Google recently announced the brand new Nexus 7 tablet ready for 2013, some call it the Nexus 7 2 while others call it the new Nexus 7 but all we know is that it’s a brilliant piece of technology.
I was really looking forward to the new Nexus 7 when Apple announced their iPad Mini last year, although a great piece of hardware itself I was greatly disappointed by the lack of a retina display and the same 4:3 shape which I personally am not a fan of, I find widescreen tablets much easier to use so I was already a huge fan of the Nexus 7.
The older Nexus 7 was a great device for the time and price but it wasn’t build to last a while, my unit’s battery life greatly shortened after a few months of usage and the screen became harder to use as I got used to the new iPad’s Retina Display and 1080p screen of newer smartphones like the HTC One and Sony Xperia Z.
Priced at $229 for the 16GB, $269 for the 32GB and $349 for the 32GB LTE model making it one of the model affordable tablets on the market. Although priced cheaply the new Nexus 7 is no slouch packing the latest and greatest hardware available for the 7-inch form-factor.
New Nexus 7 Specifications
Produced by ASUS once again, hardware wise the Nexus 7 is fully packed unlike the older Nexus 7 which was already outdated when it entered the market. The new Nexus 7 is powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro 8064 processor with a Adreno 320 chip doing all the graphics work. The multitasking is handled by 2GB of RAM while the storage options include 16GB and 32GB of non expandable memory.
The display is a 1920 x 1200 16:10 7-inch panel with great contrast and crazy viewing angles making the new Nexus 7 the perfect devices for reading books and magazines. The high resolution equals to 323PPI which is Retina Display territory so you know the display is top of the line. The iPad Mini which is the new Nexus 7′s direct competition features a 163 PPI display so the Nexus is the clear winner here.
The new Nexus 7 unlike it’s predecessor also has a back camera which is a 5MP shooter able to shoot 1080p video at 30fps, the back camera on the other hand is a 1.2MP unit which is more than enough for video calls.
Battery life has also been improved with the new Nexus 7 lasting around 10 hours per full charge making it the highest battery life Android tablet available on the market.
New Nexus 7 Software
As expected the new Nexus 7 comes packed with Android 4.3 which is still called Jelly Bean. Most of the changes in this update are low level changes adding functionality and improvements to the OS.
Some of these aforementioned changes include multi user settings with individual app restrictions, Bluetooth Smart which is also known for Bluetooth Low Energy and support for OpenGL ES 3.0 which should result in better games available for the platform.
Want some more user end features? Wait for Key Lime Pie.
New Nexus 7 Compared With iPad Mini
As mentioned before the new Nexus 7′s direct competition is the $329 priced iPad Mini from Apple until an expected refresh is released later this year.
Design-wise the new Nexus 7 has gone away with the leather back and has opted for a plastic finish this time which in my opinion makes it easier to hold and use. The iPad Mini of course has an all metal premium design with the distinct Apple finish. The Nexus due to to it’s plastic build is slightly lighter than the iPad Mini at 290 grams compared to the Mini’s 308 grams but in everyday usage you should not notice this.
Spec wise the Nexus 7 is the clear winner. The 1200p screen is the highest density panel on the market today for a 7-inch device, the iPad Mini has a bigger 7.9-inch screen with a lower resolution of 1024 x 768 so reading books and watching movies will obviously be better on the Nexus. The Nexus also has more RAM, a much faster processor and better graphics chip giving it the clear lead.
The iPad Mini due to it’s larger battery and lower screen resolution has a slightly better battery life of 11.6 hours compared to 10 hours of the Nexus 7 so this one goes to Apple.
The iPad Mini runs on iOS 6 (it is expected to be upgradable to iOS 7 which it releases) which as we all know is super smooth and easy to use but for the more tech savvy user Android 4.3 on the Nexus 7 should be the definitive choice. Both of the Operating Systems have their strengths and weaknesses, like Siri which is slightly better than Google Now and Apple Maps which suck in comparison to Google Maps. Still both the Operating Systems are quite different to each other so in the end the decision depends on the person and their usage. Personally I prefer Android mainly because it gives much more freedom to the user compared to Apple’s offering.
Both the tablets feature WiFi and LTE options in 16GB and 32GB with the iPad Mini also being available in a 64GB model. Unfortunately neither of the tablets’ storage is expandable via MicroSD.
Price wise the Nexus 7 is the clear winner with the 16GB priced at $229 a whole $100 cheaper than the 16GB $329 iPad Mini.
Overall the higher density display, surround speakers, NFC, wireless charging and the aforementioned features make the new Nexus 7 the clear winner. Will the next iPad Mini be able to one up the new Nexus 7? Guess we’ll find out in a few months.
Accessories for the new Nexus 7
Although new accessories for the new Nexus 7 haven’t been announced by Google or ASUS themselves expect many third party manufacturers to deliver awesome accessories.
There are already tons of covers available, I personally like the simple official ASUS Travel Cover but you also have the choice in between hard covers and soft pouches.
There are also other miscellaneous accessories available like wireless chargers, desktop and car charging docks.
New Nexus 7 Availability
The new Nexus 7 is currently available for purchase in the United States from leading retailers including Amazon, Best Buy and also from Google’s own Play Store. The tablet will be officially available in UK, Germany, Japan, Canada, Spain, France, Australia, and South Korea at launch while other potential regions are to be announced later.
The tablet will be available in three versions as mentioned earlier; 16GB WiFi for $229, 32GB WiFi for $269 and 32GB LTE for $349.
Will you be getting the new Google Nexus 7 tablet? Let us know in the comments below.