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Google Nexus 7
by alex88
I brought my Google Nexus back in January 2013 after much consideration on whether to get a tablet or not and then what tablet I should get. I mainly wanted a tablet to watch catch up tv, facebook, twitter and general browsing. So after much researching on the internet I decided to go and look at the Nexus 7. So off I went to Currys, and ... had a little play on the Nexus, I initially liked the size, and it fits nicely in the hand. The interface was easy to operate and the resolution was perfect. It didn't take long for me to make my decision. So off I went to the checkout to make my purchase. The price was £199.
The Nexus 7 firstly has to be charged and then on initial start up you have to create an account where you get a gmail email address. To be honest I rarely use my gmail email account as I already have an email address that I'm happy with. Once set up, you can go into the play store and search around the store for apps you would like to download. There are lots of free apps but I must admit, it isn't as good as the Apple app store, there doesn't seem to be as much choice and I was a little disappointed that I couldn't download ITV player as I use this quite often, although I have heard this should be available at a later date. That said, the other on demand programmes were available.
The screen on the Nexus is brilliant, really sharp and clear. This Nexus came with the new Ice Age film. And it looks really good on this display. Photo's are also nice and clear. Apps seem to run smoothly and I haven't yet had a problem with them crashing on me which I have with some Apple apps.
In all, I really like the Nexus and is a great size to put in my bag and take around with me. It's not too chunky, runs smoothly and does everything I want it to do.
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Google Nexus 7
by bilbobaginz
I have never owned a tablet, and was planning on leaving it a few years longer in order to get something with a little more power for less cash. Eventually, though, I was talked into making the purchase now. I realised that most of the tablets available at the moment offer as much in features and raw ability as I'm ever going to need ... from an everyday device. Internet connectivity and thousands of apps, all built in to a clean and speedy unit - what more could you want?
Released last summer, the Nexus 7 was developed by Google in conjunction with hardware producer, Asus. It's a more affordable alternative to the IPad Mini, and runs the much more open and customisable Android OS - the new 4.2 'Jelly Bean' version. Google say they've slashed their profit margins substantially in order to bring the device's RRP more than £100 below the Mini's to 169.99 for the 16gb version and £199.99 for the 32gb. There was an 8gb version but this was discontinued after the hard drive space became obsolete, falling behind today's ever expanding tech frontier . I own the 32 GB version, and both this and the 16gb are powered by a quad-core Tegra 3 processor with 1gb of RAM - that's a lot of umph for a small 7-inch device. The speed at which the thing loads games, videos and web-pages is unmatched by anything I've seen. It has a crystal clear 1280x800 HD display that really brings the vibrancy and sharpness of detailed visuals to light. Watching a film (or trailer) with a varied colour pallet will highlight the devices ability to transmit colours in a smooth, seamless fashion - I advise 'Life of Pie'. The tablet has a 1.2 megapixel front camera, but rather bizarely, no application or triggure installed to take pictures with! - It's easy to find a free app that can optimise your camera as a video recorder or snap shot taker though, and these are generally free. The Nexus has a weight of 347g, about average for a small tablet, though quite a bit heavier than the IPad Mini. The device feels slim and refined in your hand and there is minimal logo-ing on the rear - just the Nexus and Asus names etched into the plastic covering.
It's worth mentioning that also available is the Nexus 4 and 10: the 4 being a powerful smart phone, and the 10 a large tablet similar in performance and price to the latest large IPad device. Its both easy and convenient to transfer files - whether media or document - between the three products, prompting you to buy two or three from the range and help Google dominate Apple for good.
There are now more than half a million Apps available for Android devices, the vast majority compatible with both tablets and phones. Nexus users use 'Google Play' to access free and payable applications. Play is a good basis for downloading games, films, music and books as well. There is the looming danger that the Nexus is too heavily burdened by Play and that this gives users too little freedom in comparison with other android tablets. After using the device, I don't really agree, I think the balance is quite good - the barrage of free stuff available tends to numb your opinion of Google's controlling nature.
As for the use-ability of this wonderfully powered and fantastically connected device, I have nothing but good words to type. In fact, typing is a good place to start. The keyboard on the Nexus is excellent - it responds instantly and intelligently (as does the entire touch system) bringing up predictions of words and allowing you to select them or ignore them. The device has multi-touch for zooming and spinning screens (like when swivelling maps) which works smoothly in all areas. The layout of the programs and apps installed is partially customisable - as you can move round / resize elements on your home screen - which means a more familiar layout and therefore better useability. Drop down menus at the top of the screen allow you to change the brightness and wireless options easily among other things. The battery icon brings up an in depth account of your battery usage for the duration of the tablets use, you can then adjust apps and brightness settings to prolong the usage of your tablet. The battery will last around 10-12 hours playing games / watching videos, and more than 3 times that listening to music or reading an e-book on low brightness. This time-frame is not dissimilar to the other competing small tablets.
There's so much to this tablet. I've only scraped the surface here, giving you the basics so that you can make your own decision on the tablet that's right for you. Kindle Fire HD, Mini, Surface, or Nexus. Go for the latter, it far surpasses the rest in quality and price.
