We've finally got our hands on the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus, so we've taken an in-depth look at Google's latest OS: Android 4.0, or Ice Cream Sandwich to its friends. Google
has told us that this is one of the biggest overhauls of the operating
systems since it unleashed the Android project three years ago - and
there's certainly a lot to plough through. From enhanced contact
menus to improved keyboards and NFC capabilities, even the most ardent
Android users will have to spend some time getting used to the new OS -
so let's dive in.
Interface
The most
noticeable change with Ice Cream Sandwich is the interface - it might
follow the same principles as the Android of old, but the way it's used
is radically different in a number of ways. Firstly, Android 4.0 is designed to work without buttons. That's not to say your Galaxy S2's keys won't work when the update happens, but going forward, it's going to be pristine bezels all the way. Now
to navigate around, you're offered three softkeys: Back, Home and
Multi-tasking (or Recent Apps). The latter is particularly new for
phones, and comes from the Honeycomb UI - basically a set of thumbnails
that show recently opened apps. Here's the new part: swipe
sideways to shut down an application, which will greatly help reduce the
battery consumption of your phone if there's something silently
updating in the background. The Home and Back buttons are the same
as they've always been, but no longer have a 'long press' function
attached... so you can't automatically call up the keyboard, for
instance. If you move into something media-ish, such as watching a
movie or browsing the web like a pro, these three buttons shrink down
to tiny dots, so you've got more of the screen to look at. However,
remember what each dot does, as pressing it will take you home/open the
recent apps etc and you might not want to. For
Android fans, this presents something of an issue: with the menu button
gone, you'll have to hunt around the screen for three vertical dots
which have taken its place. However, these can be anywhere, so sometimes
you'll get distracted trying to work out how on earth to alter
settings. The multi-tasking pane also seems an odd choice for one
of three buttons - it used to be you could access this functionality by
long-pressing the home key, and it makes more sense to keep this and
then have the multi-tasking slot taken up by a menu key. However,
despite the odd placement, the multi-tasking pane is cool - simply
swipe horizontally on any open app to shut it down, in a similar way to
the Cards system on webOS - it certainly helps keep open applications
under control. The home screens are once again limited to five,
but this time there's no option to get rid of those you don't want. It's
not a huge issue to some people, but with the expandable widgets and
loads of apps you'll be looking to download, we'd have expected more. However,
we wouldn't worry too much about that - the Nexus S only had a limited
number of homescreens, but as soon as the rest of the industry got its
hands on the OS there were millions of the things flying around. There's
a plethora of tiny tweaks and changes to the Android OS that we were
impressed with, ranging from the Tron-like blue theme that pervades
throughout the OS to the ability to unlock the phone simply by using
your face. The
latter security option is more novelty than anything else, with Google
outlining at the start that it's not meant to be 100% secure. We
also found a few issues with getting it to recognise our face in varying
light levels, or even working out which bit of the picture was a face -
not the most effective for unlocking your handset, but when it works
it's a great party trick. The notifications bar has been given a
functionality overhaul to now include larger information slots - if it's
a contact that's sending you a message or a missed call, their contact
photo will now appear too, which is a nice touch.
And
sometimes you want to get rid of some notifications, but not others -
this has been taken care of by allowing you to swipe away the updates
about apps and messages you don't care about, making it easy to maintain
your info bar. Settings has also been given a spot in the
notifications pane, meaning no matter where you are in the OS you can
always duck out and tinker with the phone - this is excellent news for
some applications that need GPS or Wi-Fi enabled swiftly. However,
we would have though Google would have copied the likes of Samsung or
HTC here and offered one-tap switching to these elements - it works
really well on most phones, so we're surprised by its omission. The
other new addition is the dock at the bottom of the screen - this stays
on every home screen, and like iOS can be altered to contain the
applications you like to tap away at the most. Folders
are more iOS-like too, with users given the ability to drag and drop
icons on top of one another from the home screen to create bundles of
apps which you can simply rename. Given Apple's ire about Google
'stealing' certain elements of its UI, we can't help but think this will
create a little more angst down on Infinite Loop. Google
is clearly also thinking about giving users more ability to enjoy apps
than ever before by putting a link to the Market in the top right hand
corner of the menu screen, which we really liked as it meant we always
knew we could quickly update our app catalogue when needed. The
other big change is widgets have been brought to the fore: you can now
look at each one on the menu screen without having to actually select it
- this really helps when a new application you've downloaded has an
associated widget and you're wondering whether to waste time popping it
on the home screen. Overall,
we love what Google has done with the Ice Cream Sandwich UI. It's
nothing mind-blowing, but the little touches here and there will add to
user delight, and that's what's needed to chip away at those that are
dyed-in-the-wool iPhone users. People
The contacts system
has been much improved with Ice Cream Sandwich, with a completely
different font (called Roboto, and used throughout Android 4.0) and
pleasantly clean blue and white interface to roll through. The
contacts list is the same as it's ever been - insofar as it's a list of
people with contact pictures next to their name. But the differences are
quite large: for instance, social networking updates from the likes of
Google+ and Twitter are available by tapping to open a contact profile
then swiping to the left. There's no Facebook integration as yet,
but that's likely to be on the way soon as the social network updates
its API. We've reached out to both parties to find out, so we'll let you
know when we do. The
layout is lovely though, especially on the larger screen of the Galaxy
Nexus making it easy to scroll through all your buddies in one go. The
large tab to let you jump the correct letter of your contact's name has
gone, but now just sliding your finger along the right hand side of the
screen is enough. The downside to the OS, and one that the likes
of HTC will leap upon to improve, is the linking of the contacts
together. You have to open the person's profile, tap the menu to edit,
then tap the menu again to Join contacts together from other social
networks. It's
a really long-winded way of doing things, and one that should be almost
automatic - even the suggested contacts once we'd asked to join them
together weren't very accurate. We do like the Google+ integration, as while it's not the most widespread social network around there are some nice tweaks. For
instance, the Groups tab now has automatic links to your Google+
Circles making it easier to connect with the people you care with.
