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I've been waiting for ages to get my hands on one of these bad boys. In the early days of the iPad Android differentiated itself from the 9.7” giant with the first raft of 7” tablets. The first iterations which were predominantly produced by Samsung rarely hit the mark and until now still don’t but that changed last year with the release of the first Nexus 7, Google’s first official foray into the tablet market. It was really well received so much so that Apple reacted with the iPad mini which proved the threat that this form factor presented. As time passed the Nexus 7 was plagued with problems with performance and build quality and personally as much as I wanted a pure Android experience the problems suffered by others put me off.

This year saw the release of the new Nexus 7 which is thinner, lighter and faster. Now I’m not going to go into the list of specs as they've been broadly advertised since it came out but there are some real obvious advantages.

In the hand it feels great. The first gen Nexus 7 wasn’t bad at all but with the improvements that Google have made to the build quality it’s just awesome. Day to day I’m an iPad mini user but I do find one handed use a little bit of a strain but the Nexus just feels right.

Then there’s that screen. Oh wow! Now if I was writing this review prior to the release of the iPad mini with Retina Display I would have said that there’s nothing out there like it but they’re much of a muchness but comparing the prices of the two the fact that you can get this level of quality of screen on a lower price tablet just blows me away.

Then there’s the performance. It’s slick as snot. That’s probably due to the fact that you’re getting pure Android without all of the skinning crap that adorns all that have come before it. The other great thing is that as it is stock Android then you’re going to get the latest updates so Kit Kat is most certainly on the cards which brings improvements in droves.

The only problem you have and one you won’t be surprised about are the availability of apps. There is no way the offering of that of the iPad and some of the apps that you do get feel like stretched out smartphone apps, but this landscape is improving. I found that all of the apps that I use day to day are there and function in much the same way as their iOS brothers and sisters. But then what are using your tablet for? If you’re just surfing the net, writing emails, checking Facebook and Twitter and playing games then everything you need is here.

The one thing that does blow me away is Google Now. I’ve always wanted Siri to do so much for me but all I really find I use it for is setting reminders and timers. Google Now is so much more intelligent than this and the reason that I’ve drifted towards the Nexus so if you want a real personal assistant this cannot be missed.

So why write a review about something that’s been out for a while now? Well one, as a hardened iOS user I can tell you that my heart has been melted. The customisation of Android is right up my street and it feels like a much for personal device than the iPad. Fair enough it’s got a long way to go but its had a hell of a start.

And hey the original Nexus 7 is out there too if you just want a basic tablet experience and can be picked up for a song.

So if you are in the market for a tablet, and man there are a lot of them out there, please check this out first.

Author

Paul Wright

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