Nexus 7

[JLTucker]

I bought a Nexus 7 earlier last week and it will arrive soon.

I have read reviews and it appears I have made a good choice for an inexpensive tablet. Of course my situation will be different from reviewers: how well can I adapt to the device with my physical deformity? I still have problems with my Vivid when it comes to typing, and that's not the devices fault. I think the screen size is an issue there. I hope it can be rectified with the Nexus 7. I bought it because my laptop is just too heavy to lug around at school to pass the time after I'm caught up with school work. 7" is a huge step down.

Here are some choice reviews. They are too long to quote.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/07/ ... 00-tablet/

http://reviews.cnet.com/google-nexus-7/

If any one here has one, what are your thoughts? If you don't have one, share your thoughts as well. I'll be sure to update this thread after I play with it a bit.

[JLTucker]

I've been playing with it for a few hours and I must say that it's very cool.

Here are my opinions so far.

Good

• There has been no lag on my end as the touch screen is extremely responsive
• The UI is as good as ever
• The screen looks phenomenal
• I was wary about the screen size but I absolutely love it. 7" is perfect for the school backpack and doesn't feel cumbersome, especially when I use the gimp hand.
• The speakers are far better than any other mobile device I have used, including the iPod, my HTC Vivid, and my laptop
• Taking screenshots, while standard on many devices, is still an awesome feature
• Books look great
• PDF support is fantastic, as I have a few textbooks that I rented out
• Typing is easier on this device than my smartphone. I won't be typing in landscape mode much at all because of my hand, though. Others can likely manage it.

Bad

• The home page stays in portrait mode. It would be nice, given that actions for home, return, and opened apps aren't permanently static, if you could use the tablet in landscape mode with full functionality. Hell, they adjust to landscape mode with the apps you use. Perhaps a software update can fix this?
• At times screenshots you take while the tablet is connected to your computer via USB show up in Windows Explorer as 0kb. Unplugging and plugging in the device fixes that.

Screenshots:

http://postimage.org/image/90f15jl33/
http://postimage.org/image/h770x4b5r/
http://postimage.org/image/yyinbkqkf/
http://postimage.org/image/8rhgfm8an/
http://postimage.org/image/e46atqw73/
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http://postimage.org/image/3wscv2zcv/
http://postimage.org/image/50ch71jzz/
http://postimage.org/image/tuvz144u7/
http://postimage.org/image/ldwgq705b/
http://postimage.org/image/a2tt1tta7/
http://postimage.org/image/fsa1m4zgf/
http://postimage.org/image/ooktq2q2n/
http://postimage.org/image/f5b4wm2kf/
http://postimage.org/image/4winqsein/
http://postimage.org/image/sep1wprb3/
http://postimage.org/image/jxpjlsmm7/
http://postimage.org/image/5sjqjzdkv/

[phongn]

How's Jelly Bean?

[JLTucker]

I'm not sure I really notice the difference other than it feeling better to scroll through pages, apps, and typing. In fact, I don't really know what was changed, to be honest. I don't know if the aesthetics of the OS is because of Jelly Bean or because it's a tablet. You are more knowledgeable, so perhaps you can illuminate me.

[Executor32]

Try downloading Nova Launcher or Apex Launcher and see if autorotation will work in them. They're both based on the stock ICS/JB launcher, but with added features and options.

[JLTucker]

I decided to push the hardware. I created a 1080p 10mbps sample from one of my Blu-rays. It was laggy, as I expected. Some reviews stated that 1080p playback went smoothly, but I have to question the files' bit rate.

A 720 sample encoded at 5mbps played well and boy does it look good.

http://postimage.org/image/5phxxjxbz/

[phongn]

I decided to push the hardware. I created a 1080p 10mbps sample from one of my Blu-rays. It was laggy, as I expected. Some reviews stated that 1080p playback went smoothly, but I have to question the files' bit rate.

H.264 files might need to conform to certain compression options to use hardware-accelerated decoding, too.

[JLTucker]

You are correct. I changed the profile for a new encode and it works flawlessly at the specs quoted above.

[The Kernel]

How's Jelly Bean?

Much faster than ICS. Really it's the little stuff you notice, they have added a lot of polish to the OS which is very noticeable.

Google also seems to have added some tablet versus handset optimizations that weren't there before. I'm noticing some interesting and thoughtful differences between Jellybean on my Nexus 7s versus Galaxy Nexus devices.

[JLTucker]

Which differences have you noticed most, Kernel? I just played around with my phone and it is indeed less smooth wen navigating through apps and the home screens.

