[subego]

Not because I need a tablet. I already have too many. It's mostly so I can make sure my stuff looks right on an Android machine, but I'm a little concerned I might like it.

[shifuimam]

I was JUST about to post about it.

It's not gotten as much attention in general because Chromecast was announced on the same day, but I just read up on it.

It sounds amazing. Inductive charging - yay! 1080p display - yay! Cheaper than an iPad mini for more storage - yay! Quad-core processor - yay!

The iPad Mini looks like obsolete technology next to this thing. I want one, but being jobless kind of prevents me from this sort of impulse spending.

[subego]

I'm not predicting "Apple is teh d00med", but they're not so secure I can avoid platform agnosticism like I used to. The rumors point to Apple not refreshing the iPad Mini screen in September. That's a whole cycle where they get spanked.

[P]

The big news is the display. The last one had quadcore as well, and while they switched to a different core design, it's not a particularly impressive one. Not that CPU power matters. Inductive charging is a yawn - they don't include a charging dock in the price anyway, do they? - but that display... looks top notch from the analysis I've read. Not only is it high ppi, they kept the format reasonably sane with a 16:10 instead of 16:9 and the color reproduction is good by all accounts. Very nice to be able to fit that into the low price. I wonder if they did that by selling it at a loss, to give Android more than a toehold in the tablet market? If not, that shows that the price for that display has come down far, which points to a Retina mini in my mind.

Only downside is the battery. The 10 hours of the iPad mini is still troublingly low IME, and they only claim 8 for this.

[Cold Warrior]

Nexus 7 is fatter than the mini but a bit lighter. Ugly large top and bottom bezels. Despite the same height (198-200 mm) and nearly the same width (120-135 mm), the mini is 7.9" diagonal and the Nexus is 7". LTE is "optional" whereas iPad includes all cellular if you buy that model.

I'd rather wait on a retina mini.

[Spheric Harlot]

Has it been worked out what causes the massive slowdown Nexus 7 owners appear to see over time, and whether this will affect the new one?

No, I am NOT looking for reasons to hate on this. On the contrary, I'm looking for info on whether to recommend this thing to people looking for an alternative to the iPads. Initial reviews of the original Nexus 7 were very positive, but that turned pretty quickly IIRC.

[P]

Rumors have it that the problem was related to the storage system - basically that the controller for the flash chip didn't manage to keep the structure in shape.

[mindwaves]

HUGE top and bottom bezel. Very awkward looking. Lovely display. I wouldn't buy it.

[subego]

I'm definitely not picking it because it's what I want as my main device, though I might feel differently if I was broke.

My rationale is more if I'm going to get the best value 7" Android tablet at this very moment, this is hands down the best seeming option.

[shifuimam]

Well, aside from a $40 super chinese tablet with zero support...

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

LTE is "optional" whereas iPad includes all cellular if you buy that model.

I'm not sure what you're trying to imply here, but there's little difference between iPad and Nexus with regard to the radios.

For both wifi is the base model, cellular is optional.

For both the cellular model supports a variety of 3G and 4G frequencies and standards, including LTE.

[subego]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

Well, aside from a $40 super chinese tablet with zero support...

Cheap ≠ Value

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by P 

Rumors have it that the problem was related to the storage system - basically that the controller for the flash chip didn't manage to keep the structure in shape.

Interesting:
Android 4.3 implements TRIM, breathes new life into old Nexus 7

This would make it seem that it was related to TRIM.
Also interesting side note: there are apparently different versions of the eMMC controller within the same Nexus series, so whether this update fixes your problems depends upon which particular version you happen to have.

[OreoCookie]

My brother has a previous-gen Nexus, and I must say, I don't really care for the form factor. Even the previous Nexus 7 did not feel bad in your hands, much better than the Galaxy Tabs I've tried in shops, so the new Nexus 7 seems to be a step forward on that front as well.

Like P, I'd curb the enthusiasm about the processor being quad core, that often did not really help on the previous version either. More ≠ better, necessarily.

[Danney]

I just have an ipad mini. I think it is enough for me. So even I'm attracted by other tablet, I just like it. obviously, I'm too rational

[angelmb]

goodreader.com :: products :: GoodReader :: GoodReader on Android

[Cold Warrior]

Originally Posted by P 

Only downside is the battery. The 10 hours of the iPad mini is still troublingly low IME, and they only claim 8 for this.

