Nexus 7 For Browsing?

clemson77on

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I'm about to purchase a tablet and really don't know what I want. I am leaning towards the Nexus 10 because I feel like the 10" screen is better for browsing and reading. I played with a Nexus 7 in Best Buy for a little while and I felt like browsing the internet wasn't very smooth. I was always zooming or panning. I'd kinda like the smaller Nexus but this has me concerned. For those of you who have owned the Nexus 7 for a while, what is your opinion on this? Do you sometimes wish you had the bigger brother or are you glad you went with the 7" model? Thanks.
 

NexusNick123

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I can tell you I do have the Nexus 7 and I love the 7in screen for the web reading books new anything. The size makes it easy to hold and the light weight is great you can also hold it in one hand. I have a 9in iPad and I don't use it due to the size I am so happy I went with the 7. Now if KitKat can come along would be better. The speed of the device is great and the design is perfect. I would buy it again if I had too.

I'm about to purchase a tablet and really don't know what I want. I am leaning towards the Nexus 10 because I feel like the 10" screen is better for browsing and reading. I played with a Nexus 7 in Best Buy for a little while and I felt like browsing the internet wasn't very smooth. I was always zooming or panning. I'd kinda like the smaller Nexus but this has me concerned. For those of you who have owned the Nexus 7 for a while, what is your opinion on this? Do you sometimes wish you had the bigger brother or are you glad you went with the 7" model? Thanks.
 

patruns

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I have both. For portability I prefer the Nexus 7. Reading books is great and there is not a lot of scrolling on websites to make it uncomfortable. At home I do everything on the Nexus 10 as I much prefer the screen size. If I was forced to choose I would probably grab the Nexus 7 as it is easier to carry around.
 

tflash

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I'm about to purchase a tablet and really don't know what I want. I am leaning towards the Nexus 10 because I feel like the 10" screen is better for browsing and reading. I played with a Nexus 7 in Best Buy for a little while and I felt like browsing the internet wasn't very smooth. I was always zooming or panning. I'd kinda like the smaller Nexus but this has me concerned. For those of you who have owned the Nexus 7 for a while, what is your opinion on this? Do you sometimes wish you had the bigger brother or are you glad you went with the 7" model? Thanks.

Yeah, the print is small if you're using it to look a full desktop websites. Mobile web sites are better, but they contain much less information per page. The processor is a bit slow, but I blame the adds that websites have. Websites always increase the number of adds when things get too 'smooth' so it's always barely useable.

If you're going to use it around the house, I'd say get the 10", but if you're going to carry it around or use the GPS in a car (car mount) I'd say get the 7".
 

B. Diddy

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I think the N7 is totally fine for browsing. Even if you need to zoom in and zoom out, the device is powerful enough that it's a quick process. The 2013 N7 is significantly faster than the 2012. Keep in mind that a 10" tablet may ultimately run a little more slowly and less smoothly than the N7, due to the higher demand of the larger screen--of course, it depends on the device.
 

Little Darwin

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If I need more screen than a 7" tablet, then I carry my 13" Ultra-Book. For anything where I need more screen space, then I can probably also benefit from a keyboard and so the laptop makes more sense for me.

Your mileage may vary.
 

clemson77on

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Thanks for the great input. I may have to go with the Nexus 7. My wife has an iPad so we have a 10" tablet already but I hate using that thing. Oh one last thing - do you consider the large bezels at the top and bottom a plus or minus?
 

jhilker

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Thanks for the great input. I may have to go with the Nexus 7. My wife has an iPad so we have a 10" tablet already but I hate using that thing. Oh one last thing - do you consider the large bezels at the top and bottom a plus or minus?

I personally like it, especially when using in landscape, whether watching a movie or playing a game. Sort of gives me "handles."

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk
 

flux capacitor

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IMO its terrible. I find it very cumbersome. Its one of the main reasons I'm switching to either the new mini or air. Every time I visit my sister I always play with her iPad 3 especially web browsing and its just so ,much better. Coming from the N7 it feels huge.


If you watch alot of movies or read ebooks (which the n7 is excellent at) then to format makes sense. But for the N7 format just doesn't cut it for me.

