Lovely review, fella. Awesome effort put into it all and it genuinely pays off. However, I’d like a PPV option for the YouTube clip where I replace the TSA logo with some dancing girls. Email me your account details for payment. :P
Android virgin here. Is it really as bad as people are making out? Shit breaking or not working, updates creating as many problems as they fix?
Also one thing you didnt cover Peter, although you may not know after only playing for 12 hours….. What is the battery life like? Say for example I optimise settings (brightness, one or 2 apps at a time etc), how long would it last? Can it play Dark of the Moon beginning to end and still have some juice left to have a nosey around the web after? And does it charge relatively quickly?
I think this device is absolutely perfect for a person like me. Sure id love to splash out on a new iPad and the latest iPhone, but i cant, for something that seems so useful and well built (Android niggles aside)….for that price how can I say no?
One person’s experience isn’t representative of everyone elses.
I’ve used one Android phone or another over the past two years and never had a problem, don’t really know anyone who has.
My Apple experience is representative of everyone else’s so if you listened to me before buying an iThingy you’d be put off just the same as listening to someone else talking about an Android. I switched to Android after Apple fooked me over crippling my iPhone 3G with a firmware update which caused it run unusably slow and all apps to crash constantly (and my Dad’s iPod Touch which we’d only bought him a few weeks prior) it was about 6 months before Apple partially fixed it, by which time most users loyal to them just upgraded… not me, I was off and never to return, well not yet anyway.
Problems seem to arise proportional to how invested people are into Apple’s eco-system ;)
This has got great feedback from critics & users alike and is a steal at £159/£199
The operating system on this is the latest Android system. It’s so current that it’s not on anything else (officially) yet! So you’ve probably got at least 18 months before you wish you had the “latest” OS. It might appear for this and it might not. That’s a massive area of uncertainty with Android at the moment as older devices really are abysmally supported with new OS.
Having said that, you’re not forced to upgrade and the developer curve is well behind the OS one. So, the number of apps that require this new OS (4.1) is nonexistant. Basically, because so many users are left behind with OS updates by their hardware manufacturers, developers are developing for the older systems anyway. So, you should be fine.
As for battery life, I turned the screen down to around a third brightness (auto-brightness off, it caused some odd flickering) and with constant WiFi connection and sporadic mixed use (internet, YouTube, books and Twitter mostly), it’s going to last a couple of days.
If someone came to me, who wasn’t already firmly invested in an app “ecosystem” and not already a tablet owner, and they asked what tablet they should get for some movies, books/comics, internet surfing and general messing around, I’d definitely recommend the Nexus 7.
It’s not as good as the iPad, for sure, but it’s also not as expensive and a tablet is still very much a luxury device. Try the Nexus 7 and in 18 months or 2 years, decide what you like/dislike about Android and move on to a more “premium” tablet if you’ve got the use out of it. By that time, the verdict will be in on Microsoft’s Surface and there’ll be new iPads to consider as well as the next wave of Android but most importantly, you’ll know if you’re going to use a tablet much or if you can stick with a laptop/smartphone.
Also, since it’s a Google experience device, you will get updates before everyone else. No need to wait for manufacturers or carriers to modify the OS. I think you are going to love this tablet.
Like cc, my experience has been the opposite ti what your average Apple customer would like you to believe. Never had a problem with any of my Android devices and the same can be said for my girlfriend and brother. My work iPhone on the other hand is a regular cause of frustration. Find out what your experience is and don’t listen to anyone else.
It’s great for the price but iPad is just so superior to any Android tablet. The games and app that Android users can only dream off.
I can’t give up my awesome apps for live wallpapers.
bunimomike
Lovely review, fella. Awesome effort put into it all and it genuinely pays off. However, I’d like a PPV option for the YouTube clip where I replace the TSA logo with some dancing girls. Email me your account details for payment. :P
Peter Chapman
Oh, surely that means I just have to get some dancing girls to perform next to me? Yeah… I can’t see any objections to that plan at all.
Roynaldo
Android virgin here. Is it really as bad as people are making out? Shit breaking or not working, updates creating as many problems as they fix?
Also one thing you didnt cover Peter, although you may not know after only playing for 12 hours….. What is the battery life like? Say for example I optimise settings (brightness, one or 2 apps at a time etc), how long would it last? Can it play Dark of the Moon beginning to end and still have some juice left to have a nosey around the web after? And does it charge relatively quickly?
I think this device is absolutely perfect for a person like me. Sure id love to splash out on a new iPad and the latest iPhone, but i cant, for something that seems so useful and well built (Android niggles aside)….for that price how can I say no?
cc_star
One person’s experience isn’t representative of everyone elses.
I’ve used one Android phone or another over the past two years and never had a problem, don’t really know anyone who has.
My Apple experience is representative of everyone else’s so if you listened to me before buying an iThingy you’d be put off just the same as listening to someone else talking about an Android. I switched to Android after Apple fooked me over crippling my iPhone 3G with a firmware update which caused it run unusably slow and all apps to crash constantly (and my Dad’s iPod Touch which we’d only bought him a few weeks prior) it was about 6 months before Apple partially fixed it, by which time most users loyal to them just upgraded… not me, I was off and never to return, well not yet anyway.
Problems seem to arise proportional to how invested people are into Apple’s eco-system ;)
This has got great feedback from critics & users alike and is a steal at £159/£199
Peter Chapman
The operating system on this is the latest Android system. It’s so current that it’s not on anything else (officially) yet! So you’ve probably got at least 18 months before you wish you had the “latest” OS. It might appear for this and it might not. That’s a massive area of uncertainty with Android at the moment as older devices really are abysmally supported with new OS.
Having said that, you’re not forced to upgrade and the developer curve is well behind the OS one. So, the number of apps that require this new OS (4.1) is nonexistant. Basically, because so many users are left behind with OS updates by their hardware manufacturers, developers are developing for the older systems anyway. So, you should be fine.
As for battery life, I turned the screen down to around a third brightness (auto-brightness off, it caused some odd flickering) and with constant WiFi connection and sporadic mixed use (internet, YouTube, books and Twitter mostly), it’s going to last a couple of days.
If someone came to me, who wasn’t already firmly invested in an app “ecosystem” and not already a tablet owner, and they asked what tablet they should get for some movies, books/comics, internet surfing and general messing around, I’d definitely recommend the Nexus 7.
It’s not as good as the iPad, for sure, but it’s also not as expensive and a tablet is still very much a luxury device. Try the Nexus 7 and in 18 months or 2 years, decide what you like/dislike about Android and move on to a more “premium” tablet if you’ve got the use out of it. By that time, the verdict will be in on Microsoft’s Surface and there’ll be new iPads to consider as well as the next wave of Android but most importantly, you’ll know if you’re going to use a tablet much or if you can stick with a laptop/smartphone.
Roynaldo
That second to last paragraph….. sold. I trust your judgement, coupled with my own and Chris’ relentless plugging on twitter makes me want this asap.
Thanks guys.
KeRaSh
Also, since it’s a Google experience device, you will get updates before everyone else. No need to wait for manufacturers or carriers to modify the OS. I think you are going to love this tablet.
Like cc, my experience has been the opposite ti what your average Apple customer would like you to believe. Never had a problem with any of my Android devices and the same can be said for my girlfriend and brother. My work iPhone on the other hand is a regular cause of frustration. Find out what your experience is and don’t listen to anyone else.
Awayze
It’s great for the price but iPad is just so superior to any Android tablet. The games and app that Android users can only dream off.
I can’t give up my awesome apps for live wallpapers.
RudeAwakening
Excellent review Peter.