[The Kernel]

Which differences have you noticed most, Kernel? I just played around with my phone and it is indeed less smooth wen navigating through apps and the home screens.

Screen transitions, keyboard responsiveness, animations, etc. I haven't done all that much A/B testing just yet so a lot of it is subjective. Honestly I've been so bogged down in tearing apart the iOS6 SDK and the new MapKit stuff that I haven't had a whole lot of time to spend on Android lately so I only spent a few minutes playing with the new hardware that showed up and then tossed it aside for now.

Plus my new Retina Macbook Pro showed up at the same time and it is a slightly cooler new toy.

[DarkSilver]

What version of Jelly Bean are you using on your GNex Kernal? I just ordered one and it is supposed to still have ICS on it, but I want to update it to JB as soon as I can lay my grubby mitts on it..

[The Kernel]

What version of Jelly Bean are you using on your GNex Kernal? I just ordered one and it is supposed to still have ICS on it, but I want to update it to JB as soon as I can lay my grubby mitts on it..

I'm using the 4.1.1 build (JRO03C). You can find information on it along with download links for the precompiled binaries at Binaries for Nexus Phones.

If you ordered the GSM Unlocked version from the Play store it should ship with 4.1.1. If you are using the CDMA Sprint/Verizon model you should get an OTA update in the next few days.

[phongn]

Much faster than ICS. Really it's the little stuff you notice, they have added a lot of polish to the OS which is very noticeable.

I managed to get ICS on my Nexus One; it looks like Mattias Duarte's influence is firmly here. Now, if only the app developers can abandon the hidden menu and use the Action Bar sensibly ...

[JLTucker]

There is an immediate Jelly Bean update upon activation of the Nexus, so you get build JRO03D.

More Good.

• I must also praise Google Play. I recently uploaded all of my music and I love that I can just stream it instead of putting it on the device. It saves time transferring your music to multiple tablets and phones. It's very cool. I must again praise the sound quality of the Nexus 7. Keep it on a flat surface, however, because when you play music with it in your hand, it doesn't sound too great.
• Offline GPS navigation does work. I recall reading some fears about that not being the case prior to buying it. Just load the Navigation app while connected to your wireless network, ask for directions, and then be on your way. I drove about five miles yesterday testing it out.

More Bad.

• I still haven't gotten used to the lock button being on the right side. It's also so close to the volume control that if you aren't careful, you hit the lock button instead of volume up. It's a pain in the balls.
• Album art looks like ass. I have no idea if it looks fine if find some with a high enough resolution to take advantage of the screen.
• Google Play's album art finder isn't very good either. I had to manually change the score for Transformers, transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and others
• No shortcut to launch the camera
• No Nexus 7 compatibility for Amazon Mobile
• No Nexus 7 compatibility for HBO Go

Here are the apps that I recommend.

• Amazon Kindle
• Camera Launcher for Nexus 7
• MX Player Pro
• Pulse
• Wikipedia
• Facebook
• TweetCaster
• Poweramp for offline music. It has gapless playback support, which Google Play does not (it too sucks finding album art by reading the ID tags)
• imo (IM service that has support for AIM, Skype, Yahoo, Google Talk, Facebook, and MSN)
• Tapatalk
• Pulse (an app for that codifies news sources from various outlets)

[phongn]

Offline GPS navigation does work. I recall reading some fears about that not being the case prior to buying it. Just load the Navigation app while connected to your wireless network, ask for directions, and then be on your way. I drove about five miles yesterday testing it out.

IIRC, it's worked that way for some time; you need a connection to initiate navigation (it relies on Google to get directions) but after that you're fine so long as you stay on the prescribed route. Do you mean that if you go off-route it can update the route for you?

[JLTucker]

IIRC, it's worked that way for some time; you need a connection to initiate navigation (it relies on Google to get directions) but after that you're fine so long as you stay on the prescribed route. Do you mean that if you go off-route it can update the route for you?

I read fears that it would not simply work at all. I didn't see it change the route but I'll try it out later this evening.

[The Kernel]

Offline GPS navigation does work. I recall reading some fears about that not being the case prior to buying it. Just load the Navigation app while connected to your wireless network, ask for directions, and then be on your way. I drove about five miles yesterday testing it out.

IIRC, it's worked that way for some time; you need a connection to initiate navigation (it relies on Google to get directions) but after that you're fine so long as you stay on the prescribed route. Do you mean that if you go off-route it can update the route for you?

Not exactly. Previously Google Nav was able to cache "dogbones" (routes along with the visible slivers of vector data around them) so it could handle outages along route but it couldn't generate entirely new routes in out-of-coverage conditions.

