Nexus 7 (2013) - Mini Review
by Brian Klug on July 27, 2013 12:54 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Snapdragon
- Qualcomm
- Android
- Mobile
- APQ8064
- Nexus 7
- Android 4.3
I hesitate to do quick turnaround reviews of products, that’s why this is a short review and Anand is hopefully going to take a longer look at the Nexus 7 (2013). From the time that I’ve spent with the new Nexus 7 however, I think it’s safe at this point to deem it more than a worthy successor to the tablet that not only dominated its form factor for its entire run, but proved that 7-inches was probably the right size for Android tablets. The display is excellent, and at present the best in its 7–8 inch class, beating even the iPad mini in terms of GMB Delta-E 2000 and resolution. Performance is great, build quality is great, and the whole affair runs stock, unadulterated Android 4.3.
The new Nexus 7 is everything a generational refresh should be – performance goes up dramatically, issues were fixed (storage), features were added (5 GHz WiFi, rear facing camera, Qi charging, high DPI display), and it’s all in a thinner and lighter form factor. Everything about the OG Nexus 7 is better in the 2013 model, all while keeping basically the same price point, and we haven’t even looked at the 4G LTE enabled version yet which adds the right kind of operator-agnostic LTE bands for two regions that I’ve been begging for. It’s undeniable that Google is doing something right with the Nexus program, and along with it, hardware partner ASUS.
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Impulses - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
As the happy owner of an OG Transformer, I'm looking forward to upgrading to the new Nexus 7 (I've come to realize I prefer a smaller tablet for my uses), the TF will probably go to my father. Happy to support ASUS either way as I'm generally happy with their entire Android tablet strategy.Affectionate-Bed-980 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
As much as I love quick reviews, please make sure that you follow up on your promises for a full review... soon. Where's that GS4 review Part 2 for example?FergusMackenzie - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
This look like an excellent tablet with one exception. 16:10 is a horrible aspect ratio on a tablet. Why does no major android manufacturer make a tablet with 4:3 aspect ratio?Broo2 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Most tablets are going 16:9 as that fits the 1920x1080 HD video standard and vendors probably get many complains from users watching HD 16:9 movies with black bars and the static sized Magazines/Comics/PDFs are a secondary concern.16:10 is not perfect for magazines/comics/PDFs, but it is better than 16:9; I have only seen the new Nexus 7 and the B&N Nook HD+ with this aspect ratio. The only 4:3s are the iPad and eInk eBook readers... :(
guidryp - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Most Android tablets are 16:10, not 16:9.B&N Nook HD+ is not 16:10. It is 3:2. Which is a pretty good compromise. We need more like that.
Bob Todd - Monday, July 29, 2013 - link
Unless it was something odd with Cyanogenmod 10.1.2 on the Nook HD+, I'd have concerns about 3:2 in general. I always like the extra pixels, but I think that aspect ratio was rare enough that it tripped up a fair number of games that weren't tested properly on 3:2 (but worked fine on 16:9/16:10).charleski - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
In terms of rendering the varying aspect rations of books, comics and magazines 3:2 is probably the best compromise, but 16:10 isn't far off. 4:3 and 16:9 are both much worse.guidryp - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
It's irrelevant for regular novels which are just text, so you can read them on any ratio.Comics and Magazines would be good on 3:2, if your screen is big enough to show the whole page at once, which I would argue 7" isn't. If it isn't then matching ratios hardly matter. If you are going to be panning and zooming, I would definitely prefer 4:3 over 16:9/16:10.
Impulses - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
I like 16:10 in portrait a lot for web browsing and email, which is like 80% of my tablet use. Not sure why you'd prefer anything else for that or for media... 16:9 is noticeably narrower, grab any Win 8 tablet and see.Yofa - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
the original nexus 7 had a 1.2mp front-facing camera. that point is omitted from the comparison chart.