Can't decide between the Nexus 7 2012 vs Galaxy Tab 7.0

[Soundler]

Hey guys, so here's the situation:

Decided to buy a tablet for the first time. I was willing to pay ~ 100 pounds. Found Google Nexus 7 1gen (2012) 32GB refurbished for ?109.95 + ?9.98(
ASUS Google Nexus 7 Tablet Quad-Core 32GB WiFi 7" Android 4.2 4716659345152 | eBay ) delivery on Ebay and really liked the hardware and the price so I bought it. The tablet arrived this week in a really good condition as if it's new, I liked it. However, several days later I saw this device : new Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 8GB for ?119.99 + ?24.99 delivery(New Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0" 8GB Multi-Touch Tablet SM-T210 - Wi-Fi - White | eBay ) .


I started to think whether I've made the right choice..? Due to the fact that I could've bought a brand new Samsung for pretty much the same price which has a microsd slot (supports up to 64 gigs!) + an additional camera on the back (the Nexus has "32 gigabytes", however only 28 are available). I still have some time left to return the Nexus one, although I'm not sure what to do. I'd like to hear your opinions, which one is better and whether I should keep my Nexus or return it and order Samsung.

 

[Aquila]

IMO the Nexus is still the better device in just about every category except the SD card and the Galaxy is 20.8% more expensive.

The hardware is fairly comparable other than a much better screen (resolution and display type) on the Nexus, the SD card and a quad core processor on the N7 vs the dual-core S400 in the Tab 3. The battery is larger in the Nexus by less than 10% and you've already mentioned the rear camera, which if you use a tablet in any way like I do, it'll never be used.

The SD card doesn't work for storing most apps (something to consider with only 8GB - the part the OS takes up about 4GB on this version), and music stored on SD tends to not work well with accessory streaming devices, like Chromecast (though that has been fixed, it's apparently still murky). 28GB of storage versus 4 GB of storage + up to 64 that works for some stuff seems like it may be more of a moot point in a tablet, where most of the device interaction is content consumption, much of which is streaming/cloud based activity.

The Tab is on Jelly Bean, while the Nexus 7 is on Kit Kat. This may not mean a lot to you, but many users are interested in being on the latest and greatest software, as well as planned software obsolescence. Given the age of these two devices, it is entirely possible that they're both on the furthest API level they will achieve, so it may be a moot point.

I'm not sure what the return policy is like with the user you purchased from on E-Bay, but IMO it would be a grand mistake to return it and pay over 20% more for a newer, yet still inferior (in my opinion) device. For 7"-8" tablets, the Nexus devices, the iPad Mini Retina and the Galaxy Note 8.0 are probably the only devices worth considering for a quality vs price argument, and the latter two are priced way out of their market (despite being great devices themselves) given the superb quality of the Nexus line.

 

[B. Diddy]

Totally agree with above. I haven't heard great things about the Tab 3 in terms of performance or screen quality. I think you made the right choice.

 

[JamieT2173]

Stay with the Nexus 7. I had one for a year and it was rock solid. This past Christmas I sold it to a friend and bought two Samsung Galaxy Tabs. I bought the Tab 3 7" for my son and the Tab 3 8" for myself.

In short, the 7" Galaxy does not perform as well as the Nexus 7...or at least for what I used it for, which was mostly internet surfing and watching movies stored on the device.
Mind you, the 8" Galaxy knocks the Nexus 7's socks off, but that's a different story.

Before I bought the Nexus I compared it with the Galaxy at the time and my only reason for not being 100% sold on the Nexus was that it didn't have a rear camera. I found over the next year that I never even came across the need to have that camera because I always used my phone's camera. Now that I have the Samsung, I've still yet to use it's rear camera, but the screen size, resolution, processing speed and looks have me as happy as I was with the Nexus, of not happier!

All else aside, I side with others here and say you're better off with the Nexus 7 over the Galaxy 7 and that's coming from someone who's had all three

 

[brosko]

I would say the same. The galaxy tab 3 7.0 does not impress me at all. The 8.0 isnt so bad though.