However, you've also got a favourites tab to play with, and as there's
no way to mass communicate with a Circle from the Contacts tab, it's a
little redundant. Messaging
Google promised to
keep updating the keyboard on its new versions of Android, and once
again it's come up with a new version of the software - and it's pretty
good. There's not a whole heap of visual changes, bar the
predictive suggestions: these have been dropped to just three per word,
making it easier to select the word you're after. Smaller, more
subtle vibrations have also been added to each keypress to make it
easier to register inputs... we tested this out and it doesn't seem that
different to normal haptic feedback, to be honest - but a lot of users
are loving it, so we'll give it a crowd-sourced thumbs up. The
accuracy is excellent too on the new keyboard, with even fudge-fingered
attempts at writing yielding almost perfect texting. Speech to text is
also enhanced, with real time feedback - no longer do you have to wait
until you've finished speaking to see what the phone thinks you said,
with the cloud-based prediction delivering results as you speak. It
worked well over Wi-Fi, but we'll be interested to note how well it
works when it comes to 3G network speeds, as Google hinted it had
integrated this functionality thanks to the proliferation of 4G signal
in the US. If, like many, you're looking to compare Google's voice
recognition to Siri, we'd say that the former is definitely inferior to
Apple's effort - but not by a huge amount. It seems to struggle
more with English accents over US, as our buddy Hank (NB - not his real
name but included to make it more authentically YooEssAy) was much more
accurate with his voicing than we were. There's no Universal Inbox
to speak of here, but we do love the updated Gmail app - sure, HTML
emails still don't render as well as they could, but the overall look
and feel is improved substantially. The options are all well laid out at
the bottom, and the ease of swiping left and right is highly
impressive. Messaging has always been a decent option on Android, and with Ice Cream Sandwich it's a real step forward. Internet Browser
As with most inbuilt features on Ice Cream Sandwich, there's a change to the internet browser too. One
of the big differences is the change to the tabbed browsing - now you
get to see your entire set of open internet pages simply by scrolling
vertically through live thumbnails. It's a nice touch - while it doesn't
add much when it comes to functionality, it's much easier to jump
between windows than before. Another
great notion is the ability to 'Request desktop sites'. This means that
while the Android browser might default to the mobile version of some
internet websites, some users will need the full content. Simply
tap the relevant option in the menu and you'll get the full flavour
instantly, which is very useful for the kind of sites that won't let you
jump to the main page easily (BBC iPlayer springs to mind).
A
sad fact of UK life is that we a) either never have any 3G coverage
when we need it or b) are on such a restrictive data plan that we hate
having to spend our KBs unnecessarily. Google has thought of this
with the option to save pages for offline reading. This basically takes
a snapshot of the web page without including the hyperlinks, making it
easy to read but not navigate through. But then again, if you're offline
you can't link out anyway... so it's not a big deal.
We can't fully comment on the speed, as it's partly dependant on hardware how fast things will load; but in tests with the Galaxy S2, which has roughly comparable specs to the Nexus, we noticed some websites popped up much faster. But
on the Galaxy Nexus we love the internet browser. While other devices
might not be as responsive, the browser is quick, slick and responds
well to the touch. We're annoyed there's no Flash video on board, but
let's face it: the death knell has sounded for that platform, and it
will still be coming next month. Camera
The camera on the
Android 4.0 system is much upgraded again, after some real leaps forward
from the likes of Éclair and Gingerbread. The settings are the
same as before, with the likes of white balance, exposure and Scenes all
inbuilt into the OS. The Scene modes are probably the least important
of the lot, as only Night Mode really offers up anything in the way of
discernible difference. However, we liked tinkering about with the exposure settings to capture our shots - this yielded some real differences.