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Storage Options 55109 Scroll Essential 2
by broxi3781
After having some problems with the Andypads, Amazon offered to exchange one for a full refund. We decided to look for a tablet with the Google Play -however if we got one son a tablet with more options, the other would be upset so we ended up using the credit to buy one of these with £10 towards the next, added a dooyoo certificate for ... £20, and forked over the rest to get two of these.
A few specs:
7" capacitive screen
8gb internal memory
512 mg ram
Takes micro sd card up to 32 GB
Bluetooth and wifi
Full HD 1080p and 3D streaming
What's in the box:
This is very well packaged, in fact I saved the box for storage. All you get is the tablet, the charger, a tiny set of earphones, which we never use as the children have a good set of headphones and an instruction book. The earphones look cheap and flimsy, but then most of the ones with this type of product are. The instruction are actually all in English, clear, well written and easy to understand. The print is small though so this might pose a problem for some one with vision problems.
My husband set these up for the boys, setting up accounts on Google Play and downloading several apps for the children, including angry Birds, where's My Water etc... By the time he has all this done, I would say it took about an hour per tablet. This comes preloaded with something called Slide Me Marketplace, which we have never used. My husband says he believes Google Play was already installed as well, he just had to set up account details, and we have downloaded from the amazon app store as well.
We did buy these tablets primarily for apps, and for this purpose, they are brilliant. We have only had one app (gun club) that has caused any problems, but we have had problems with the same app on every other device we have tried. We found that if we used the same account details, any apps bought for one boy appeared on the other boys tablet as well. The games load quickly and easily and freezing is an extremely rare occurrence. My children are both over the moon about being able to choose apps from Google Play. Most of these are free, but paid apps are usually very inexpensive. I think the ones we have bought have been roughly 54 pence each.
The screen is capacitive and very responsive, you can pinch and zoom, swipe quite easily and type as easily as possible for a touch screen. Personally, I do prefer a keyboard and really wouldn't want to write a review on this, but it is very easy to type something in for a search.
I live in what we call a signal black hole. We have had problems with wifi reception with several older products, but perhaps technology has improved. We have never had any problems at all with wifi connection on these or losing connection while browsing or watching videos. The boys use these for you-tube frequently. and we have found videos load quickly and without any problems. Connection speed has always been very good, but I do think my desktop PC is better. With 6 GB of ram, one would hope so, and I don't know if it is really fair to compare a tablet to a desktop, as they really are not the same thing. It does load pages as quickly as my husbands laptop though, which I feel is good for such a small device. All the same, I would have preferred a full GB of ram, but this simply was not available in this price range. they have a large number of aps and MP3's and this does not appear to have slowed things down at all.
My sons often listen to music on these - which means I listen to their music as well. As I frequently have to remind them to turn it down, I feel volume is more than adequate for ordinary purposes, to watch a video or listen to music. It isn't going to be loud enough to provide music for a party, but I would not want this any louder than it is. The sound quality is good, but not brilliant. I'd be happy listening to my music only through the tablet speaker, but I will admit, it is not quite the same quality as it would be played through a good set of external speakers, and there is a noticeable improvement with headphones. I also feel that our MP3 player has better sound as well. This is fine to play MP3's for myself or my sons. I wouldn't recommend it in place of an I-pod or for a serious audiophile.
We have not used the video playback function of this device, as Love Film does not work with android. I would note though that you will need to buy a separate cable if you wish to connect this to the TV as this is not included. We have also not used the pre installed e- reader, as we prefer real books. I would also note that my sons do not use social networking sites. However, if you do wish to use these, you can do so through the web browser or built in apps. There is a built in camera which can record both still pictures and video. The picture quality is not really adequate for a family photo, but it is fine for the children to take stupid pictures to annoy their parents with. The pictures actually look pretty decent on the small screen.
The Amazon site does not give an estimated battery life span, and I can't say I have timed every minute from charged to dead. But I find these need charged less than once a week, even with regular use. I did find one article that claims battery life is 4 hours, but I really can't see it and would guess closer to 6 hours at a minimum.
Overall, I think this is a brilliant wee device for the price, but we have only had this two months. Rest assured though, I always update technical reviews in the event of problems, so if you are reading this several months from now, you may assume it is still working well unless I have updated to say otherwise. I do prefer to wait to review many items but with things like this, the item may well be out of date by the time I have several months experience with it.
I do have few minor complaints with this product though. First, I wish this felt a bit sturdier. I would have preferred a heavy plastic frame like the Andypad has. I also feel that the charging pin is extremely thin and small and would be easy to damage. Finally, there are very few accessories available for this product and those that are available are overpriced. I would love to have silicon skins for these to provide some protection from falls, but can not find ones for this specific model, although possibly ones for other models may fit.. A thin false leather keyboard and wallet costs £19.10. An extra charger is nearly £10. A car charger is more reasonable though at£4.95 and a basic faux lather sleeve has dropped to £7.50. I do not feel any of these issues warrants the loss of a full star however, and I honestly do believe we got excellent value for money with these items.
If you are looking for something to play high powered games, I'm afraid this tablet is out. I do have a paid subscription to an educational internet game site, and this doesn't meet minimum specs as it must have 1 gb of ram and should have 2. But if you just want something to watch you tube, surf the net and play apps, then I do recommend this tablet, especially if you need something on a budget.
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