This is going to be a three part review to the new Google Nexus 7 tablet running Jellybean version of the Android OS.

Part I: Anticipation
Here I’ll talk about what it’s like before I get device, what I’ve heard, and what I’m looking forward too.

Part II: Actualization
My first hands on experience with the tablet, how fresh it feels, how it compares to my other Android experiences and of could compared to the iPad

Part III: Aftermath
And after the glow of ‘new toy’ wears off what are we left with, will I be a hard core user, maybe get a bump up to medium, or will it be regulated to the occasion check in when I think about it.

Part II: Actualization
Okay so it’s been 24 hours since I’ve gotten my hands on the Nexus 7, and man is it AWESOME. The weight is just right, the feel is incredible. It’s rubberized plastic that somehow has a leather like feel, did I say incredible? The textured back is so nice and subdued with only a large etched Nexus and a nice reasonable sized ASUS logo on the lower half, just above the etched speaker grill. All the FCC info is on a removable sticker as to not clutter your device. Did I say incredible?

This tablet feels GREAT to hold, I can not stress that enough. It slides right into my pocket and is ready to go. So here is an interesting shift that I see happening. More and more of my work is being done on my iPad. I can see myself getting the MacBook Pro Retina as my primary machine for coding and video editing, and my iPad kind of replaces my MacBook Air. I mean I am even writing this review on my iPad right now.

Here is the situation, while I had an AWESOME time at San Diego Comic Con (see my Facebook page for photos) I’ll let you in on a little secret. I twisted my ankle the first day, so while I was able to still push through it I’m currently working on the battle bridge (master bedroom). And instead of having the still heat generating MBA I’m using the iPad in my PropUp and I’m using the Nexus 7 to stay connected and look things up. So now the iPads duties are shifting to my Nexus 7. I could see me hitting the road and using the MBP as the computer I use at the hotel, the when I’m out I’ll use the iPad to provide Internet from my back pack to my Nexus 7 while I’m walking around trying to find where I’m going. And while I’m there on site I see myself using the iPad to present, write, and share as needed. While looking up information on the Nexus when the inevitable questions come around. It also gives me a ‘Private screen’ to stay connected while others are looking at the iPad.

Google has a real winner here, and is leading the path to Android’s successes. They have done a lot of things right, but boy have they also dropped the ball on others.

Let’s get the painful stuff out of the way. If you make it through this, then you’ll see there is a lot more they did right than wrong. And no device is yet perfect. Of course I have read that Google isn’t making any money on the device so take these criticisms as just simply things that they can improve on for the next revision.

First the sound, it is awful. This sounds like the POS sub $100 non-google approved tablets. It’s like it’s overdriven once I hit the 75% mark, my current solution is to hook up my mini-x speakers and then the sound is killer, but carrying it around is a bit awkward. I’m going to have to invest in a Bluetooth speaker if I want to share sound. Maybe I just got a bad unit, but it’s horrible.

I long for a killer camera on the back of a tablet this size, but not in the freaking center. Let me hold it horizontal, I’m OK with it center on the front, though really in a perfect world there would be a second camera in the bezel for landscape, but I know, I know, they want to keep the cost down.

When/if they add a good camera on the back, I’m hoping they’ll add the option of micro-sd or some addition storage expansion. It will be great if they add a real camera, that s something else I can not stress enough is how important it is for that back camera to be a great camera. This gives the consumer a greater reason to get a tablet over a point and shoot.

That’s it hardware wise, so these next bits are things that can be resolved with software updates or they may even be current hacks that can be applied. That’s one of the joys of the open system, more on that latter. And these are really minor little nit picky things.

The home screen not flipping when just about everything else does. I thought I saw a hack for that floating around but I haven’t had a chance to dig into it, but I assure you I will for Part III.

The other is the Facial recognition is kind of a joke, although it does appear to be working better since I took off the blink detection, however then a photo will even unlock the device. I use the face detection as fun, and it should do for the most part. But I’m finding myself doing the pattern more than getting the blink to work. Besides if I leave the photo way to work then my partner Matt can still get in if he needs to by keeping a photo of me on his phone.

Speaking of Matt surprisingly this is the first device i’ve played around with that’s peaked his curiosity. In fact he’s asked if he’s getting one, and he just might get one this holiday season 😉

Okay back to the openness which is a curse and a blessing. While the Google Play Store is still trying to mature it seems that most the applications that I use on my iPad are available on the Android platform as well now. most of the utilitarian apps I use ones are free, and others I already bought for my Transformer and Kindle Fire so I just had to install them so my re-investment has been low and I haven’t even used any of my $25 credit with the Google Play store yet.  But the openness of the system allows me to install the keyboard I like best.

Real world interruption, so while I’m writing this I get a request from a client. Since I don’t want to beak my flow I usually grab Siri and have her set a reminder. But for some reason today Siri is failing me with the double bop fail sound, so I grabbed the Nexus 7 jumping into Google Now and had it add the request to my calendar. Bam score one for Google.

The interface is smooth, just like (dare I say it) butter 🙂 one of the original gripes I had was that the G+ app was better on the iPad that I was on the Nexus, but that afternoon the G+ app was updated and it is now just as nice.

This size and form factor is perfect for a GPS whether you need in the car, or even for just walking around town. It’s also great for when you’re reading in bed which is really what I wanted the Kindle Fire for, and was sadly disappointed that it didn’t work out as well as I had hoped. The front facing camera is decent I believe it’s 1.2 megapixel it works okay for Skype, it’s not the best but it works.

I haven’t done a Hangout on it yet, mostly because I can’t handle the sound come out of this tablet, but I’m hoping to do so in the next week. Maybe after I can try and find a Bluetooth speaker that I can send audio to, or maybe with the headphones, I’ll have try my noise canceling Zagg ear buds to see if they work. More on that in Part III.

So wrapping up Part II, Google and ASUS Nexus 7 is an incredible tablet at $199/$249 I see this integrating into my workflow nicely. I use to carry around an iPod touch when I worked in an office and was running around answering questions from desk to desk, I see how the Nexus 7 can be that replacement. You think it’s almost too big until you start using it and everything else just fades away (like the power and volume rocker) and you are sucked into the beautiful screen that they have created.

I’m really anxious to hear the numbers on how many they’ve moved the other bad news is Google seems to really dropped the ball on the actual shipping of the product. In my personal experience I place my order on July 10 and I got my device in hand by July 17 so I thought that was a pretty decent turnaround time. I’ve heard people that ordered day of or before that still haven’t gotten theirs shipped yet but should be getting shipped out this week with the upgrade to overnight. Sure they ruffled a lot of feathers but once these guys have the device in their hands they will completely forget about it and all will be forgiven I assure you. Maybe Google will need to give them’s some additional credits or something but all in all they’re going to love this device once they get it in hand.

If you haven’t ordered yours yet, why? Are you waiting to see what Amazon’s coming out with, do you think Apple has something up their sleeve, or are you just not into the Nexus 7? I’m curious to hear what you think.



Bily Foster