The big talking point of the new camera app on the Galaxy Nexus is the zero shutter lag, which is simply ace. It's up there with the iPhone 4S in terms of speed (and probably just beats it, to be honest) and means you can take some cracking shots in the blink of an eye. However, you do sacrifice auto focus to achieve this - but if it's a well-lit scene, you shouldn't have any issues. The
other new feature is the panorama mode, which does as you'd imagine:
helps you capture widescreen shots. The phone will help you by telling
you to go faster and slower to capture the picture, but the results can
be erratic. Android 4.0 now has a built in editing tool as well,
meaning you can alter the quality of your shots very easily - it might
not be a full editing suite, but does come up with some nifty ways to
tweak your snaps to improve them before never showing them to anyone
ever again.
It
should be noted we're trying all this on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus,
which is a very powerful phone. Should the same options be offered on
single-core devices with a lot less RAM, we doubt the same shutter speed
could be achieved.
Video recorder
The
video recording has also been improved thanks to the Ice Cream Sandwich
update, with the ability to record in time lapse mode, set the white
balance and also add in silly video effects too. We're impressed
with the way the latter works, with the phone able to track your face
and keep things like a big nose on the screen at all times. Is it
useful? No - but it's very 'Google' in the frippery it brings to the
phone.
It's
likely some of these features won't make it to the less powerful
phones, as they'll require a little more raw power - but we were
impressed with the 1080p footage captured on the Nexus camera. Media
The media
capabilities of Ice Cream Sandwich have been much improved in our eyes,
with all aspects of the media experience updated to make it that much
easier to manoeuvre through your phone. While some areas could
still do with tweaking, we're a world away from the super-basic music
app and complete lack of video player on the first Android release.
Music
The
music player on Ice Cream Sandwich has been completely overhauled to
make it more in keeping with the super-blue theme that pervades
throughout the OS. Once
opened, you're presented with a playlist of recent songs and albums
you've listened to, which instantly makes you feel like the music player
is more personalised. Swiping left and right will get you to
Albums, Artists and Songs - although we'd prefer the option to choose
the order of these, as many people prefer to jump straight to the songs
if they're hankering for a spot of Girls Al... erm, Michael Bub....
erm.... oh sod it. We have awful taste in music. Google has
chucked in a little search icon at the bottom of the app too, along with
the 'Now Playing' bar. This makes it simple to jump to a song or artist
you've got on your mind. The
actual music player itself isn't much to write home about, but that's
not necessarily a bad thing. We're talking big album art, and play/skip
buttons. Press the little up arrow and you can like/dislike the song or
shuffle and repeat songs. We're not sure what liking a song really does, but we hope it improves the Shuffle aspect.
Video
The
video portal has taken on a much larger significance from Google since
it unveiled its movie download service, and as such your personal
collection will be boosted too. The new red-themed offering sees
you taken to a dual-tabbed arena: one the left side, all the videos
you've rented from Android Market, and the right all your personal
videos. The
big boost here is the clear and easy to use thumbnails with description
of each vid; if you've ever used an HTC phone or read our reviews of
one, you'll know of our ire at the lack of any kind of signpost as to
which video is which. Whether this system on offer here will
continue when manufacturers get all skin-happy on the OS, we don't know -
but it at least bodes well. The
video player is still disappointingly basic though, with only a slider
bad and pause button to mess around with. We're still gobsmacked Google
hasn't bought one of the clever apps already on the market (for
instance, MVideoPlayer) and offered that as a free premium app to
download.
We
get that simplicity is key for a lot of people, but we really would
love a bookmarking system, or the ability to change the screen
brightness in the app. If Google now does this - you heard it here
first, people.
Books
The Books app is pre-installed in the Galaxy Nexus, and is set to be a staple feature of the Android 4.0 OS too. It's
one of the better e-reading experiences on a mobile phone no matter
what the size of the screen - the page turning animations lend a very
book-esque experience that many will enjoy. It's
a lot like the Kindle app to be honest, although the scroller along the
bottom of the application will alert you to the different chapters
you're bouncing through, making it easier to find the page you're
looking for. There's also a neat 'view original pages' feature for
older books, where the original edition is scanned in to be viewed as
the first eyes would have done. It's a cool feature, but one we turned
off pretty quickly - we want to be able to read a book properly. The
interesting thing is these books are actually stored in the cloud, so
each will load the first time you start reading... although the option
to make them available offline makes a lot more sense. Given
books don't take up much space, we're more than happy to make sure
everything is cached... we don't want to be left hanging on the
Underground. Virdict
We'll
jump right out and say it: Ice Cream Sandwich is the step forward
Android has been crying out for. It's slicker, faster and more intuitive
than ever before, and Google should be applauded for improving an
already decent system. Google has offered up data management too -
you'll be able to set a limit to how much data the phone uses, with
warnings and updates on which apps are the most byte-hungry. This is the
sort of thinking smartphone users will love.