I'll keep my gs3 though.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using AC Forums mobile app
 

B. Diddy

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IMO its terrible. I find it very cumbersome. Its one of the main reasons I'm switching to either the new mini or air. Every time I visit my sister I always play with her iPad 3 especially web browsing and its just so ,much better. Coming from the N7 it feels huge.


If you watch alot of movies or read ebooks (which the n7 is excellent at) then to format makes sense. But for the N7 format just doesn't cut it for me.

I'll keep my gs3 though.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using AC Forums mobile app

I'm not knocking your opinion (although be prepared for the inevitable accusations of being an Apple fanboy)--but "terrible," really? Can you tell us what exactly you find disappointing? I find browsing on the 2013 Nexus 7 to be quite fast and responsive, much more so than the 2012. And I'm able to compare with my wife's iPad Mini.

Posted via Android Central App
 

Prinny Mask

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Thanks for the great input. I may have to go with the Nexus 7. My wife has an iPad so we have a 10" tablet already but I hate using that thing. Oh one last thing - do you consider the large bezels at the top and bottom a plus or minus?

For me, they are a plus. My hands aren't huge, but my fingers are kinda long, and dare I say that I think the bezels on the side are actually a bit too small. When I hold the tablet in one hand, I almost always have a small part of my thumb stretching over or on the screen. It can seriously fit in both my front and back pockets though so I don't actually care haha. But the top and bottom bezels are a great size for landscape. Maybe they could be shaved a mm or two, but it's definitely not a problem at all. I remember people freaking out about them when the new 7 was announced, but I think in reality they're actually smaller than they look in pictures.
 

flux capacitor

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I'm not knocking your opinion (although be prepared for the inevitable accusations of being an Apple fanboy)--but "terrible," really? Can you tell us what exactly you find disappointing? I find browsing on the 2013 Nexus 7 to be quite fast and responsive, much more so than the 2012. And I'm able to compare with my wife's iPad Mini.

Posted via Android Central App

They can accuse of whatever. Im loyal to no brand. Just for the record, I had the OG N7, now this one (flo), and my GS3. I've spent $100+ in apps as well as related accessories. So I think its fair to say I've given Android more than a fair shot. Also I've never owned an Apple device. I have a hackintosh running on my laptop and desktop but thats as far as its gone. The mini or Air will be my first Apple purchase.

For me its the format. Resolution doesnt matter. Had I waited a month or 2 when the mini was announced (I bought the 1st N7 back in Sept of last year) I would have probly gone with the mini over the N7. While the display is amazing on the N7 and retina doesnt mean much over the current N7's offerings its all about screen real estate, and IME 16:10 on a 7 inch simply sucks for web browsing. Im always having to zoom in or double tap to read something. I never do this on an ipad, nor would I imagine having to do this on a ipad-size tablet like N10 or something. Whenever I use my sister's ipad3 for webbrowsing its easy for me to read, in either orientation. Landscape is slightly bigger but portrait mode (if thats what its called, i dunno) its very easily readable. Btw my eye sight is very good, probly the only friggin thing I've got going for me atm.

Its not the only factor for me switching (tablet wise) to ipad. I dont like much of the apps or Play store in general (music apps are pretty much non-existant on Android and the ones that are there are pretty bad, different thread however), I also really HATE Chrome. I used to use Dolphin but was having a bunch of problems with it so I went back stock Chrome and I hate it. Im a Firefox user on the desktop/laptop but FF mobile is an abomination. Hate the tab management, interface, page rendering etc. I hate also Chrome so much, and on Google's flagship device I find it to be an absolutely terrible browser. I've tried Opera, Boat and everything else in between. Hate em all. Not much a fan of Safari though either but I find it better than Chrome at least. But yeah even the mini was a 16:10 device I'd still have the same complaints. I just dont like the form factor.

Again if you love watching movies the format of the N7 is great. Me, I'll watch Netflix on my 55" HDTV. E-books using the kindle app is pretty neat though. But honestly I just want a bigger tablet and frankly Im bored of Android at least as far as tablets go. Its fine on my phone, my GS3 has been super reliable and much much more useful as a portable device so holding a tablet with one hand or putting it in my pocket is hardly enough reason to recommend a N7 over the new Mini (other than price of course). Having experienced both generations of N7 I wanna see what iOS is like. Like I said I owe loyalty to no brand, never have and never will, especially as far as tech goes.
 

