Google Nexus 7

Not sure there is much design to discuss here, all tablets are starting to look the same. I do like that the capacitive touch navigation buttons have been moved to the LCD panel, they at least now have some visual feedback when selected (they change colors).

I’ll be straightforward:

-The leather-rubbery texture on the back is a nice thing, indeed
-the build quality isn’t bad
-The software is indeed slightly better, however the original ICS for tablet skin was better. I tried it, and felt more practical. Now it feels annoying, if they ONLY moved them to the right/left or gave the option to the users to actually decide which hand to use. Same with the notifications bar.
-I’m very glad about Project Butter. Finally Android can compete with iOS and WP in terms of smoothness, yet I didn’t get to play with it. Curious how fast it is on lower-end devices.

I don’t get the LCD button thing tho. What do you mean?

Most Android devices have navigation bar (Home, Back, Search buttons) etched into the glass right below the screen, they don’t provide any feedback and take away from a seamless experience.

I assume you are talking about the tablet UI layout? I’m pretty sure that the way the navigation and notifications work on 7" is just like the phone whereas bigger screens like 10" devices use the traditional tablet UI with everything at the bottom. It’s a screen size thing, and just changes according to the space it has available.

Most Android devices have navigation bar (Home, Back, Search buttons) etched into the glass right below the screen, they don’t provide any feedback and take away from a seamless experience.

Since the release of the Galaxy Nexus, I still don’t understand why OEMs are putting hardware navigation buttons on the phones. I expect all Nexus devices to have on-screen navigation buttons.

Jurrasix, you are correct, my bad. Only Android phones have hardware navigation buttons, all the tablets have on-screen buttons except for some of the cheap models.

I love these teardowns;

Yeah the fact there’s even confusion in the first place says a lot. The regulations aren’t strict for that stuff. Not that there should be strict regulations, but it’s the downside.

On another note, I liked this one.

After getting my hands on one I was very impressed with how far the Android OS has come. The user experience was much smoother, even if you can’t tell why. Sometimes a fraction of a second lag time or a slightly unresponsive button can make a huge difference.

On the hardware side, the thing felt solid even though it was no iPad. The hard edges on the plastic bezel are going to get dinged easily.

Am about to get one after playing around with it for a few minutes. For the price point and hardware specs, it’s amazing they’re able to bring it to the market at the projected price. Can’t really directly compare it to a iPad since it’s less than 1/2 the cost, but also great to see it is being compared to it.

Just in time to counter Apple’s announcement next week.

I just wish someone made a small tablet/player with a phone-like built-in earpiece for Google Voice calls when I’m overseas, I’m not a big fan of Bluetooth headsets. The only option right now is the Samsung Galaxy 5.0.

I got one when they first came out. The price point is what really attracted me as well as the ASUS product design reputation. I have the 8GB one but now the $199 price is the 16GB. You can use up the 8GB very quickly, so I wish I would have waited til the prices dropped. It is very responsive and I think the graphics on it are really impressive too.

I have been using the Nexus 7 for a couple of weeks.

From packaging stand point, it is well built, and it feels just as good as any top tear manufacture’s products.

The optical bonding of the glass is very nice, and the screen is bright and very clear. It’s not Retina display resolution by any means, but the content is displayed clearly non the less. The value is very high, considering it’s a $200 product.

From ID stand point, I have two issues:

  1. It’s very hard to distinguish the power button and the volume toggle button, as the shapes are practically identical, and they are located to close to each other. I often end up clicking the power as I try to adjust the volume, and this is very annoying.

  2. Maybe I’m too used to Apple products, but I prefer having the Home button, as a hardware button with clear tactile details. Because you can rotate the tablet in different orientation, I believe being able to locate the feature with ease is critical. Capacitive buttons and soft buttons are not always prefered, IMHO.