We liked
The
overall look and feel of Android has been streamlined, and that's a
real plus in our eyes. Google's OS might be a world-conqueror right now,
but that doesn't mean people always know how to use it in the same way
they might an iPhone. Things like contact pictures in the
notifications bar, the lack of hardware buttons and moving settings to
always be accessible are the sort of things many will love, plopping
things where you intuitively expect them to be. The internet
browser's improvements to include desktop sites and offline reading are
welcome too - anything that gives the user extra control is a good thing
in our opinion.
We disliked
One of our
larger gripes with Ice Cream Sandwich is, at times, the over-simplicity.
Things like the video player being nothing more than a slider and play
button are fine, but we expect to be able to do more with the app as we
see fit. There's also the issue of how the OS will work on
less-powerful devices - will the fancy animations and services be as
palatable on something that costs less than £100? The other gripes
are truly minor: support for file types, no place for Google Wallet as
yet, too few home screens and no way to see them all at once. These are things that will be fixed with updates or manufacturers simply improving on the OS in the months to come.
Verdict
Google needed to make sure it kept its OS refreshed and current, and Ice Cream Sandwich ticks that box in so many ways. It's
worth remembering that this is the foundation for manufacturers to go
and build on - there's a lot more to come in the next 12 months. However,
if this is the platform Google will be using on all Motorola devices
when the acquisition is complete then it's a good enough OS in its own
right. In terms of how good you'll think Android 4.0: Ice Cream
Sandwich is, it all boils down to personal choice. We're excited to see
how manufacturers will customise it and extol the virtues to improve
media or the home networking options, but others will simply be huge
fans of the simplicity - our score is a mixture of the tools Google has
offered up and the base level of performance on show. But make no
mistake - Ice Cream Sandwich is the most accessible and easy-to-learn OS
from Google, and that's going to be key in the wars against Apple and
Microsoft.
It’s crowded arena in the consumer electronics industry. As we’re all
too familiar with by now, things live and die in a heartbeat, but for
few that transcend above the crop, they live on in memory having a long
lasting impact in the market. This is the case with many popular device families out
there, such as Motorola’s DROID, Apple’s iPhone/iPad, HTC’s EVO, and
Samsung’s Galaxy S line. Simply people, there are many reasons why
companies continue to pump out devices that retain the monikers – not
only for their brand recognition, but mainly because they invoke
something more profound over previous offerings.
Google established itself as a premier force in the industry when they
built Android from the ground up many years ago. However, it wasn’t
until the release of the original Google Nexus One
that they also managed to solidify themselves as a hardware maker as
well – albeit, it’s despite the fact that another company (HTC) actually
manufactured the device. Still, being graced with the “Nexus” moniker
has its advantages – like being the first to feature a totally new
Android experience. When we dig down further, the Nexus name continues
to be the single point in the Android world where everything seemingly
converges in the right proportions to offer users that authentic Android
experience.
Previously, all Nexus devices released thus far have been smartphones,
but this time around, Google decided to bring its Nexus to the table
sphere. Catching some people by surprise, the Google Nexus 7
tablet redefines what it means to be a budget tablet. Oh no people,
this isn’t a quick rush out the door kind of job. Rather, this love
child between Google and Taiwan-based ASUS is aiming to broaden the
appeal of Android tablets as a whole. Furthermore, it doesn’t skimp out
in the hardware, as it boasts a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor –
much like some of its highly respected brethren. And did we mention
that it’s the first tablet to feature Android 4.1 Jelly Bean? Riding
into the sunset at top gear, let’s see how far the Google Nexus 7 tablet
is able to go.
The package contains:
microUSB cable
Wall Charger
Quick Start Guide
Warranty Guide
Design:
We cannot stress about it enough, but ASUS has done an excellent job
with the design of the Google Nexus 7 – especially when you factor in
the kind of pricing constraints they had to deal with. Honestly, this
isn’t the first time we’ve come across a decently made 7-inch tablet, as
both the Amazon Kindle Fire and NOOK TABLET
showed us already. However, the Google Nexus 7 manages to inch out over
its rivals, as it embodies all the qualities we’d expect to find in a
device bearing the Nexus brand.
