My thoughts on the Nexus 7

I’ve been meaning to write a review on the Nexus 7 - 32GB, wifi only - for a few months now, but haven’t gotten round to it until now for two main reasons:

1. I’ve been busy writing.
2. I dropped the first Nexus 7 I bought, broke it and had to wait a few weeks to get a new one.

So firstly, the Nexus 7 isn’t the most durable piece of hardware out there. When I dropped my original device, it was from waist height, and in a protective case. The screen didn’t smash, nor did the body chip, but the battery must have become dislodged, as it had severe power issues afterwards.

That to one side, I’ll keep this fairly short:

Durability

We’ll get this one out of the way first. The Nexus 7 is a VERY delicate piece of hardware. As mentioned above, after a week of owning it I accidentally dropped it on my study floor. It turned off immediately and when it finally powered on, the slightest tap or jolt would power it down instantly. I took it back to the store and got a new device a week later.

Durability is important for most of my devices, as I intend to use them for a long time. But it’s not a major issue here as I only use the Nexus 7 at home or work (as it is wifi only), and don’t intend to carry it around much.

Apart from its lack of shock-proofing, it is a well built and solid feeling device.

Rating – 5/10

Applications

I’ve been careful not to flood the Nexus with useless applications, and have found myself downloading some really cool and frequently used apps as a result.

The Nexus has been criticised by some for merely using apps designed for smartphones and simply up-scaling them to fit the tablet’s screen. I haven’t experienced any issue here and use the same apps on my Sony Xperia S as I do on my Nexus 7.

Here are some essential Nexus 7 apps that I use:

• ·         Evernote

• ·         Widgetsoid

• ·         MX Player (seems to be able to play HD video files that VLC Player can’t)

• ·         OfficeSuite Pro (great for reading and editing text)

• ·         Nova Launcher

• ·         Outlook.com (great email client)

• ·         WordWeb (good dictionary app)

I’m sure I’ll be downloading many more apps in the near future, but so far I’m very happy with what I’ve got.

Rating – 9/10

Audio & Visual

I really like the Nexus 7’s screen. There are rumors of a 1080p Nexus 7 coming soon, but until then, this screen is enough for me. The iPad mini’s screen is apparently sharper, but I’ve not had any issues with glare, lack of colour or quality with the Nexus 7. Colours are vibrant and bright, and when watching high def movies, the detail is still crisp.

The speakers are based at the back of the unit as a single strip, and are fine if you are in a normal indoor environment. The quality is high, but the volume isn’t always loud enough (depending on the output level of the media being played). When I'm watching quiet Youtube videos or movies etc I have a small portable speaker that I plug into the Nexus 7 if the audio being played is too weak, which has happened a few times.

The bonus is that I’ve never experienced audio clipping, the downside is that not all media played through the 7 is loud enough.

Rating – 8/10

Usability

The Nexus 7 is extremely easy to use. As with most Android products, you have the option to keep things as simple as you want, or you can make the device extremely customised.

I’m somewhere in between. I have used the apps Nova Launcher and Widgetsoid to keep everything I need (so far) on one page. All my main apps, twitter, facebook, Youtube, Blogger etc and Dolphin Browser HD are found in the Widgetsoid pull down menu at the top left, and my settings are in the pull down menu in the top right.

My main page holds all my widgets, like weather, google+, feedly, evernote and BBC News headlines. The launcher holds all my other useful apps in folders such as, media, finances, news etc.

Picking this device up and using it from the get-go was no trouble at all.

Rating – 9/10

Conclusion, if you havn't alerady got a tablet, buy a Nexus 7, especially if you have other Android devices which can sync with it. 

GRADE - AWESOME