Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Update: --------- Google just announced a newer version of Nexus 7, making this product obsolete. Some of the highlights are - - A nice bump in the screen resolution - 1920 X 1200 (323 ppi) - A 5 MP rear facing camera - Ships with Android 4.3, which has a restricted profile feature that can be used to block in-app purchases and limit access to content. - The usual improvements in processor, memory, weight, speakers, wireless, etc. You can find the details on the official website for Nexus 7. - The 32 GB model is $269 now. $20 extra for the new model is well worth it, in my opinion. Full Disclosure: ----------------- Let me state upfront that in the last 3 years, my wife and I have purchased 4 iPhones, 4 iPads, 1 Mac Mini, 1 Apple TV and 2 Macbook Airs for ourselves and extended members of the family. I cannot review this product without comparing it to the iPad 2, which I've been using for the last year and a half. Motivation: ------------ We have an 18 month old son who needs to be entertained with videos and apps while he's being fed and we have an upcoming trip to India during which we'll need to keep him busy during the flight and transits. Here are our requirements - 1) We needed a tablet that is more portable than the 16 GB iPad 2 that we currently have so that it's easy to stuff into my cargo pants or jacket and pull it out quickly when required. 2) We needed more than the 16GB storage to store his favorite videos because we may have intermittent access to WiFi, at least 32 GB. 3) When he's not using it, I would like a tablet that's easy to grip for long hours of reading. Choice: -------- Based on these 3 requirements, I restricted my choice to the iPad Mini, Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 32GB. Here are the reasons I decided to go with the Nexus 7. The 32 GB iPad Mini was almost $195 ((429 - 249) * 1.0825) more than the other 2 when you include CA sales taxes. It is at least half an inch wider than the Nexus 7 which makes it slightly harder to grip if you have small hands like me. The areas where it's better - slightly bigger screen, iOS app store, rear camera were not that important to me since we already have an iPad 2 and I don't shoot photos or videos with tablets. I chose Nexus 7 over Kindle Fire because I use a lot of Google services and wanted a tablet with a more open ecosystem. I can read Kindle e-books and listen to music using the Amazon Cloud Player on the Nexus 7. We have a Netflix subscription so the loss of Amazon Instant Video was not that important. Review: --------- Here are the things that I liked about the Nexus 7 - 1) Jelly Bean (4.1) is really good. I had played with Android phones and tablets before and they used to lack the smoothness of iOS. I think it's pretty close now. 2) The higher resolution HD screen is great for reading and watching videos. 3) If you are heavily into the Google ecosystem, it's a breeze to set it up. 4) Android in general is more customizable with widgets etc. 5) I was able to download most of the iOS apps that I use frequently with some exceptions. More on that later. 6) I liked the auto-update feature on Android. It's an option that you can tick while downloading an app. It automatically downloads updates to that app. 7) I liked the notification system and realized why iOS decided to replicate it. 8) I also liked the shortcut for looking at running apps and a simple flick deletes them. 9) It is easier for my son to hold compared to the iPad 2. He also has a habit of pressing the home button and exiting the app on the iPad 2 and then complaining about it (he's only 18 months old) but fortunately he can't do that on the Nexus 7. Here are the things that I thought were missing - 1) There are fewer tablet optimized apps on Android. The quality of apps on iOS for iPad is definitely better. Flipboard was good on Nexus 7 but Zite lacked the polish of the iPad app. NYTimes was good. The usual games like Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja and Cut the Rope were more unstable and crashed a few times. I installed Talkatone to make calls through Google Voice and it worked fine. The usual ones - Netflix, Skype, etc. worked fine. I noticed some lag while using Zinio to read the National Geographic. 2) I'm still not used to the Chrome browser on a tablet. It seemed to me that accessing bookmarks on the iOS browser is easier. I found all my bookmarks already synced on my Chrome browser but accessing them requires multiple steps. 3) It is slightly heavier than the iPad Mini but not by a lot. The iPad Mini is still ahead in terms of external design and looks but the cost mattered more to me this time. I may have paid $100 more for the iPad Mini because of the iOS app ecosystem advantage but $195 was a very high premium for an optional device. Conclusion: ------------- The Nexus 7 is an excellent device irrespective of the price but the price makes it easier to appreciate it even more. If your requirements and expectations are similar to mine, I would strongly recommend it. I bought this product from Office Depot but I felt that the review might help others make a decision.