ASUS Google Nexus 7 7-inch Tablet (2GB RAM, 32GB eMMC)

THE VERY LAST UPDATE: 05/02/15Sadly, I had to send my Nexus 7 (2013) back for a refund. The reason being it suffered from the very same problem that the 2012 model suffered from, it's fitted a very cheap USB port which will eventually fail. When you plug in the USB cable the unit it will become unresponsive and very slow, you can also see the lights flicking on the charger. The port will eventually fail and you will be unable to charge the unit using the USB cable. How Google and Asus can release a tablet at this price point with cheap components is beyond me, it's really unbelievable. What beggars belief, is that they must have known about the problem from the start, because the Nexus 2012 suffered from the exact same problem. But, they choose to ignore it! I certainly won't be buying Google or Asus products ever again; I will look elsewhere because there are plenty of other tablets out there which are just as good or even better, just do your homework first.ORIGINAL REVIEWAt first I liked this product but I'm now thinking of getting a refund. After using it for a while there are major problems that Google still haven't fixed, even in the latest Android 4.4.4 update.PROBLEMS:1. HIDDEN NETWORKS - The Nexus 7 (2013) can't find hidden networks, to fix this problem you need to install "Hidden SSID Enabler (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.sourceforge.soopy.hidden.ssid.enabler&hl=en_GB) which will fix the problem. How come Google can't fix this very old bug/problem, but, yet, someone on Google Play can?UPDATE 1.I would advise people not to use hidden networks as it has problems on Android (and on Windows 8.1), and it can be cracked anyway. Use a password manager and 256 bit encrypted passwords. KeePass from sourceforge is very good and is free.2. BLUETOOTH & WI-FI PROBLEM - It has audio interference problems when connected to other audio devices, such as, an external Bluetooth speaker. To 'fix' the problem you have to turn-off the Wi-Fi connection if you want to have a proper audio connection. Not really a fix because if you want to listen to audio on, say, 'YouTube' or the 'BBC iPlayer' you're stuffed, because you need the Wi-Fi connection turned on. If the Wi-Fi is on the Bluetooth audio will be terrible, it will be broken and intermittent. Apparently, the Nexus 7 (2013) has a single chip for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and they interfere with each other on the 2.4GHz frequency - great! Google must have known about this problem when they released the Nexus 7, so, will it ever get fixed, who knows.UPDATE 1I'm still testing this problem, but it looks like the Nexus 7 will work with a Bluetooth version 4.0 device, but not with devices using previous Bluetooth versions, such as, 2.1 + EDR. This problem should not occur as Bluetooth version 4.0 should be backwards compatible with previous versions. It looks like the implementation of Bluetooth version 4.0 on the Nexus 7 is not backwards compatible?UPDATE 2Nexus 7, Android firmware update 5v0.Since this release, Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR is working a lot better but it still has small sound drop-outs. When people speak they will sound like a Dalek every now and then; Bluetooth 4v0 works fine. A very poor effort by Google given the price.3. USB CONNECTOR - The USB connector does not seem up to the job as it feels lose even after a moderate degree of use, I think it should be of a high quality given that this tablet is not cheap. It's okay for now, but if it does go then the tablet will be useless as I wouldn't be able to charge it or communicate with it via USB, only time will tell.UPDATE 1DEVICE NOT RECOGNISED VIA A USB CONNECTIONI forgot about this problem as well, the Nexus 7 is not recognized as a USB device under Windows 8.1, so therefore you can't transfer files using Windows Explorer. To get around the problem you have to enable the hidden "Developer" settings (http://www.androidcentral.com/how-enable-developer-settings-android-42) on your device, then enable "debugging mode". Then, with the device plugged into the USB port, choose another driver under the Windows hardware device manager. After all that, hopefully, your device should finally be recognised by Windows 8.1.Please use Google for more information on the above as there are a few fanboys who disagree - obviously - and think I'm making it up:Google search: Nexus 7 hidden SSIDGoogle search: Nexus 7 Bluetooth wifi interferenceGoogle search: Nexus 7 USB device not recognizedUPDATE 2USB connection is now very lose after, very light use.OTHER ANNOYING THINGS:4. SPEAKERS- The built-in speakers in my opinion are, err, let me put it this way, just about bearable. The sound quality is thin, there's not much bass, there's plenty of tinny highs though and the output volume is very low. I know it's a tablet but I've heard better tablet speakers, they're just about okay in a very quite room. If you're in an environment with even a modest amount of background noise, then you will find yourself cupping your hands around the speakers to try to hear what going on. If you depend on them to wake you up the next morning