work of prose fiction). Honestly I think the "distraction-free" aspect works against it - forcing me to move out of google docs and into something else to check train times or skype messages makes me less productive, not more. But ymmv.

mindslight 14y ago

You know the tech world is in a sorry state when "Made for Google Play" is openly touted as a good thing. Where's the mobile platform that aims to be a computer instead of the next TV?

awolf 14y ago

The 7" form factor: big enough to be a pain in the ass to carry and small enough to be useless for most tablet stuff anyway. In my opinion, a mobile device should have a keyboard big enough for me to type using ten fingers, or it should fit in my pocket. Using something in between baffles me.

objclxt 14y ago
It's a Kindle Fire competitor. Without doubt. Having played with one at one of the IO Extended events today, and given the massive emphasis on the play store and video/audio/written content being made available Google are definitely making a play for Kindle territory here. Like you, I'm pretty ambivalent on the 7" format, but that isn't stopping people from buying Kindle Fires...
- falcolas 14y ago
  I'm a Kindle Fire and an iPad owner, and I love my Fire. It's large enough to read on comfortably, and about the weight of a similarly sized high quality book, meaning that it is light enough to handle for a long time without trouble. It carries by hand very easily, and just doesn't get in my way. The iPad (v3, btw), in contrast, is bulky and heavy to carry around and hold. The keyboard still isn't big enough to touch type on comfortably, and I am not able to produce content on it with a reasonable speed (after 1mo of use, I gave it to my wife). When I need to create, I usually ended up using my notebook computer, due to the size limitations and difficulty of using the keyboard while holding the device anyways. In the end, the Fire is the perfect size for portable media consumption, and the addition of an unlocked (and high quality) operating system makes this new offering by Google a no brainer for me.
  - awolf 14y ago
    >The keyboard still isn't big enough to touch type on comfortably The iPad virtual keyboard is the same size as the keyboards on all MacBooks. Size is not why you're unable to type fast on the iPad.
drzaiusapelord 14y ago

kennon 14y ago

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if this is selling below manufacturing cost? At least, I thought that was the case with the Kindle Fire, which has less impressive specs? Either way, could be interesting times ahead if Amazon, Apple, and Google are all marking out their tablet+store territory...

pja 14y ago

Seriously? £40 for an extra 8Gb of flash with no SD card slot? That's reaching iPad levels of customer value extraction. Otherwise, looks like a nice piece of hardware: Tempted to grab one.

rsanchez1 14y ago

The Nexus 7 just made the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet obsolete. I've been holding back on buying a Kindle Fire, but I think I may just pull the trigger on the Nexus 7.

drawkbox 14y ago

Looks like a solid Android gaming device. The Kindle is pretty nice in that aspect. There still is really no competitor to the iPod which holds down almost half of handheld gamers on the iOS platform. Android has no match for that still really being solely phone based for the smaller devices for the most part.

veidr 14y ago

One of the things I hate about Google Play is: Sorry! Devices on Google Play is not available in your country yet. I agree; that is sorry. They even show me this when I log in, go to the 'My Orders' screen, and click on the Galaxy Nexus I just bought from them this month (when I visited the US for WWDC). I was going to ask for a summary, but this is good enough: http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/27/3120992/asus-nexus-7-android-tablet-hands-on http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/27/3120992/asus-nexus-7-andro...

confluence 14y ago

Just bought the 8GB version. I don't know about anyone else, but I think the 7 inch form factor is much malaligned. It fits perfectly in between my smart phone (Galaxy Nexus) and my (relatively) massive tablet (Transformer Prime), and gives me a Kindle sized form factor for TV/Film/music (which as much as I love my wonderful Kindle - I sorely need content on the go). I didn't get the Amazon Fire - felt like it was too locked down. The G7 is cheap enough for an impulse buy, and honestly the Android fragmentation has been greatly overstated - most apps work for the 95 percentile use case - and seeing as how massive the Android market is - I'm surprised that it isn't even more fragmented. All in all, I'm quite sure that this and the Nexus Q (despite it's rather unique design) will be winners in their respective spaces. This is not an iPad competitor. It's a Kindle for the rest of your content - without the lockdown.

hollerith 14y ago

Is the case metal or plastic?