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Like many of you here I have a Nexus 7. I got it as a present cuz I didn't see why I'd need a tablet what with having a smartphone and nice laptop. I could neve

Like many of you here I have a Nexus 7. I got it as a present cuz I didn't see why I'd need a tablet what with having a smartphone and nice laptop. I could never justify the price of an iPad cuz I'm not really that well off. The Nexus 7 is a joy to use. It's light, the screen is great - it's quick (I got my daughter a Kindle Fire and sometimes you can see that device straining a bit: eg. load times on Despicable Me (I know! I know!) The Nexus 7 battery is great and I love getting the very latest Android s/w pushed to the device. It's a great device for consuming media: books, audio, video. Stock Android is a nice reference platform. Can't wait for Jelly Bean 4.3 real soon now. I would recommend a Nexus 7 to anyone considering a tablet on a budget. I just have to figure out how I can justify splashing out on the 2013 Nexus 7 :) I know I must sound like a total shill but I really was surprised at how far Android has come and how polished and optimized it is on the Nexus 7. That is all :)

dspillett 13y ago
I'm very happy with mine too - I only got it after I bought a dirt cheap 7" Android device for testing purposes (a client was reporting issues on one of their applications with users who were using Android devices) and realised that "if this wasn't dog slow and had higher resolution it would be the perfect thing for some of my work/play needs". I have noticed it seems to be feeling slower over time, though not so much so that I've made an effort to look into it, particularly when starting larger apps or updating apps in the background while doing something else.
- igravious 13y ago
  I got a dirt cheap clone (I don't remember how much exactly ) from a Chinese reseller from Amazon UK and the screen was crap ^shudder^ and the touchscreen had a glitch ^double shudder^ but it was Android and it was reasonably quick. These things you really need to try before you buy. There's another thread here about the potential slowdown issue. Same'll happen to a Mac or PC I reckon after a while. I've not noticed it. When you think about it Android tablets are pretty new so they haven't been used to their full extent, nor to the end of their lifespan.
  - dspillett 13y ago
    Aye, the cheap one is fine for the specific purpose (testing those issues in the stock android browser an a cheap device) but would be infuriatingly slow for my day-to-day use of the Nexus 7. The slowdown I've noticed is only really when I'm asking it to do more than one thing at once (usually updating apps while browsing heavy pages or stating other apps) which is fairly rare anyway so I'm not particularly concerned ATM.
- Scaevolus 13y ago
  The original Nexus 7 filesystem drivers weren't issuing TRIM commands when deleting files, so write performance became much slower (in some cases, <1MB/s). LagFix is a rooted app to fix it, and there are alternatives for non-rooted devices as well. http://www.howtogeek.com/164106/why-is-my-nexus-7-so-slow-8-ways-to-speed-it-up-again/ http://www.howtogeek.com/164106/why-is-my-nexus-7-so-slow-8-...
  - inyourtenement 13y ago
    I noticed my Nexus 7 getting very slow, found this same information, and ran ForeverGone. There was no noticeable improvement. I then did a factory reset. It may have been a bit snappier at first, but within a couple days it was slow again. Mostly, I noticed jerkiness and lag scrolling web pages. I'm not sure what I'll do now. Between that and a huge stuck pixel that won't go away, I regret buying this Nexus 7, which was my second one after the screen broke on my first.
  - LVB 13y ago
    My solution (which includes some steps described ITA) after struggling for while: 1) get rid of multiple users 2) free up a lot of space 3) run ForeverGone. #1 was a step backwards, but so was horrible performance. Now things are running smoothly.
igravious 13y ago
I should add that Jelly Bean was the first version of Android that I noticed to lose all traces of lagginess and be comparable response-wise to any iPhone or iPad I've used. Apple nailed this UX from the get-go, it took a while for Google to nail this I feel; also perhaps unoptimized Android devices were not helping matters. My HTC and Nexus, both with Jelly Bean are as smooth as, um, butter.
- mrbrowning 13y ago
  I don't want to over-generalize based on one data point, but on my Galaxy Nexus I noticed that 4.2 pretty handily undid all of the improvements that 4.1 managed in this arena. It was indeed a paradise of smoothness for that one point release, though.
  - igravious 13y ago
    I did not notice that. You could very well be right. It'd be nice if Google could release some cold hard performance figures. Maybe I could, er, Google it.
  - thrownaway2424 13y ago
    IMHO 4.2 should never have been shipped for the Galaxy Nexus. Just too slow. I upgraded to a Nexus 4 and 4.2 is fine there, but will 4.4 be fine? Nobody knows.
  - yareally 13y ago
    I'll be building 4.3 for the gnexus after it syncs, so we'll see how it is.
    - yareally 13y ago
      Anyone wondering, it's performing faster than 4.2 on the gnexus imho. Battery life is the same though. Superuser is problematic unless you undo a change in one of the /davlik files[1]. That makes the system partition mount without nosuid as it did before Android 4.3. The other solution is uglier, using SuperSU (which is closed source) and runs as a hacky service that most apps are not compatible with yet. [1] https://android.googlesource.com/platform/dalvik/+/9907ca3cb8982063a846426ad3bdf3f90e3b87c2 https://android.googlesource.com/platform/dalvik/+/9907ca3cb...
bitwize 13y ago
Fuck the haters, Despicable Me is awesome. And yes, when I picked up and handled my Nex 7 for the first time I thought to myself "this is an iPad mini". I was absolutely flabbergasted that they could push a device of this quality out at the quasi-magical $250 price point. Then Apple came out with a real iPad mini, and I'm still glad I got the Nex instead. Top-notch in terms of performance, ease of use, portability and clean design.
- mikeash 13y ago
  There are Despicable Me haters? They probably just need banana.
  - kunai 13y ago
    Or they could just go to New York New York Las Vegas and see that stealing the small Statue of Liberty is no small feat...
    - mikeash 13y ago
      What with all the security in Vegas casinos, stealing the real one is probably easier.
megablast 13y ago
Since I got my ipad mini, I have not really used my nexus, only for debugging my apps. The battery, screen, speed and so were all worse, and I never got used to the os as much as I have for iOS. If I didn't need an android tablet, I probably would not have one.
- jonknee 13y ago
  Compare any two items in the same category that are 65% apart in price and it probably wouldn't make a lot of sense to choose the cheaper one.
  - micampe 13y ago
    16GB Nexus 7 is $269, 16GB iPad mini is $329, the difference is 20%.
    - ProCynic 13y ago
      Actually, the story says that the 16GB nexus 7 is $229, so the iPad mini is 44% more expensive.
    - scott_karana 13y ago
      The updated 16GB Nexus 7 is $229. That's a 30% difference. You're also missing the fact that until this update, the Nexus 7 16GBs were only $199, which is a whopping 40% difference.
      - micampe 13y ago
        My mistake, I looked at the price in the Play Store and looked at the wrong one.
        scott_karana 13y ago
        No worries! I completely understand.
    - deleted 13y ago