Although it maintains a conventional design from the onset, we actually
find it more comfortable to hold and use since its edges are rounded to
conform perfectly to our hands as we grasp it. On top of that, the rear
casing has a tough rubbery feel to it, allowing us to not only have a
proper grip in the hand, but it also maintains a clean appearance at all
times. Sure, it’s constructed out of mostly plastic, but you can rest
peacefully at night knowing it’s the tough kind that’ll withstand most
normal wear and tear. Rounding things out, it obliterates its
competition by donning a super skinny (0.41” thick) frame and
lightweight (11.99 oz) feel in the hand. Essentially, when you add in
all of those elements, we’re still at awe in wondering how ASUS has
managed to pull it off – even more taking into account the price that
it’s flaunting.
The Google Nexus 7 maintains a conventional design from the onset
The bezels surrounding the display are still wide enough to accommodate
our resting thumbs – though, the top and bottom bezels are wider than
the left and right. Nonetheless, we find them adequate with their
spacing to enable us to easily hold onto the tablet with a single hand.
As expected, the tablet sports the buttons-free approach with the
surface of its display, however, the only item that stands out is the front-facing camera that’s
positioned squarely into the middle area of the top bezel.
Interestingly enough, you can’t take self-portraits with it, since
there’s no camera app. Instead, it’s only activated with certain apps –
such as video chatting with Google Talk.
Front
Front-facing camera
On the bottom edge of the
tablet, we’re presented with its microUSB port for charging/data
connectivity and 3.5mm headset jack. We would’ve preferred the jack to
be positioned on the top edge since it gets in the way if we rest the
tablet on a surface.
In the bottom left corner, there
are four dock connection pins that enable it to be used with various
accessories – while a pinhole sits nearby for its microphone.
Conversely, we can find both the power button and volume control in the top right corner of
the tablet. Even though they’re raised slightly to offer some
distinction with our fingers, we still have just a tiny bit of
difficulty in first feeling them out because they’re positioned at an
angle. Nonetheless, they’re extremely springy with their response.
Bottom edge
Left
Top
Right
The sides of the Google Nexus 7
Finally, there’s nothing in the rear except
for a small strip towards the bottom that discretely hides away its
speaker grill. Also, the “ASUS” and “NEXUS” names are etched into the
tough rubbery surface of the rear casing. Obviously, we’re forgiving in
the fact that its 4,325 mAh battery isn’t accessible, but it pains us to
know that there isn’t any sort of storage expandability with this one,
since it lacks a microSD card slot. Undoubtedly, it’s evident that
compromises are needed to keep its cost at $200, but still, it makes us
wonder how much of an increase we’d see.
Back
Speaker grill on the back
Display:
Again, it’s really hard to believe we’re looking at a $200 priced tablet because it’s sporting one pleasant looking 7” WXGA (1280 x 800) IPS display with Gorilla Glass to
give it strength. Indeed, it’s not the most cutting-edge thing we’ve
seen out there, but for a 7-inch tablet, it’s something head above water
from most of the pack. For starters, its resolution is rarely seen in
the 7-inch form factor, which delivers a respectable pixel density of
216 ppi. Therefore, it’s able to produce sharp details that make even
the tiniest and faintest of text exquisitely legible to the eye.
Viewing angles of the Google Nexus 7
And considering that this is an IPS panel that we’re talking about,
color production tends to be more natural looking when compared to other
competing display technologies – like AMOLED. Rounding things out, it
boasts some decent viewing angles and
a high brightness output to maintain its clarity in almost all
conditions. Even though it’s more than visible on cloudy days outdoors,
it still requires some shielding in direct sunlight. Overall, it’s a
nice looking display that no doubt gets the job done, but it isn’t
necessarily regarded as a class-leading thing.
Interface:
So what’s the hoopla surrounding the Google Nexus 7? Well, unless you’ve
been hiding underground in a bomb shelter waiting for the end of the
world, you know that it’s all about the Jelly Beans with this one.
Specifically, the outstanding reason why this has been given the Nexus
moniker, is that it’s packing the most up-to-date version of the
platform – Android 4.1 Jelly Bean!
It’s not an entirely new experience per se, much like how Android 3.0
Honeycomb was a major departure from Gingerbread, but there are enough
new elements thrown into the mix to give it some distinction over its
predecessor in Ice Cream Sandwich. Meaning, if you’ve been sitting idly
with Gingerbread, this will undoubtedly be a dramatically new experience
for you, but if you’ve been using an ICS device, or even a Honeycomb
one to an extent, you’ll see many commonalities.
