Nexus 7 Tablet

On Wednesday June 27th 2012 Google made some big announcements on it's Google IO, a conference for developers.  This is where they usually show the newest info about Android and every now and then you see some new hardware.  This year they did announce the new version of Android, version 4.1 code named "Jelly Bean".  It will be available in mid June for some Nexus devices.  But that's not what I want to talk about today, I would like to talk about the Nexus 7 tablet!

So what is it? 

Well aside from the fact that it's a 7 inch tablet, it is the first NEXUS tablet ever.  NEXUS again being devices that are made for Google and that come with 100% pure unaltered Android.  So basically Google is not crazy about the fact that so many companies use Android but they always change it to look like something else.  So Google now gets their own devices to show off what Android is really supposed to look and feel like.  

What we have here is a 7 inch tablet with a screen resolution of 1280X800, a Quad Core Tegra 3 processor, GPS, NFC, a battery that should last 9 hours for video and over 300 hours of standby, a front facing camera for video chat (no rear camera) and a lot more.  

How much? 

The Nexus 7 comes in 2 different models.  A 8GB model (8GB of space for storage) or a 16GB model.  The cost of the 8GB model is $199 while the 16GB is $249!  

This makes the Nexus 7 the main competitor of the Kindle Fire which also costs $200 but has a LOT less power than the Nexus 7.  

I'm not going to go into details about how the Nexus 7 is more powerful than the Kindle Fire but I will say that I used to ALWAYS recommend the Kindle Fire to people who were looking for a simple Tablet because it was so cheap.  Well now I'll be recommending the Nexus 7 to even people who are looking for more than just a simple tablet because it really is more.  The Tegra 3 processor is the exact same processor you find on a lot of the new much more expensive tablets like the Asus Transformer Prime.  It was actually built by ASUS for Google.  

You can preorder the Nexus 7 today via the Google Play Store and it will start shipping in mid July.  It WILL ship running Android 4.1 AKA Jelly Bean.  So if you are looking for a 7 inch tablet that will run anything on the APP Store with ease, this is the one you want.  Movies, Music, Books, Games, Web Browsing, Emails, Maps, Video Chat and so much more, all right there on your hands.  

For those of you who DO enjoy some specs, I guess I'll take the time and compare it to the Kindle Fire, I'll just mention the main differences though. 

Nexus 7 vs Kindle Fire 

Display Resolution:  

Kindle Fire: 1024 X 600 (170 DPI)

Nexus 7: 1280X800 (216 DPI) 

Processor: 

Kindle Fire: 1Ghz DUAL Core Processor

Nexus 7: 1.3Ghz QUAD Core Processor

RAM: 

Kindle Fire: 512MB of Ram

Nexus 7: 1GB of Ram

Front Facing Camera: 

Kindle Fire: None

Nexus 7: 1.2MegaPixels

Now, you do need to keep in mind that the Nexus 7 is new while rumors of a new Kindle Fire have already been heard.  So Amazon could surprise us any day with news of a much better Fire, no way to know right now.  Also the Amazon kindle has a very impressive selection of media, while the Google Play Store is getting much stronger in the media department, it is still lacking compared to Amazon.  

Javier Torres

AnarchyLive.com