Gadgetory

what's up fries five fans i'm brian tong in the seven inch tablet category remains one of the hottest right now so we're throwing in the top two big boys it's a prized five-foot out between Google's new Nexus 7 and Apple's iPad Mini our judges for this fight are senior editor Eric the tank man Franklin senior editor Donald bring my bell and you-know-who reeling a ding dong that will take all three judges blind scores and average them out to the nearest tenth of a point the final price pipes for me an average of all rounds using the same system let's get ready to rumble round 1 design the new Nexus 7 brings a thinner and lighter design at 290 grams that weighs less than the iPad Mini with a thinner bezel but we all missed the leathery feel from the first generation now the biggest change is its 7 inch full HD 1080p display that's the highest resolution on the market for a tablet this size and it's even brighter than the current iPad Mini now the iPad Mini brings apples superior design with an all-metal body construction that weighs more at 308 grams it's still a beauty but it feels a little less inspired compared to other Apple products it brings a robust 7.9 inch display that's larger in size but its biggest drawback is its 1024 by 768 resolution and that just doesn't cut it anymore don't blink but the new Nexus 7 takes this round with a 4.3 and the iPad Mini gets a 4 next round controls and user interface the new Nexus 7 brings the latest pure jelly bean 4.3 experience with multiple users and restricted profiles for family members it's super clean and snappy with androids customization for widgets creating folders and the ability to create folders directly in the dock notifications are still a staple here and swiping from the top-right get you quick access to your key settings the iPad Mini brings iOS 6 and no one will argue it's still the easiest pick-up-and-play interface on planet earth the home button has multiple functions to access current apps and a few basic settings or you can hold it Ceri you also have a notifications pulldown but its lack of customization really hurts it and even ios7 won't radically change that when it releases Google gets a perfect 5 and Apple gets a 4 doctor averaging two rounds the new Nexus 7 leads big next round is features both tablets bring Wi-Fi Bluetooth and 4G LTE options but you won't find any memory expansion slots here the new Nexus 7 comes with 16 or 32 gigs of storage and a quad-core Snapdragon s4 pro processor that delivers but we're talking about the most feature packed 7-inch tablet here Google now voice search and commands are unmatched in speed and accuracy Google Maps is a killer app and is still more trusted than Apple's you'll have gesture typing by tracing over letters to make words Android Beam brings NFC capabilities and you can now stream some of your content wirelessly to a television set with the chromecast it brings significantly better speakers on both sides with a technology called surround sound that no current iPad has and the new Nexus 7 can even support wireless charging now the iPad Mini comes in 16 32 and 64 gig flavors with an older a5 dual-core processor that was criticized when it first launched Siri has a prettier interface when you're looking for sports scores a restaurant but Google now is just better and Apple's Maps is still improving but still trails behind you can view the content that's on your iPad Mini 2 a television set that's connected with an Apple TV if you live in the Apple ecosystem and it's that ecosystem that's Apple's strongest feature with its App Store that really has the most tablet dedicated apps the new Nexus 7 shines here again and takes another perfect round with five and the iPad Mini gets a four next round is web browsing and multimedia Google's new Nexus 7 brings the best mobile browsing even without flash support with Chrome that has features like an incognito mode for private browsing and syncs your bookmarks across devices now the iPad Mini brings Safari which is just as solid with a snappy pinch and zoom it also has cloud syncing of bookmarks on other eye devices and a reader mode but chrome works on both platforms and it's our browser of choice now video quality looks great on both devices but the new Nexus 7 clearly has the edge when it came to Netflix and YouTube streaming with its brighter and significantly higher 1080p resolution screen the gap between the iTunes Store and Google Play Store is really closed but Apple still brings a little more exclusive content overall both tablets have front-facing cameras and five megapixel rear cameras that shoot 1080p video and continue to usher in the Oh give it to me take pictures with your tablet movement this round is all about the screen and Google gets its third perfect round with the five and the iPad Mini gets a 4.3 chapter averaging four rounds the new Nexus still leaves big round 5 is performance both of these tablets feel fast and snappy and the Nexus might be a tad bit snappier but there's no major noticeable difference we've talked enough about the screen so let's get to the battery life and in CNET's video playback drain test the new Nexus 7 gave us an impressive eleven point four hours of video playback just a bit behind the iPad Mini which still boasts an industry best 12.1 hours of apple juice for a 7-inch tablet now in an ideal world we'd want the most pixels in the best battery life but we also call it first world problems the iPad Mini gets a 4.3 because it's screen resolution is holding it back and the new Nexus 7 gets a for the final round that decides it all is value the new Nexus 7 16 gig Wi-Fi model starts at 229 the iPad Mini 16 gig Wi-Fi model starts at 329 then you go to the 32 gig Wi-Fi models where the new Nexus is only 30 more dollars at 269 compared to the iPad Mini that's 429 and that's $160 difference now let's say you want to get a 32 gig 4G LTE version of both while the new Nexus 7 is 349 and the iPad Mini is 559 for a 210 dollar difference that's just a brutal now there's nothing to dispute here the new Nexus 7 takes this round with the floor and the iPad Mini gets a two point seven so let's average out all six rounds and in a battle where the new Nexus 7 jumped on top early the iPad Mini was outmatched and nearly every round and Google's new Nexus 7 is your prize fight winner Apple is clearly more than just a little behind now and we'll wait and see if their next iPad Mini can make this a competitive fight in the future i'm brian tong thanks for watching and I'll catch you guys next time for another prize fight