Nexus 7 and the start of my Google life
Summary: I purchased a Nexus 7. With all of Google's latest offerings, we'll see if there's enough there to pull me away from my Apple world.
Like my colleague, James Kendrick, I placed my order for the Nexus 7. As James stated in his post, his initial reaction was not to buy one, but then he thought about it and made the purchase. I, too, went through a similar process, but my reasoning was a bit different than his.
In the case of my Nexus 7 purchase, I first watched the unveiling and came away impressed. Being the owner of an iPhone 4S, iPad 3rd generation, and Kindle Fire, I really saw no immediate need to add the Nexus 7 to my collection. That being said, I decided to dive into the specs a bit more and see if the Nexus 7 was worthy of purchase.
If you haven't spent the time reading about it, check out the specs on Google's Nexus 7 page. While they're all pretty impressive, the ones worth highlighting are:
So, the specs definitely got me excited but then being able to pre-order it for $249 with 16GB is what put me over the edge.
The other thing that started to happen to me as I purchased was that I got sucked into Google's world.
Google Now I read more about what Jelly Bean was bringing to the table, including Google Now, which is something I've been dreaming about since I first got into mobile more than 15 years ago. Imagine your device finally thinking for you! It's been possible for years, but either privacy concerns or interoperability of services have kept it from becoming a reality.
Google Play I recently signed up for iTunes Match so I wasn't in a hurry to migrate to another service. Of course, Google says it can make it effortless for you to migrate to Google Play using its Music Manager software. According to the instructions, you can add up to 20,000 songs to Google Play for free from iTunes, Windows Media Player or folders on your computer. Once in Google Play, you can listen on the web or your mobile devices.
Nexus Q Google has a new offering to compete head-on with any streaming media player in your home, including Apple TV. The Nexus Q sells for $299, and offers to stream your favorite entertainment from YouTube and Google Play to your speakers and screens. Google is also calling it a "social streaming device", and touting features such as allowing your friends, also with Android devices, to stream their own music and collaborate on a playlist in real-time, in your home.
Galaxy Nexus I came dangerously close to purchasing the latest Galaxy Nexus from Google. I figured that would completely throw me over the edge, though, and I've already invested too much in my Apple infrastructure at both work and home.
For now I'll dip my toes in with the Nexus 7, and then see how quickly I get sucked into the Google world. I have many friends that have custom ROMs on their Android devices and they can't believe that I'm still an Apple user. Perhaps the Nexus 7, Nexus Q, Google Now, and Google Play will pull me towards Google for my everyday use.
In the case of my Nexus 7 purchase, I first watched the unveiling and came away impressed. Being the owner of an iPhone 4S, iPad 3rd generation, and Kindle Fire, I really saw no immediate need to add the Nexus 7 to my collection. That being said, I decided to dive into the specs a bit more and see if the Nexus 7 was worthy of purchase.
If you haven't spent the time reading about it, check out the specs on Google's Nexus 7 page. While they're all pretty impressive, the ones worth highlighting are:
- 7" 1280x800 HD display
- 1.2MP Front-facing camera
- NFC (Android Beam)
- Scratch-resistant Corning glass
- Quad-core Tegra 3 processor
- Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
- 4325 mAh battery, bringing in 9 hours of HD video playback
So, the specs definitely got me excited but then being able to pre-order it for $249 with 16GB is what put me over the edge.
The other thing that started to happen to me as I purchased was that I got sucked into Google's world.
Google Now I read more about what Jelly Bean was bringing to the table, including Google Now, which is something I've been dreaming about since I first got into mobile more than 15 years ago. Imagine your device finally thinking for you! It's been possible for years, but either privacy concerns or interoperability of services have kept it from becoming a reality.
Google Play I recently signed up for iTunes Match so I wasn't in a hurry to migrate to another service. Of course, Google says it can make it effortless for you to migrate to Google Play using its Music Manager software. According to the instructions, you can add up to 20,000 songs to Google Play for free from iTunes, Windows Media Player or folders on your computer. Once in Google Play, you can listen on the web or your mobile devices.
Nexus Q Google has a new offering to compete head-on with any streaming media player in your home, including Apple TV. The Nexus Q sells for $299, and offers to stream your favorite entertainment from YouTube and Google Play to your speakers and screens. Google is also calling it a "social streaming device", and touting features such as allowing your friends, also with Android devices, to stream their own music and collaborate on a playlist in real-time, in your home.
Galaxy Nexus I came dangerously close to purchasing the latest Galaxy Nexus from Google. I figured that would completely throw me over the edge, though, and I've already invested too much in my Apple infrastructure at both work and home.
For now I'll dip my toes in with the Nexus 7, and then see how quickly I get sucked into the Google world. I have many friends that have custom ROMs on their Android devices and they can't believe that I'm still an Apple user. Perhaps the Nexus 7, Nexus Q, Google Now, and Google Play will pull me towards Google for my everyday use.
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Talkback
If you use tablet the way that you have to carry it with yourself, then ...
Besides that, it is no less obvious that it is worse choice. It could be only recommended if by the type of use you have to hold it in one hand and carry it with you, and/or you are absolutely in despair for every last dollar so you can not spend $399 for iPad 2/$499 for iPad 3, and you have to go cheap.
Why spend $200 more for media consumption?
Not defending Apple
Agreed
Simple
Better experience
try reading Ebooks outside the house using iPad.
RE: Ebooks
Guess What
Why would they look ridiculous? And why should that matter?
In retrospect we could say that you should try watching downloaded movies or TV shows on your 7" Nexus. I bet you'll look ridiculous compared to those watching the same thing on an iPad.
reading ebooks
Reading for extended periods on any LCD screen is simply ridiculous.
Having said that, any book looks just better, way better on the iPad screen. Especially on the new iPad, especially if you are shortsighted. (*) Thing is, none of these LCD displays is made for reading in particularly bright light. The new iPad is especially "bad" here. Although it reads just fine in bright sunlight, you have to crank up brightness all the way up (which yu won't do sanely in other environments) and that definitely sucks up battery life.
Besides, you can do way more with the iPad and if you are to carry one device, it beats them all.
(*) shortsighted people are able to see much finer details at close distances -- the distances on which one typically reads a book.
Android > iOS
As far as this doing "way more" goes.... I must have been missing something on my i-devices, which is hard to do since all there is on the screen is a 5x4 grid of app icons.
Yes, but...
wrong
I'm surprised the lack of Flash support wasn't a deal breaker!
There you go analyzing specs, Joel.
adfh
Good for you man!
Apple Fan
OK I've said enough I'll look into this nexus it seems as though it has good specs and for a toy, in my case, it's worth thr 200-250.
A Windows RT Version?
It looks like this could be modified slightly to support secure boot and a few other things, but I could easily see this as a media consumption tablet and be viable after about 6 months of apps being added to the Windows App Store. I personally am looking at a Transformer Book for my next purchase since the iPad, Kindile fire, nor the Nexus 7 could become my one device.