Right away, we’re still exposed to all of the core foundational aspects of Android – like its rich level of personalization thanks
to its vast and ever-so-useful set of widgets. However, they’re not
particularly new since most of them are the same ones we’ve seen with
ICS – and Honeycomb as well! Still, we do notice that Jelly Bean is more
refined with its layout since it’s brandishing a cleaner appearance
than what we’ve seen previously. Gone are the TRON-like highlights that
we saw with Honeycomb, and instead, it follows in tandem to what we’ve
seen with ICS already – with that being softer toned highlighting
elements and text. Still, there are some obvious untouched
characteristics with the experience – such as Android buttons being
incorporated into the interface, the multi-tasking pane, and the same
ICS app panel that breaks down apps and widgets.
The Google Nexus 7 comes with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
The “My Library” widget
There’s
a single widget that seems to uncover the underlying focus of the Nexus
7, and interestingly enough, it follows similarly to what we saw on the
Amazon Kindle Fire. As we know, Google is transforming and moving
beyond just being an internet search provider. Most notably, they’re
expanding into the multimedia content community, where they’re focusing
on providing television shows, movies, books, magazines, music, games,
and apps courtesy of Google Play. Well folks, it’s quite obvious that
they’re making it a focus on the Google Nexus 7, as the “My Library” widget on
the homescreen aggregates our stored/purchased content. Certainly, it
adds a splash of interest, but it’s also another reminder from Google
that the tablet is becoming an all-in-one content solution.
There’s no questioning that Android has the best notifications system of
any platform, but with Jelly Bean, Google has managed to solidify it
functionality even further. Specifically, the new gestures in play with
the notification panel are pretty useful, as we’re able to preview
snippets, like email, directly from the panel by simply executing pinch
gestures. Additionally, there are even more intuitive functions that
help increase productivity – like having the option to share a screenshot or photo from within the notification panel,
as opposed to going into the gallery. Simply put it, these new
functions are not only appreciated, but they show how comprehensive it
is over competing platforms.
Notifications system
Functionality:
With a major platform update, one would probably expect to see new layouts with existing core organizer apps,
but sadly, we don’t find anything out of the ordinary on the Nexus 7.
In fact, the clock, calendar, address book, and calculator all maintain
their layouts. Yeah, they’re all optimized for the tablet form factor,
which is made known by the 2-panel layout we’re accustomed to seeing,
but it still would’ve been nice to see some improvements.
Core organizer apps
Email, of course, is pretty much
the same as it has always been with Android as whole – fantastic!
Again, there are no noticeable changes with the presentation and
functionality of both the standard Email and Gmail apps. Nonetheless,
we’ve made it clear already that it would’ve been nice nonetheless to
see even a minor update to celebrate the new software – but hey, at
least the setup process is still a painless one!
Email
If we’d have to choose, we prefer typing with the portrait style keyboard of
the Google Nexus 7 over its landscape counterpart – mainly because our
thumbs are better equipped in comfortably encompassing its layout. As
for the keyboard itself, it’s nearly identical to the ICS one. Still, we
would’ve liked to see numbers at least incorporated into the top row of
buttons to lessen the time to switch between layouts. Regardless of
that, it’s super responsive in allowing us to keep a moderate rate of
input.
The virtual keyboard of the Google Nexus 7
Having been a staple with Android, gestures aren’t
new as we all know, but Jelly Bean throws in new one into the mix.
We’re all familiar with the swipe down gesture from the top of the
display, which reveals the notifications panel at any time, but now
there’s a swipe up gesture from the bottom bezel to gain access to Jelly Bean’s Google Now service.
Google Now:
Back during the early beginnings of Palm’s webOS, we were enamored by
the possibilities associated with Synergy, seeing that it was being
promoted as a serious personal digital assistant. Well folks, Google Now
may actually be just that! Relying on complied data that consists of
our search history, calendar, and location, it’s here to provide
specific suggestions to us. Presented to us in these stylized “cards,”
it’s pretty cool that most of its suggestions are automated. From
informing us about traffic on our route home or telling us about
inclement weather, it’s unbelievable how it’s able to deliver these
useful suggestions. And the more we take around and use the Nexus 7, the
more it learns our habits and provides us with tangible suggestions.
Honestly, it’s still in the early stages, but we’re excited to see how
Google refines the experience even more down the road.
Google Now is presented to us in stylized “cards”
Google Voice Search:
Google’s expertise has always been centered around internet searches,
but with the arrival of Jelly Bean, we’re seeing a monumental upgrade in
the experience that makes good use of Google’s knowledge graph. Similar
to what’s offered by Apple’s Siri, Google Voice Search follows in
succession by providing tangible search results – all by simply
speaking. Not only is it accurate with its recognition, but it’s also
intelligent as well! From computing basic math, conversions, and
answering some obtuse questions, it’s really effective in coughing up
some relevant searches. Even better, the voice is more natural sounding
and distinct when compared to Siri’s robotic tone.
