Gadgetory

about a year ago Google set out to create more than just smartphones with their growing Nexus name and in a partnership with a soos what came out of it was the Nexus 7 a 7-inch tablet just outside the comfort of one hand but in the intersection of Portability and power it sold like crazy primarily because of its very affordable price point but a lot changes in a year smartphones grew to 5 inches and device performance while just continued to grow so the masses demanded an update and last week we finally got one with another year of further Nexus experience under their belts have Google and Asus created one of the best tablets ever hey it's Josh of agar from Andhra Authority what's going on everybody and this is the Google Nexus 7 I'm going to go at some length about design the new Nexus 7 is thinner narrower and lighter than the original further perfecting the 7-inch form focusing on the front you see that the side bezels have been shrunken down and any space that was created by doing so has been shaved off what you get is a narrower profile that is almost 6 millimeters less than that of last year's Nexus 7 the bezels at the top and bottom basically stay the same and I think that's pretty genius but more on that in a bit the power button and volume rockers remain above where your right hand would land when you come around the back that dimpled design of the original has been done away with for a slightly rubberized material that makes grip even easier couple this with the thinner profile and narrower sides and you get a very comfortable one handed grip in the very corner you get a new rear facing five megapixel camera and stereo speakers that adorn the top and bottom or sides depending on how you hold it the new Nexus 7 is quite a looker slim sleek simple but I really think that in design they've truly figured it out you can infer this from the Nexus logo on the back it is now sideways implying that this tablet is at its best one in landscape mode the bezels support this first let's say you're reading Flipboard in portrait mode the thin bezels slim profile and lightweight make it easy for your one hand to perform the most important tasks without any strain or discomfort and when you need a better grip you can really wrap your hand around the entire device but then put the Nexus 7 on its side keeping the bezels thick at the top and bottom of this tablet lets you get great positioning on your gripping hand without accidentally touching the screen control is then easy and simple you've heard me say before that I love black slate designs that means a design that is simplistically elegant and unobtrusive so that it never gets in the way of what is most important because when you turn on that screen the possibilities feel endless as a tablet has easy to carry hold and throw around as this the Nexus 7 is currently as black slate as you can get in just one year we've seen an incredible boom of 1080p displays on handheld devices the new Nexus 7 joins that trend with a screen also capable of 323 PPI what results is one of the sharpest midsize displays available since a device this size is typically geared towards reading rest assured that the new Nexus 7 will be your new hub for e-books magazines web news and the like everything is crisp and sharp even smaller text more on the media side the screen delivers very good color range and never struck me as dull viewing angles are all great and the brightness of this display helps it remain useful even in the daylight gamers rather quickly disappointed by the lack of payoff in the original Nexus 7's gaming promises we'll find them rekindled with this new version the higher resolution and overall better quality screen makes gaming a treat overall you have a Nexus 7 that has leptin - the technology present and this screen is a great example of that the original Tegra 3 powered Nexus 7 promised great performance at an affordable price but users have been recently complaining about lag stutter and overall slowness in their 7-inch tablets in that time that the Tegra 3 supposedly aged many other processing packages have been able to prove their worth plenty of people are using the s4 pros of yesteryear and they remain happy just ask a nexus 4 user so this new Nexus 7 took to that same package to bring affordable performance the Snapdragon s4 pro clocks in at 1.5 gigahertz and is backed by the tried and true Adreno 320 and a bump up to 2 gigabytes of RAM scores remain high for this package definitely higher than last year's model in practice I have yet to notice any real hiccups and all tasks speed very well and multitasking remained a breeze you don't necessarily need the cutting edge to get great and reliable performance and it shows in this Nexus 7 simplicity is the general idea when it comes to hardware in the Nexus device you don't get a microSD card slot or removable batteries but where it counts the Nexus 7 looks to deliver the base model comes with 16 gigabytes of storage with a 32 gigabyte model available the bits underneath are largely standard with Wi-Fi GPS Bluetooth and NFC though now you can charge this tablet with a qi wireless charging the real story here though is the sound we know that front-facing stereo speakers can be incredible but on this nexus 7 they're still found on the rear that's fine however because the stereo sound from these speakers is a vast improvement they are surprisingly loud for a device this size and at higher volumes offer pretty rich sound at lower volumes however that richness does taper off and some sort of noise or hiss is audible it's a minor quip but it is still noticeable with claims of nine hours for video and 10 hours for web browsing some real optimization must have gone into what is actually a smaller battery than last year's model brought down to 39 50 milliamp hours you get a smaller unit in this Nexus 7 than before but it still does hold up in a video looping test I got the battery down to 75% in just under two hours making a full rundown possibly cracked seven hours standby time has been greatly improved without plugging in the Nexus 7 for overnight charging I found that I had just about the same amount of power the morning after with somewhat moderate usage you should be able to get a full day and a half out of this tablet one of the more significant updates to the Nexus 7 is the inclusion of a 5 megapixel camera where previously there was none it's a nice addition for a tablet in this midsize for those moments when you need just a simple shot and really nothing too fancy because that's what you get the camera app brings all the usual capabilities you get in a stock Android camera app and that includes photosphere picture quality is decent enough but nothing to get too excited about the camera on the new Nexus 7 is largely a feature that is somewhat required but is far from a selling point software is another place where the Nexus 7 has an advantage as it is the only device currently to ship with the newest version of Android version 4.3 to be fair this new incremental update is no overhaul and the changes added in may not be overtly noticeable the main new feature you may or may not use is with multi-user restricted profiles essentially the user gets more control over what content is available for other users registered on the device I do notice some improved smoothness and overall speed that has definitely been increased but ultimately this is stock Android the way you remember it as a Nexus device of course it will be privy to new updates before any other devices and that's always been a draw finally price the original Nexus 7 somewhat revolutionized tablet expectations when it came at such a great price point for this base model of the new Nexus 7 at 220 in dollars what are you getting for those 30 extra dollars simple you get enhancements that now make the Nexus 7 possibly the best tablet available now last year's Nexus 7 was a great start that some say helped energize the tablet craze and this year's model gets closer to perfecting the form great power in an easily accessible package sleek and elegant design hiding reliable and fast performance and quite simply an experience that I think anyone can love when a tablet has the ability to reach everyone from general user to music addict to power gamer and everything in between I think that gives it the right to be called one of the best and so there you have it as always for all of the best coverage make sure you stay tuned to the android authority channel don't forget to drop us a like down below if you haven't subscribed already make sure you do so and when you're done with all of that head over to android authority comm because we are your source for all things Android