dspillett 13y ago

I'm very happy with mine too - I only got it after I bought a dirt cheap 7" Android device for testing purposes (a client was reporting issues on one of their applications with users who were using Android devices) and realised that "if this wasn't dog slow and had higher resolution it would be the perfect thing for some of my work/play needs". I have noticed it seems to be feeling slower over time, though not so much so that I've made an effort to look into it, particularly when starting larger apps or updating apps in the background while doing something else.

igravious 13y ago
I got a dirt cheap clone (I don't remember how much exactly ) from a Chinese reseller from Amazon UK and the screen was crap ^shudder^ and the touchscreen had a glitch ^double shudder^ but it was Android and it was reasonably quick. These things you really need to try before you buy. There's another thread here about the potential slowdown issue. Same'll happen to a Mac or PC I reckon after a while. I've not noticed it. When you think about it Android tablets are pretty new so they haven't been used to their full extent, nor to the end of their lifespan.
- dspillett 13y ago
  Aye, the cheap one is fine for the specific purpose (testing those issues in the stock android browser an a cheap device) but would be infuriatingly slow for my day-to-day use of the Nexus 7. The slowdown I've noticed is only really when I'm asking it to do more than one thing at once (usually updating apps while browsing heavy pages or stating other apps) which is fairly rare anyway so I'm not particularly concerned ATM.
Scaevolus 13y ago
The original Nexus 7 filesystem drivers weren't issuing TRIM commands when deleting files, so write performance became much slower (in some cases, <1MB/s). LagFix is a rooted app to fix it, and there are alternatives for non-rooted devices as well. http://www.howtogeek.com/164106/why-is-my-nexus-7-so-slow-8-ways-to-speed-it-up-again/ http://www.howtogeek.com/164106/why-is-my-nexus-7-so-slow-8-...
- inyourtenement 13y ago
  I noticed my Nexus 7 getting very slow, found this same information, and ran ForeverGone. There was no noticeable improvement. I then did a factory reset. It may have been a bit snappier at first, but within a couple days it was slow again. Mostly, I noticed jerkiness and lag scrolling web pages. I'm not sure what I'll do now. Between that and a huge stuck pixel that won't go away, I regret buying this Nexus 7, which was my second one after the screen broke on my first.
- LVB 13y ago
  My solution (which includes some steps described ITA) after struggling for while: 1) get rid of multiple users 2) free up a lot of space 3) run ForeverGone. #1 was a step backwards, but so was horrible performance. Now things are running smoothly.