after setting an alarm, then good luck with that one, especially if you've had a late night.5. MEMORY- No SD card memory slot because Google want you to use their cloud service to get even more cash out of you. That's a really bad decision by Google as it costs pennies to include one and they're ubiquitous, and, it will put people off buying the Nexus 7. You can buy a USB OTG cable adapter to get around the problem.2nd UPDATE6. ALARM CLOCKIf you set an alarm on your Nexus 7 everything will be hunky dory; there will be an icon in the notification bar that indicates that you have set an alarm, and, if you drag-down the quick settings menu (top right of screen) an 'Alarm Clock' tile will appear showing the next alarm time. But, after a reboot the Nexus 7 will forget all about your alarm settings, the icon disappears and so does the 'Alarm Clock' tile under the quick settings menu. To get your alarm settings back you have to go into 'Clock', go to the 'Alarm' tab, then turn the alarm off and on, your alarm settings will return. If you forget to do that, then the Nexus 7 won't wake you up the next morning, so, I hope you have an understanding boss. Try an app from Google Play and test it to see if it 'fixes' this bug.ALARM CLOCK UPDATEThe alarm clock seems to have improved some what, I'm still testing it. I haven't been using lately because it was so unreliable. Google seem to have made an attempt to fix it but it's not completely fixed. After a reboot, the 'Alarm Clock' tile under the quick settings menu still disappears, but, the notification bar icon, top-left, is still there, and, so far, the alarm have activated on time. I still don't trust it 100% though!3rd UPDATEPLANNED OBSOLESCENCEGoogle released the Nexus 7 with built-in obsolescence because you can't change (officially) the built-in battery. When the inevitable happens and the battery eventually fails, you will have to throw a way your perfectly good Nexus 7 and buy another tablet, my guess is it will probably from another manufacturer - Google, doing its bit to save the planet! Oh, and remember to put a hammer though it before you sling it as it will have all your personal data on it.These are really bad problems and Google's attitude stinks as these so called 'bugs' have been around for a long time. This product is way over-price here in the UK compared to the US price. Even so, I went ahead and paid £176 (03/02/14) for this tablet because of the specification and all the good write-ups, so, I expected it to be "fit for purpose" but sadly it is not. I'm thinking of asking for a refund but I've bought a case and other stuff which will now be useless thanks to Google.CONCLUSIONThis tablet has it's good points, for example; the size, it will fit in a pocket with a 4 1/2" (115mm) width, which is very handy, the screen is great and it's first to get the Android OS OTA updates. But, it also has plenty of bad points, such as, the updates not fixing the long term bugs - like the well known Bluetooth one! For some reason the problems and bugs were never highlighted in any of the reviews I read before I bought it? These problems should have been addressed before the Nexus 7 went to market, but, I know plenty of manufacturers will release products to market with known bugs, I've worked for them! What's annoying is that Google have had plenty of time to fix the serious bugs on the Nexus 7, they've been around for quite a while now and are well known, just Google them, but they just haven't, why not? Had I had known then I don't think I would have gone for this tablet, I would have waited for other tablets to come on to the market. It was the best ranked 7" tablet when I bought it, but has now fallen down the pecking-order and it's now a bit cheaper. If you can put up with the above problems and bugs then go for it, but, do your homework before you buy. I was looking at the Tesco Hudl which was £120, it's now £99 (23/08/14), which is a bargain for the specification. I would certainly buy that one now, the 16GB memory can be increased up to 48GB with a microSDHC memory card, so plenty of storage, unlike the Nexus 7, no downloads required! Even the Tesco Hudl leather case with stand has come down in price, £5, very nice.I know some people customise (root) their devices by putting an open source OS on it, such as, CyanogenMod as a example. But, be aware that if you do root your device your warranty will probably be null and void and you could 'brick' your device. You could also lose some of your favourite features, like that panorama camera function. I'm not even sure if rooting your device will fix all the above problems as I haven't found any information on it yet, I'm still looking.Only two stars for now, if the bugs do get fixed in a future update then I might give it more stars. But, who knows, newer tablets are always coming on to the market so the Nexus 7 might just get left behind, watch this space...I give honest and helpful reviews based on my experience. If you found this review to be helpful to you then please give it the thumbs-up to combat the fanboys blinker views, blind faith, negativity and stupidity (bamboozal), who I find really annoying, thank you, it's much appreciated.

