If you are considering buying a tablet and want to learn about the Nexus 7 from a real user/tech guy, read below. I don’t side with Apple, droid, or Amazon. So, I try to compare everything fairly.

The official Google Nexus & in Hand

I’ve had the Google Nexus 7 tablet for about a week, and it’s better than I expected.

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I have had many Apple iPods and have a Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 (Android 2.3). So, I might reference that one in a while in this article. Also, remember I never used Android 3.0 Honeycomb, so if I say a feature is new, it’s possible it was in Honeycomb, but I’m comparing it more to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), which is more of a phone OS. I have never owned an iPad but use it a lot at work, so I know how they function and their features. I may reference those once in a while. I have not used a Kindle Fire enough to comment on it.

Why buy this?

I never could justify why I would spend $500 on a tablet when I can get a laptop for $500 and do more since it has a keyboard and is a full operating system. But the price of the Nexus and the performance got my attention.

Part of me wanted to see how a 7″ tablet felt and what it could help in my daily life, but more importantly, I wanted something I could play music on to my Bluetooth speakers with a good-sized screen. It works excellently for music, games, web browsing, email, and the internet. Everything runs very nicely, and Android fixed most issues from past versions. I also love the latest Google Voice feature. Apple’s equivalent, which is Siri, is something you currently can’t get on an iPad. That is one big reason why I’d get this over an iPad. I can say “Set Timer,” “directions to,” etc.

People don’t compare this to the iPad, but now that I’ve played around with it, I feel you can compare it to an iPad. Initially, I didn’t want the 7″ screen and would have preferred a 10,” but after owning it, I do now like the 7″ because I can hold it in 1 hand. With a 10″ like the iPad, it’s not as easy to maintain, and it’s a nice size for games and traveling.

The Nexus 7 is just as good as an iPad for games and will save you about $200 over an iPad if you are looking for a tablet device. Most popular games are available for Android. Android tablets are unpopular, so some apps you might find still need catching up with The Info Blog. Here are things I feel people might want to know or that I found important.

Home Screen:

It works nice and is very smooth; they added the feature that the Home Screen doesn’t rotate, but this app will fix that for you and allow you to rotate the screen when you turn the device horizontally. It’s called “Ultimate Rotation Control.”

Microphone:

This still annoys me with all Android devices I’ve tried yet! I thought they would have fixed it by now. If you yell loudly into the microphone, it gets more distorted than it should. The Nexus 7 still does this. Now, I’ve only tested it in full on the Samsung Galaxy player. Both warp and annoy me. Apple’s iPod touch can hand yelling and loud sounds much better than the Nexus 7. It takes a lot to distort Apple device microphones.

When I say Apple devices, I am talking about the Apple iPod and assuming their other devices have the same mic. I know the old iPod Nano video did have a horrible mic, but that is no longer around. Maybe there is a better Android app out there for recording. I’ll have to look around still, but I think part of this issue might be the “AGC.” Some apps let you shut it off. That helped on my Galaxy Player 5. I record myself playing guitar and stuff with music on these devices, so the microphone, to me, is important.

Speaker:

The speaker is pretty good but not blasting. It’s like an iPad speaker, I would guess, maybe a little lower. I don’t have an iPad with me to compare. The Nexus 7 is not louder than an iPad speaker, from what I can tell. My Galaxy Player 5.0 has better speakers, and in my opinion, they are a lot louder and have a little more bass than the Nexus. Suppose you are using the Nexus 7 with Bluetooth speakers to blast music. Don’t get me wrong; you definitely can listen to music on the Nexus 7. You can’t shoot the heck out of a room with it like a stereo that no one can talk over. It’s a good volume.

Camera:

There is no flash on the Nexus 7. There is only a front face camera, no rear camera. There is no camera app on it, but you can download it from the Play Store; search for “Camera launcher for Nexus 7”. Photos and videos are what you would expect from a 1.2MP. It’s nothing amazing, but it does take pictures and video if you have lighting where you are shooting. There is no flash.

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