Now there is a manual capability to save an area to the device so that you can still get navigate when you don't have data coverage much like a traditional PND. This is also useful for tablets like the Nexus 7 since they don't have cellular data.

[phongn]

Not exactly. Previously Google Nav was able to cache "dogbones" (routes along with the visible slivers of vector data around them) so it could handle outages along route but it couldn't generate entirely new routes in out-of-coverage conditions.

Now there is a manual capability to save an area to the device so that you can still get navigate when you don't have data coverage much like a traditional PND. This is also useful for tablets like the Nexus 7 since they don't have cellular data.

Does the device then recalculate the route so long as the map data is available?

[JLTucker]

Now there is a manual capability to save an area to the device so that you can still get navigate when you don't have data coverage much like a traditional PND. This is also useful for tablets like the Nexus 7 since they don't have cellular data.

I saved an area in Google Maps for a trek on Saturday but I could not get directions within that. I have to set up the directions using the Navigate app before laving while there is a WiFi connection available.

[JLTucker]

I would love to have an application that worked like Fraps in that it records every movement on the screen while I do my tasks. It would be a perfect way to show how responsive something is.

[Executor32]

If you are using the CDMA Sprint/Verizon model you should get an OTA update in the next few days.

Sprint maybe, but Verizon? The Verizon GNex never even saw 4.0.3, and 4.0.4 didn't hit until a full two months after the GSM version. I expect we won't see an OTA JB update until at least September, if not longer, unless the update file gets 'leaked' again like 4.0.4.

[The Kernel]

Not exactly. Previously Google Nav was able to cache "dogbones" (routes along with the visible slivers of vector data around them) so it could handle outages along route but it couldn't generate entirely new routes in out-of-coverage conditions.

Now there is a manual capability to save an area to the device so that you can still get navigate when you don't have data coverage much like a traditional PND. This is also useful for tablets like the Nexus 7 since they don't have cellular data.

Does the device then recalculate the route so long as the map data is available?

As long as it is within the cached data set it should. Note that I didn't design the GNav version of this, but I did architect a similar product for a competing piece of software so I know how this stuff works.

The reason why this is a lot more complicated than you'd expect really comes down to a few issues:

• Size of data: Road geometry data isn't all that small and requires ~1GB for the entire US for example. Note that this is for geocoding, routing and display only--you can forget having POI search data in that.
• Freshness of data: Anyone who has ever used a PND or Car Nav system knows how the data on them is obsolete before they leave the factory. Downloading cache data sounds good, but how do you keep it up to date? Doing full package replacements is very expensive (1GB updates every few weeks isn't fun for anyone) but the problem is that even delta updates are really hard to do since typically around 10% of the road data changes every couple months. These changes are usually minuscule, but its enough to make version management a nightmare. Worse still, do you update without telling the user? Be prepared for a bunch of torches to be lit by angry consumers who are pissed that you are using their data without permission.
• Can't mix with server: You really can't mix server and client data for a number of reasons including data variance (see above). This means that the onboard data either has to be used entirely or not at all for the purposes of routing (although you can mix display).
• Onboard routing engine: If you are calculating the route locally that means using an onboard routing engine. Sounds good, but its a lot more complex than you might expect to port a routing engine meant for data centers to an embedded device. The embedded routing engine is virtually always going to produce inferior results.

[The Kernel]

If you are using the CDMA Sprint/Verizon model you should get an OTA update in the next few days.

Sprint maybe, but Verizon? The Verizon GNex never even saw 4.0.3, and 4.0.4 didn't hit until a full two months after the GSM version. I expect we won't see an OTA JB update until at least September, if not longer, unless the update file gets 'leaked' again like 4.0.4.

Nope, the issue that held updates from Verizon before has been resolved. The build for Verizon has been brought into the mainline CDMA build and is in fact already available at the link I posted.

[The Kernel]

Now there is a manual capability to save an area to the device so that you can still get navigate when you don't have data coverage much like a traditional PND. This is also useful for tablets like the Nexus 7 since they don't have cellular data.

I saved an area in Google Maps for a trek on Saturday but I could not get directions within that. I have to set up the directions using the Navigate app before laving while there is a WiFi connection available.

Well I'm just telling you how it is SUPPOSED to work, I can't speak for the reliability of the GNav solution. They've been toying with hybrid maps for years now and haven't quite figured out the technology all that well (which isn't a surprise as its not easy at all to do and its not really within the Google culture to be disconnected from the Cloud).