B. Diddy

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Fair enough. The details help people understand where you're coming from.

Posted via Android Central App
 

anon(226560)

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I dont like much of the apps or Play store in general (music apps are pretty much non-existant on Android and the ones that are there are pretty bad,

I agree about the form factor for browsing. The aspect ratio do make the iPad the optimal tablet for this since as you say websites work well in both portrait and landscape.

I cannot agree about the music apps though. There is so much variety and so many of them like, PowerAmp, that have power features not found on the App Store. It's the one pet peeve I couldn't stand when I had bought my iPod Touch.

Sent from Nexus 4
 

flux capacitor

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I agree about the form factor for browsing. The aspect ratio do make the iPad the optimal tablet for this since as you say websites work well in both portrait and landscape.

I cannot agree about the music apps though. There is so much variety and so many of them like, PowerAmp, that have power features not found on the App Store. It's the one pet peeve I couldn't stand when I had bought my iPod Touch.

Sent from Nexus 4

I should clarify. I'm talking about music creation apps, I.e. Arturia Sem, Akai MPC, korg ims20 etc. Its a niche market perhaps but Android has nothing on iOS when it comes these kind of apps. Even if it did, the audio latency in all Android devices is ludicrously high as to render even novelty music apps impossible to use. Also there are a ton of external keyboards and controllers that I could use with the iPad. See sweetwater.com iOS section.

Again a niche market perhaps around these parts but important enough for me to switch.

For me I find I get all my mobile-centric needs like GPS, camera, phone etc, my gs3 is of much more use than the N7. For my tablet needs I think the iPad wins out. At least I get the best of both worlds. Gs3 for mobile and an iPad for mostly home use.

That said I'll take a laptop over either for websurfing and gaming at least. Just darn expensive though.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using AC Forums mobile app
 
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anon(226560)

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I
I should clarify. I'm talking about music creation apps, I.e. Arturia Sem, Akai MPC, korg ims20 etc. Its a niche market perhaps but Android has nothing on iOS when it comes these kind of apps. Even if it did, the audio latency in all Android devices is ludicrously high as to render even novelty music apps impossible to use. Also there are a ton of external keyboards and controllers that I could use with the iPad. See sweetwater.com iOS section.

Again a niche market perhaps around these parts but important enough for me to switch.

For me I find I get all my mobile-centric needs like GPS, camera, phone etc, my gs3 is of much more use than the N7. For my tablet needs I think the iPad wins out. At least I get the best of both worlds. Gs3 for mobile and an iPad for mostly home use.

That said I'll take a laptop over either for websurfing and gaming at least. Just darn expensive and though.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using AC Forums mobile app

Okay yes that makes much more sense and in that you are right as well. This also highlights the fact that there just aren't many third party accessories for Android compared with iOS.

The N7 only really serves me for entertainment purposes (i.e. Movies, simple games, reading). Anything I want to get done aside from some basic typing is relegated to my laptop.

Sent from Nexus 4
 

Algus

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I find the N7 adequate for Web browsing. Landscape mode + dolphin browser with desktop user agent works fairly well.

I prefer keyboard + mouse and a larger screen for general browsing though so I went with a chromebook. 2013 N7 has video out which solves that problem if you have an external display.

Otherwise it is just the right size for reading the news and doing forums. All the places I regularly go support Tapatalk so my N7 gets a ton of use there.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 3 using Tapatalk 4
 

ollieg

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I browse on the Nexus 7 more than I do on a desktop.

I like it. Keep in mind I'm using the FireFox browser. When the browser's Request Desktop Site is on, most site's text reflows when I zoom in. this makes it so I'm only vertically scrolling... not back and forth, left right down.

Just wished the option worked on this forum's pages.
 

ultravisitor

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While the display is amazing on the N7 and retina doesnt mean much over the current N7's offerings its all about screen real estate, and IME 16:10 on a 7 inch simply sucks for web browsing. Im always having to zoom in or double tap to read something. I

I understand wanting a bigger screen. I don't like zooming and scrolling around to read, but it's not a deal breaker to me. If there's a long article I want to read, I just share it to Pocket, which makes reading it much easier.
 

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