January 7, 2013

Asus Google Nexus 7 review, one of the best $199 tablets

 I have been using the Google Nexus 7 tablet by Asus for a few weeks now, and it works great. I like how fast it turns on in under a minute. It also opens and runs apps very quickly, and there is no slow down. The 16GB of built-in storage also is big enough to install a lot of apps on it.

Turning on the Google Nexus 7 is also incredibly fast even when I have a lot of apps and games installed on it. The Nexus 7 takes less then a minute to turn on after pressing the power button, and it wakes from sleep in a few seconds when I press the power button. To make the Nexus 7 sleep to save power, I just quickly tap on the power button. To turn it off, I hold on the power button for a few seconds, and tap on the turn off device option and agree.

The battery life of the Nexus 7 is also pretty good, and last over 6-10+ hours with Wi-Fi on and the screen at medium brightness in my experience. It can stay charged for a very long time in sleep and off mode.

The Nexus 7 charges its battery in only a few hours or less from 10 percent charge to fully charge, so I don't need to wait overnight for it to be fully charge. The battery and tablet also stays cool when it is charging.

The tablets back also does not get very hot when playing games, or using it for a long time.

It uses the Google Android 4.2.1 Jellybean operating system which run pretty smoothly, and is easy to use. The Google Play store also has a lot of paid and free apps and games, movies, music, ebooks, and magazine which are easy to download and install onto the Nexus 7. I found hundreds of fun games, and useful apps on the Google Play store, and most of the apps are free, or cheap at only a dollar or more. Installing apps are easy since I just need to hit the install, and agree buttons. Plus, it is also easy to uninstall apps in Settings>App, and press uninstall. The Nexus 7 also lets you clear the app cache temporary files all at once in the storage settings, so you can easily empty your temporary cache files with one click of a button instead of using an App cache cleaner app like in older versions of Android like 2.3 Gingerbread.

By using an official Google Nexus tablet, Google will most likely release the latest operating system for your device instead of waiting extra weeks, months, or years for an update to the latest version of Android from your tablet company which does not have the Nexus name in it.

The Nexus 7 is  light and easy to hold with one hand, and comfortable to hold with its curve corners, and soft back with dotted texture to make it less slippery. I like the position of the power, volume, USB and headphone port which are all easy to reach. It is also very thin, so it does not take up much space in your bag.

The 7 inch 1280×800 resolution Touchscreen on the Nexus 7 is very sharp, bright, and the colors look very realistic. I can also easily read it in brighter rooms because it uses a IPS screen which is better for outdoor reading. Reading on the Nexus 7 at night is also pretty easy to do. The touchscreen is also very responsive, and smooth. Using the onscreen Back, Home, and menu buttons are easy, and switching between apps by hitting the menu buttons is pretty simple by tapping on the Menu button. The Touchscreen also supports multi-touch, so you can use 5 fingers to play games like Fruit Ninja.

I also notice the screen is very smooth/non-sticky, so it is easy to wipe off fingerprints, oils, and other things on the screen with a clean soft clothe.

The speaker on the Nexus 7 is also pretty load, and I can hear it in a louder room. The webcam and microphone on the tablet, are both pretty good for video chatting, taking photos for the internet, voice to text, voice search, and other video, picture and voice tasks.

The wireless 802.11N internet on the Nexus 7 is also fast, and reliable with 3 to 4 bars out of 4 bars on the signal strength indicator on the Nexus 7 system tray icon when I connect my Nexus 7 to my Medialink 802.11N 150Mbps wireless router. I also get a strong signal all over my home with my Nexus 7, and my wireless internet on the Nexus 7 rarely disconnects from the router, and only takes a few seconds to connect to my router after it wakes up from sleep, and power on.

I can stream High Quality/HD YouTube videos without any slow downs and buffering. The Google Chrome Web browser also works great, and it is very fast at opening websites. It also downloads and installs big apps and games from the Google Play market place very quickly.

News Reader apps like Google Currents, and Flipboard also run very fast on the Nexus 7.

Games like Temple Run, Angry Birds Star Wars, Fruit Ninja, Pacman racing, and many more run great on the Nexus 7.

I can have a lot of Apps open and the tablet still performs pretty fast because the Nexus 7 has a 1.3 GHz Quad Core CPU, 1GB of RAM, and Nvidia Tegra 3 Graphics.

The Asus Google Nexus 7 is probably one of the best $199 tablets for playing games on because it is fast, and has Bluetooth, so you can wirelessly connect a Bluetooth gamepad controller like the Moga Controller by Power A with Bluetooth connectivity for playing games with a controller if you prefer playing games which supports Bluetooth controller instead of touch screen controls. The Bluetooth connectivity can also be used to connect a Bluetooth keyboard to the Nexus 7 for faster typing. You can also use a wired Micro USB keyboard to plug into the Nexus 7 USB port to type on.

There are also Micro to Full size USB adapters, so you can access your USB flash drive, keyboards, and USB external drives on, so you can use the Nexus 7 like a laptop computer with Full size USB ports.

It is also possible to use Bluetooth to connect a keyboard, mouse, and speakers to your tablet, so you can use it like a laptop.

The Asus Nexus 7 also has GPS and location access services which is useful if you use apps like Map Apps, FoureSquare, etc. There is also NFC which let you transfer data and files between other NFC devices without complicated steps like installing an App or typing in an address in a web browser like Wi-Fi file explorers.

The Nexus 7 also has a gyroscope, and accelerometer  which is useful for using apps, and games.

I recommend the Asus Nexus 7 for people looking for an affordable 7 inch tablet which has full access to the Google Play App store for downloading apps, games, magazines, ebooks, music, or to use for just browsing the web, and social networking.

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