Google Voice Search provides tangible search results
Processor and Memory:
A cheap price point means an equally weak processor, right? Actually,
that’s not the case with the Nexus 7, as it continues to impress us with
its serious knocker under the hood. Running the show behind the scenes,
its 1.3GHz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor and 1GB of RAM is
sure to wow many people – especially when you figure in its price
point! Beyond that, the tablet operates at a very responsive rate to
make the Jelly Bean experience even more gratifying. Some might be
shocked by its low benchmark scores with Quadrant, but it doesn’t depict
its true real-life performance. Whether it’s kinetic scrolling or
opening apps, nearly everything is accompanied with a buttery smooth
operation, primarily thanks to…
Project butter! In the past, we’ve seen even some of the highest spec’d
Android devices exhibit signs of choppiness and lag with their
operations, but with Jelly Bean’s arrival, Google seemingly eliminated
the issue – albeit, we do notice just a pinch of delay on rare
occasions. Moving around the homesceeen, with a graphically intensive
live wallpaper, it’s able to maintain a buttery smooth operation. So
yeah, we totally dig the uniform performance we’re seeing thanks to “Project Butter”.
Of all things, one of the biggest eye strains for the Nexus 7 tablet is its lack of storage expandability.
With our 8GB review unit, it translates to 5.92GB out of the box, which
isn’t sufficient at all if you happen to be a multimedia fiend.
Internet and Connectivity:
Gone is the tried and true Android browser of yesterday! Instead, it has been replaced with Google’s very own Chrome browser,
which is already available to other Android and iOS devices. In terms
of functionality, it’s significantly more extensive as it features
tabbed browsing, synchronization with your Google account, incognito
mode, and swipe gestures to easily navigate between open tabs. Indeed,
it doesn’t offer Adobe Flash support, but that doesn’t detract from its
worth – seeing that its performance is still top notch with smooth
operations all around. We can cry about the death of Flash support with
Jelly Bean, but when it’s this darn good, we’re quite forgiving.
The Android browser has been replaced with Google’s very own Chrome browser
To broaden its appeal to a wider audience, the Google Nexus 7 tablet is only available in Wi-Fi only form –
and of course, it helps in keeping its price very manageable. However,
it does pack on all the usual connectivity features we’d expect to find.
In fact, the listing consists of aGPs, Bluetooth, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi,
and NFC.
Camera:
As we’ve noted earlier, the Nexus 7 only has a front-facing camera,
which is only accessible with certain apps – specifically, it’s for
those that offer video chatting. It’s arguable to say how much more its
price would’ve increased if they put in a rear camera, but it still
would’ve been nice to at least throw one in. Sure, not everyone will
rely on a tablet to snap a photo, but when it’s the only thing within
reach, we’re convinced that most people would swallow their pride and
use it.
Multimedia:
The Gallery app
At first glance, the Gallery app seems
unchanged, but after a meticulous walkthrough, we do notice some added
and missing elements. With the latter, Jelly Bean removes the coinciding
animation that accompanies each displayed item in the gallery when
tilting the tablet left of right. However, it’s still achieved by
essentially swiping our finger in the appropriate direction. Again,
there are some new gestures in play here as well. More specific, a
pinching gesture while viewing an image allows us to view all of the
stored photos in a singular carousel view. From here, we can easily
delete photos by swiping up on the ones we don’t want. Simple enough,
right?
Much like what we’ve seen with the core set of organizer apps, the music player on
the Google Nexus 7 is unchanged from what we’ve seen previously. In
fact, it’s the same exact one that first rolled onto the scene with
Honeycomb. Nevertheless, it’s still flaunting an attractive interface
with its 3D carousel in landscape. Audio quality, though, is a surprise
in itself seeing that its output is not only powerful, but
distortion-free as well. Plus, it helps that various equalizer settings
are available to enhance its quality.
Strangely, there’s no support for videos encoded
in XviD or DivX out of the box. Regardless of that, it’s able to
flawlessly play our test video that’s encoded in MPEG4 1920 x 1080
resolution. No doubt, its sharp looking screen is effective enough in
providing a rich experience on the go.
With the “My Library” taking the
entire area of the tablet’s main homescreen, it’s Google’s way of
trying to reel people into its content service via Google Play. If
you’re into reading books, magazines, and newspapers, you’ll be able to
view them with the corresponding Play Books, Play Magazines, and Google
Current apps. Naturally, all of the apps work like what you’d expect,
but there are some features, like the text-only mode of Google
Magazines, that optimize the layout of the content for easier reading.
