Family Nexus

    On October 12, official sales of the Google Nexus 7 tablet, the first 7-inch device running on a 4-core processor and arriving in stores with a preinstalled version of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, started in Russia. I was one of the first to get a novelty for the test. Despite my alleged dislike of Android, I really liked the device, and Jelly Bean - especially.



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    It seems that it is precisely 7-inch tablets that are becoming the standard for a minimal, pocket-sized tablet. Some time ago it seemed that a device with a 5 or 5.5 inch display, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note, would become such a standard. But first, Samsung itself released several tablets with 7-inch displays, then BlackBerry curbed the same diagonal, then Huawei joined this trend. In fact, not only these manufacturing companies have chosen exactly 7 inches for their mini-tablet models, but most importantly, now Apple is going to finally release the iPad mini with a display diagonal of exactly 7 inches, thereby securing the new standard.

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    In this series, the release by Google and Asus of a joint 7-inch tablet looks absolutely logical. Google Nexus 7 by Asus (and this is the name of this device, branded by Google and only manufactured by Asus) was introduced in June this year and has been sold in the USA and Europe for several months. Naturally, gray supplies leaked to Russia. Moreover, if in the States and Europe an 8 GB version costs $ 200, and 16 GB - $ 250, then we according to Yandex.Market8 GB “gray” Nexus 7 costs from 9.5 tons, and 16 GB version - from 12 tons And this despite the fact that availability has been declared by manufacturers almost the most important principle of this device. However, there is every reason to believe that now, with the advent of a certified device at a recommended price of 9,990 rubles. the general price distribution for this device will also change.

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    I’ll say right away not to return to this topic, that in addition to a more adequate price and a guarantee from the manufacturer, certified Nexus 7 has one more advantage. The fact is that after the device arrived in stores in the US and Europe, user reviews appeared about the marriage of the sensor and display. Problems were recognized by the manufacturers and corrected in subsequent batches. So, the Russian, certified Nexus 7 is already from those parties in which the problems have been fixed. The sample I tested did not have any problems with the responsiveness of the sensor, as well as with all other hardware and software. So, I highly recommend taking the “white” versions of the device.

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    Now I propose to take a closer look at the device itself. So, we have before us a 7-inch tablet with a TFT IPS-display with a resolution of 1280x800. The number of pixels per inch is 216, which isn’t a big deal, however, the image on the screen looks very clear. The viewing angles are excellent at all - the image on the display does not deteriorate and does not fade even if you look at it at an angle of 180 degrees. As a protective coating for the display, it was used not the usual Gorilla Glass, but another development of the same company, called Corning Fit, and which is primarily distinguished by greater transparency. Perhaps due to this, the image on the display looks really very clear.

    Above the display is a 1.2 MP front camera for video telephony. There is no main camera here at all, which, in principle, may even be better than having a very average camera in the device, for example, a 3 megapixel camera, which really is not clear what will fit, and the device makes it more expensive.

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    The back, non-removable cover is made of rubberized and textured plastic, which is very good for the fixability of the tablet in the hand, and it’s just nice to touch. The thickness of the tablet is 11 mm. The side faces are slightly rounded. On the right side, in the upper part there is an on / off button, it is also a screen lock / unlock button and a volume rocker. At the bottom there is a micro-USB connector and a 3.5 mm jack for headphones or a headset. At first glance, this is all the connectors, but in fact, not all. On the left side face there are contacts for audio-doc, - a certain docking station either with built-in speakers, or with the ability to connect speakers to it. In short, these contacts are for audio peripheral equipment that has not yet gone on sale.

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    Now a few words about hardware stuffing. The heart of this tablet is the 4 + 1 nuclear processor NVIDIA Tegra-3, which has already managed to adequately prove itself in many flagship devices from different manufacturers, including Asus. RAM - 1 GB. Flash memory - 16 GB. The 8 GB version is also sold in the USA and Europe, but we will not officially sell it here. As for the performance of all this stuffing, both AnTuTu and Quadrant gave him solid bronze: AnTuTu after Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and HTC One X, and Quadrant after HTC One X and Asus Transformer Prime TF201. In a word, do not take up the performance of the tablet.

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    Despite this hardware power, examining the Nexus 7 in absentia when it was first introduced, I honestly did not see anything attractive in it, except perhaps for the price. There is no 3G module and a slot for removable microSD cards, there is no main camera either, I thought. Jelly Bean ?! - Say what you like, but the same Android with the same advantages and disadvantages as a simple four. In general, according to the descriptions of the Nexus 7 did not make much impression on me.

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    But once the device was provided on my test, I immediately liked it very much. The first day I just felt that I liked the device, that I didn’t just want to return to it, but didn’t want to let it out of my hands, but attributed all my sympathies to the tactile sensations from the back cover. Holding the Nexus 7 in your hands is truly both pleasant and convenient. The animation in Jelly Beam is really much smoother compared to even ICS, not to mention previous versions. Offline voice dialing is very enjoyable, although not critically needed. Improved notification interface - a much more useful innovation. The customizable help system for individual alerts Google Now is a very elegant thing from the point of view of the interface, which, however, still needs to be learned to use. The same pleasant and convenient innovation, - A “smart keyboard” that learns your vocabulary, and not stubbornly imposes its own on you. By the way, the keyboard itself looks like, especially with the vertical orientation of the tablet, somehow crooked, but in practice it is with such a shift of letters that it is wildly convenient to type.

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    But all this still was not enough to clearly articulate what is so particularly pleasant about this device. I formulated this only the next day, when I realized that having charged the tablet to 100% last morning, I forgot to put it on charge for the night, and when I woke up, I found that there was another 32% in the battery. And this despite the fact that yesterday I almost never parted with the device: I installed applications, surfed the Internet, listened to music on SoundCloud, watched videos on YouTube and Vimeo, then played Dark Meadow for an hour, and the future was looking at a dream Vkontakte "Live your life" Godard. Well, then I slept for 7 hours, and all this time the Nexus 7 remained connected to Wi-Fi.

    I decided to poyuzat it even before the battery is completely discharged and as a result I got almost 18 hours (I calculated the sleep time) of almost constant work. This is despite the fact that the manufacturer stated that 4325 mAh will last for 9 hours of viewing Full HD video, which, by the way, firstly, is not clear how to look at a display with a resolution of 1280x800, and secondly, these same 9 hours are Full HD videos will not fit on a 16GB flash drive. Oh well, be that as it may, the battery lasts for the most complete day. And that’s what Google branded devices are really good for: perfect hardware optimization.

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    In a word, in my opinion, the product is definitely a success. Those limitations that seemed to me to be shortcomings (lack of 3G and a slot for micro-SD cards) on the third day of testing seemed absolutely logical to me. I realized that the Nexus 7 is a very good and at the same time inexpensive tablet that will suit any family member in style and functionality: a child for games, a teenager for watching a movie or listening to music, dad for business correspondence or browsing, mom for Skype negotiations, for example. Of course, he has competitors, according to certain parameters, they beat Nexus 7, but in terms of ergonomics and pre-installed Jelly Bean, they clearly lose.

    Well, about 635 thousand applications in the Play Market, I think it’s not necessary to talk. It’s better to see a review that shows how all this looks and works in practice.


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