igravious 13y ago

I should add that Jelly Bean was the first version of Android that I noticed to lose all traces of lagginess and be comparable response-wise to any iPhone or iPad I've used. Apple nailed this UX from the get-go, it took a while for Google to nail this I feel; also perhaps unoptimized Android devices were not helping matters. My HTC and Nexus, both with Jelly Bean are as smooth as, um, butter.

mrbrowning 13y ago
I don't want to over-generalize based on one data point, but on my Galaxy Nexus I noticed that 4.2 pretty handily undid all of the improvements that 4.1 managed in this arena. It was indeed a paradise of smoothness for that one point release, though.
- igravious 13y ago
  I did not notice that. You could very well be right. It'd be nice if Google could release some cold hard performance figures. Maybe I could, er, Google it.
- thrownaway2424 13y ago
  IMHO 4.2 should never have been shipped for the Galaxy Nexus. Just too slow. I upgraded to a Nexus 4 and 4.2 is fine there, but will 4.4 be fine? Nobody knows.
- yareally 13y ago
  I'll be building 4.3 for the gnexus after it syncs, so we'll see how it is.
  - yareally 13y ago
    Anyone wondering, it's performing faster than 4.2 on the gnexus imho. Battery life is the same though. Superuser is problematic unless you undo a change in one of the /davlik files[1]. That makes the system partition mount without nosuid as it did before Android 4.3. The other solution is uglier, using SuperSU (which is closed source) and runs as a hacky service that most apps are not compatible with yet. [1] https://android.googlesource.com/platform/dalvik/+/9907ca3cb8982063a846426ad3bdf3f90e3b87c2 https://android.googlesource.com/platform/dalvik/+/9907ca3cb...

bitwize 13y ago

Fuck the haters, Despicable Me is awesome. And yes, when I picked up and handled my Nex 7 for the first time I thought to myself "this is an iPad mini". I was absolutely flabbergasted that they could push a device of this quality out at the quasi-magical $250 price point. Then Apple came out with a real iPad mini, and I'm still glad I got the Nex instead. Top-notch in terms of performance, ease of use, portability and clean design.

mikeash 13y ago
There are Despicable Me haters? They probably just need banana.
- kunai 13y ago
  Or they could just go to New York New York Las Vegas and see that stealing the small Statue of Liberty is no small feat...
  - mikeash 13y ago
    What with all the security in Vegas casinos, stealing the real one is probably easier.

megablast 13y ago

Since I got my ipad mini, I have not really used my nexus, only for debugging my apps. The battery, screen, speed and so were all worse, and I never got used to the os as much as I have for iOS. If I didn't need an android tablet, I probably would not have one.

jonknee 13y ago
Compare any two items in the same category that are 65% apart in price and it probably wouldn't make a lot of sense to choose the cheaper one.
- micampe 13y ago
  16GB Nexus 7 is $269, 16GB iPad mini is $329, the difference is 20%.
  - ProCynic 13y ago
    Actually, the story says that the 16GB nexus 7 is $229, so the iPad mini is 44% more expensive.
  - scott_karana 13y ago
    The updated 16GB Nexus 7 is $229. That's a 30% difference. You're also missing the fact that until this update, the Nexus 7 16GBs were only $199, which is a whopping 40% difference.
    - micampe 13y ago
      My mistake, I looked at the price in the Play Store and looked at the wrong one.
      - scott_karana 13y ago
        No worries! I completely understand.
  - deleted 13y ago