Furthermore, if you’re into movies, television shows, or music, the
experience is unmodified from what we’ve seen in the past already.
Software:
Everything might seem fine and dandy with the tablet optimized version
of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but there is one underlying issue that we
have with it. For the most part, the core apps are optimized for tablet
usage, but there is still a lack of optimized third-party apps.
Of course, there are some noteworthy third-party ones that stand out
from the bunch, like Flipboard. But honestly, it’s a shame that apps
like Twitter and Facebook don’t get the love – instead, they’re simply
the same ones found with Android smartphones.
However, Google+ really
showcases the visual treatments that tablet optimized apps have to
offer. Not only does it work in both portrait and landscape, but the
experience is strengthened by its rich use of transition effects and
aggregating content to make it a stand out in what it truly means to be
tablet-optimized.
Additionally, the same can be said about the updated YouTube experience with
Jelly Bean. Staring straight at it, the look and feel of the new
YouTube app seemingly borrows some of the stuff we see with Google+.
Specifically, it makes good use out of the familiar 2-panel interface
we’re fond of seeing – while still presenting us with all the cool
sharing functions of the app.
Taking into account that this is a vanilla Android experience we’re talking about, there are no third-party apps preloaded whatsoever
on the tablet. Being the Google branded device it is, we’re presented
with all of the company’s arsenal of apps – these include things like
Google Earth, Google Latitude, Google Maps, Google Talk, and Google
Wallet.
Gaming:
Testing out its gaming prowess with Dead Trigger, the Nexus 7 tablet is a
remarkable device in keeping pace with all the action of the game. With
the graphics processing capabilities of its NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core
processor, it shows very little pause or choppiness with the intense 3D
visuals of the game. Therefore, if you’re seeking out a tablet that’s
going to be adequate in the gaming department, this should no doubt
appease your inner most gaming desires.Performance:
Amazingly, there’s a ton of juice provided by the 4,325 mAh battery it’s
packing inside of its body. Fully charging it, we’re able to blow pass
the one day mark with heavy usage with the tablet, which is an
exceptional feat of its own. For those who aren’t as demanding, you’ll
be able to easily achieve at least two days with light usage. Factoring
its IPS display, power-efficient quad-core processor, and Jelly Bean
performance optimizations, they’re undoubtedly aiding its battery life.
During our testing, we didn’t experience any fluctuations with its Wi-Fi connectivity,
as it’s able to sustain a connection to a hotspot located approximately
30 feet away in another room. Even better, it didn’t drop the
connection at any point either!
Conclusion:
It takes the correct set of ingredients to be a best-seller, but it
requires winning the hearts and minds of consumers all around in order
to be remembered long after it’s gone. Honestly people, the tablet
industry is seeing a revival thanks partly to the arrival of the Google Nexus 7.
Simply put it, the tablet sets the bar in what it means to be a tablet
in this day and age. Obviously, we’ve seen a handful of competitively
priced budget tablets, like the Amazon Kindle Fire and NOOK TABLET.
However, with those offerings, you don’t receive the full potential of
Android’s capabilities – and instead, they were simply vessels for their
respective content services.
We can list all the wonderful reasons why to pick up the Nexus 7 over
other comparable tablets, like knowing it’ll more than likely receive
updates faster since it’s a Nexus branded device, but beyond that, it’s
compelling in the fact that it’ll instantly capture the attention of
consumers thanks to its killer $200 price point. Needless to say, this
is a strategic move in closing the gap between Android’s market share
against its main rival in the iPad.
When you think about it, you’re still getting an all-encompassing
tablet experience with the Nexus 7 – while being able to relish on all
the dynamite new features found with Jelly Bean. And seriously people,
who doesn’t want to experience the latest and greatest in terms of
software?
Google has obviously learned from its past hardships, like being the sole seller of the Nexus One,
but with this, they’re embarking in an entirely new quest. Of course,
the tablet highlights the possibilities that can be achieved with even a
budget tablet – such as having killer spec’d hardware to complement the
updated Jelly Bean experience. Although it’s not hyped about as much as
other things, the long term goal sought out with the Nexus 7 is to get
consumers familiar with its various content services. Already, it’s
having a profound presence here, as it’s blatantly presented to us right
from the homescreen.
In the end, if you’re in the market for any tablet, there’s no reason
why the Google Nexus 7 shouldn’t be on or near the top of your list.
Sure, it’s not a particularly cutting-edge device in the hardware front,
but there’s nothing else close at the moment that can match its sheer
offerings at its phenomenal price point. This could potentially be the
best-selling Nexus branded device thus far!
Software version of the review unit:
Android Version: 4.1.1
Build Number: JRO03D
Kernel Version: 3.1.10-g52027f9