The screen on this tablet is simply stunning, the 1920x1200 resolution is even crisper than your Full HD 1080p TV. The colours are great, brightness is unmatched and its pixel density is even higher than the iPad with Retina display. I had the old Nexus 7 before for a few months and I can certainly notice the speed boost and the better screen. However if I still had my Nexus 7 (which I sold about 8 months ago as I thought a netbook would be more useful, how wrong was I?!), I wouldn't necessarily sell it immediately for this. Yes the screen is crisper and has a faster processor, however the Nexus 7 is capable of doing the same task being a tad thicker and I wouldn't mind waiting a second or two more for it to load. This is because the old Nexus 7 was stunning at its time and still is. On the other hand, if you don't have a 7" tablet or have something like the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 or Tab 3 7.0 then this would be an amazing buy. I prefer Google Nexus devices because they have the fastest updates by a mile and also they are selling at a thin profit hoping that you would pay for the services on the play store. This means you're getting about £180-190 worth of hardware and paying £200. Compared to Samsung Galaxy tabs where they want immediate profit, you'll be getting £100 hardware and paying £180 for the tab 3. This is something to consider if you want the best bang for buck device.Now lets talk about the specs. The CPU have been updated to a 1.5Ghz Snapdragon Krait core which is about 1.5-2x faster than the old Tegra 3 A9 cores running at same speed. This is very noticeable when loading webpages and launching apps. The GPU have been upgrade to the Adreno 320 which is 3-4x faster than the old Tegra 3 graphics however the device packs about 2.3x more pixels so you do notice smoother gameplay but due to the resolution its not like its 3-4x smoother than the predecessor. RAM have been upgraded to 2GB so you can store have more background apps running. The screen ofcourse being the most important update, now packs 323ppi 1920x1200 which is much brighter so its perfect for outdoor viewing. They've also added a 5MP rear camera capable of 1080p video capature and upgraded the front camera to 1.2MP and 720P HD video capture. Overall a much expected update, but I found it odd they had to up the pricing so much. Nevertheless, still £70 cheaper than the iPad Mini. Atleast they didn't have some obscure exchange rate and upping the price by $30 only meant a £40 increase.Now you might ask why did I say its perfect but almost. Well nothing is perfect! Anyhow Android is currently still lacking tablet optimized apps, most of them are enlarged phone apps which is not as intuitive to use compared to the massive number of tablet apps the iPad Mini has. Also even though 7" is pretty much a perfect size, I still feel I could use the extra inch at times when browsing and have an 8". However that would increase the cost due to a larger display and a reduced battery life due to higher power consumption. The immense resolution sort of makes up for this as the text is clear even though being quite small. Its a hard decision. But in the end, there is no tablet on the market that can match the amount of hardware you're getting for your money along with the warranty and support. I can't really knock star off for those cons as I can deal with them and the apps situation will be solved overtime as they are updated. ASUS is truly amazing to be able to build such a device and Google to sell it at such a price. Its a perfect 5/5 star rating however it would be threatened by the iPad Mini 2 if they manage to squeeze a retina display with updated specs and more RAM at the same price. Because overall they still have the edge of better apps. But I wouldn't wait and would just get the Nexus 7 now as its a worthwhile buy definitely, unless you already have the old one then you might want to see how much you get for it first and see for yourself or you have already invest heavily in the Apple ecosystem's apps, iTunes etc you would be better of waiting for the iPad Mini 2. You can't do without a tablet nowadays! Its like must having a PC back 10 years ago in my opinion.-----EDIT: A day into using it, I must say the screen is marvelous. After using it all day and looking back at my Galaxy Grand, its like night and day. The pixels become so obvious and just looking at text on the Nexus's screen becomes a joy.Also I'm going to add a few things that I missed out. The build quality is very good for a plastic device, there is no flex at all and the back isn't slippy and has some grip to it but somehow feels quite smooth. The stereo speakers with one at the top and one at the bottom is amazing, one of the best speakers that I have heard but still can't be compared to front speakers that you see on the Nexus 10 and HTC One but its close. Charge time should be about 3.5-4 hours, I charged it from 50% out of the box to full and it took about 1.5-2 hours (didn't time it exactly). So my advice is: before they run out of stock, go get one now! :)-----EDIT 2: (24th Oct 13) After a month and a bit into using this and with the iPad Mini with Retina just announced, I thought I'll just make an update. Tablet is still blazing fast even though I have over 20GB of content on it. No noticeable lag or slowdown which is pretty good for an Android device. A full charge can last 3-4 days depending on use, I tend to use it as a reading/browsing device for 1-2 hours a day before sleeping and about half an hour to an hour in the morning. Screen brightness is quite amazing, the outdoor visibility is just amazing and the screen itself is beautiful. The Rear Camera is pretty bad though, unless its just for quick snaps. But who takes pictures with a tablet anyways. On the other hand, the front facing camera is pretty decent with Skype/Hangout and taking selfies. Still love it after a month, its just such a beautiful device and soo thin! Real Racing 3 and Asphalt 8 runs beautifully on the Nexus 7, you'd forget that its a tablet and you're not on the PS3 or Xbox!Now that the iPad mini with retina is coming out, I'd have to say my conclusion has to be altered. I would instead only solely recommend the Nexus 7 between the two as they've upped the iPad Minis price too much in my opinion. The screen density is virtually identical to the Nexus 7. The iPads CPU/GPU might be a bit faster, but to be fair you wouldn't notice. The Nexus 7's A15 quad is really blazing fast. So no real good reason to go for the iPad mini unless you have heavily invested into iTunes and the Appstore or REALLY need that extra 1 inch. 7" is really the sweet spot for portability, at 8" its nicer but it would be noticeably bigger in my opinion when travelling. I wouldn't pay £120 more which is 60% more over the Nexus 7 for an iPad Mini with Retina. Do you get 60% more screen area? No. Do you get a 60% faster CPU/GPU? No. Do you get 60% more RAM or storage space? No. So its up to you.