Battery life is even worse than stated. Apparently Google thinks it's legit to test in airplane mode at 44% brightness. So I can get eight hours as long as I untether myself from everything I might want to do on a tablet and watch video at less than half brightness.

Google's New Nexus 7 Takes on Apple's iPad Mini - WSJ.com
Google’s Nexus 7 battery claims are shit

[P]

Ouch. Dropping the brightness is common, but testing in airplane mode? That's cheating in my book.

[Cold Warrior]

I'm surprised they didn't spec the GPU by offloading to a PS3.

[OreoCookie]

That's disingenuous, battery life is something even average users will notice, and if they cheat here, people will know. That's makes the prospects of a Retina iPad mini even harder to predict, I don't think Apple would find a significant drop in battery life or gain in weight acceptable.

[ctt1wbw]

I bought a Nexus 7 a few months ago. Already sold it. While it might be a decent tablet, the battery life sucks ass, and sorry to say this but I do not find Android better than iOS.

[P]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

That's disingenuous, battery life is something even average users will notice, and if they cheat here, people will know. That's makes the prospects of a Retina iPad mini even harder to predict, I don't think Apple would find a significant drop in battery life or gain in weight acceptable.

Loss of battery life no, but a thicker chassis could happen. I am continually surprised when I pick up even an iPad 2 - it's so much thicker than this mini that it really feels different. I wonder if there is a middle ground there. If the Retina mini grew to about the thickness of the iPhone 4, that's a good 2 mm Apple could spend on battery, and no one ever called the iPhone 4 thick. I'm sure we'd all prefer if the SOC was an A6X, but that's not strictly a requirement - Apple could go with a regular A6 with a slightly higher GPU clock boost and switch to LP-DDR3 to make up the bandwidth.

[subego]

It came today!

My first thoughts are a little negative. It doesn't have the build quality of the Mini, though I don't know what I was expecting for the price.

Far more irritating is the OS update it downloaded wiped my wifi settings. That's obnoxious.

[subego]

I need a clever way to securely hand off my ridiculous Google password.

[ghporter]

Use Evernote for your password. It's secure, you control who accesses it, and you can delete or change access to a note without any real effort. I think it's better than OnePassword or any of the other password management tools, especially since it's free and available on (I think) just about every platform.

[subego]

Does it have web access?

[ghporter]

Yes. Evernote.

[subego]

Not really using it at all yet, battery started to get low after two days. That's pretty damn crappy.

[subego]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Yes. Evernote.

Unfortunately, this puts me in the same boat. I need to type in my ridiculous Evenote password.

I can't get my full password list until I get 1Password going, which I can't because I can't use the Play Store.

I think I may be stuck into busting my Google password down to normalcy, setting everything up, and then reinsaneifying my password.

[subego]

I used the non-clever method. At least I have a functional tablet now.

[subego]

As a side rant, Google refused to allow reuse of my old password.

It's stupid and worthless directives like this which make people hate IT departments.

This only has value if someone has stolen passwords, or hashes and salt from Google.

If that happens, you ****ing tell me.

[subego]

I immediately wanted to complain about this, but felt I should give it a few days to see if it was lack of familiarity.

The people who designed this never learned the lesson of Apple's hockey puck mouse. There's not enough visual or tactile feedback about which way is up. This matters because the only way to turn it on is an invisible switch on the side.

The only orientation cue on the whole device is the little dot for the front-facing camera. The home button on the iPad is visible enough you can pick it up in your peripheral vision. You have to actually look front-and-center with the Nexus. With the iPad, I've already noticed it's upside-down when I've grabbed it, and am flipping it around as it comes front-and-center

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by subego 

Not really using it at all yet, battery started to get low after two days. That's pretty damn crappy.

I was wondering why mine went down quickly at first, until I realized the screen was drawing a lot of power. IIRC, by default it's set to auto brightness, and that can set it pretty high in a well-lit room. You can download widgets for the home screen that allow you to adjust the brightness quickly and easily; I find that while I'm indoors, I usually don't need anything over 15 or 20% (often closer to 0 at night).

Also the battery gauge supposedly gets more accurate after a number of charges.

[subego]

I think it was not signing in. Without being able to associate data to an individual, it lacked purpose and was crying out in despair.

Now that it's backed off the window ledge, I'm getting better battery life. Not good, mind you, but better. It can idle for a couple days now and still have life left.

[subego]

It looks like there's a little flashy light on it which could help with orientation, but I have no idea what triggers it.