After a week with the Nexus 7 I am sending it back

[petvas72]

Hi,

This is not a rant, I am just disappointed by the Nexus 7 and wanted to post my impressions and the reasons that led me to this decision, to send the device back.
As I have posted in the M8 forum also, I have an Apple history, I love the company and its products and have been using iOS since the beginning. The HTC One M8 changed everything for me and I am learning to like Android more and more, every day it passes. It's a very powerful OS and I am happy to be using it instead of iOS on my phone.
I was so excited by the HTC One, I said to myself I should also try a tablet. I bought the Nexus 7 last week.
My initial impression was negative. What an underwhelming and boring design. The placement of the power button, the very big bezels, and the general feeling from holding it is definitely not exciting.
The initial experience with stock Android was also not great. I very much prefer what HTC has done on the M8 with the Sense UI. I installed the Google Now launcher which made things much better on the Nexus, so this is an area where I found a solution.
The stock Google keyboard was also not really good. I installed Swiftkey which improved things a lot, but the initial experience added to the whole disappointment.
What about performance? Well, it's not smooth. Sometimes it's very fast, but other times it stops responding, or even reacting to touch. After a while it becomes responsive again.
The battery life? Bad! Nothing to compare with the iPad Mini or any iPad..
Today I had it in my bag the whole day, didn't even turn it on, and tonight I found out that the Nexus had only 30% battery left!!! I am asking myself why? I have the LTE model, but still, this is not a good experience..
All in all, I am underwhelmed by the Nexus 7. I think it's better to wait for an Android tablet that has a similar hardware quality to the iPad. Maybe HTC surprises us here..I definitely don't like the hardware quality of the Nexus 7 and I am used to having better quality devices. If you have any suggestions I am happy to read them. I would like to have a quality Android tablet. (hardware & software)

 

[machzk]

I think Android has come s long way for phones. But the same can't be said for tablets. I didn't return mine, but I was disappointed with my Nexus 7, having previously been an iPad user.

Sent from my Moto X...

 

[felyke]

Interesting to read and agree for the most part. I had a similar experience with battery life before rooting the tablet. Now after some tweaks I can't complain about it. Performance is also great and really smooth. But our devices shouldn't be rooted to get better performance, also not everyone knows how to do it. I exchanged my iPad mini retina for the nexus 7 and honestly won't look back, no tablet can beat the nexus 7 price and offer what it does.

There was also an issue with the display that some areas weren't very responsive I think, so maybe you got a faulty unit.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[UJ95x]

Interesting to read and agree for the most part. I had a similar experience with battery life before rooting the tablet. Now after some tweaks I can't complain about it. Performance is also great and really smooth. But our devices shouldn't be rooted to get better performance, also not everyone knows how to do it. I exchanged my iPad mini retina for the nexus 7 and honestly won't look back, no tablet can beat the nexus 7 price and offer what it does.

There was also an issue with the display that some areas weren't very responsive I think, so maybe you got a faulty unit.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using AC Forums mobile app

Don't have a Nexus 7, but from my experience everything was great. Performance is far better than on my iPad (it is 2nd gen though) and the display is better than on even the iPad Air.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

 

[petvas72]

Don't have a Nexus 7, but from my experience everything was great. Performance is far better than on my iPad (it is 2nd gen though) and the display is better than on even the iPad Air.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

Performance hasn't been that good for me, at least not consistently. I had the iPad Mini Retina and the Air. The screen of the Nexus 7 is better than the iPad Mini Retina, but the Air has a better display.

 

[petvas72]

So, are there any other Android tablets I should try? Hardware quality must be top, and I don't care about the price.
I will pay a premium happily if I get something for it. The Nexus 7 is priced very low, and unfortunately it shows..
I am not saying that it's a bad tablet, it's just not top. Apple totally owns the tablet market and user experience. Unfortunately for me I find iOS to be very limiting and boring, so I hope Android becomes better and that quality devices appear..

 

[UJ95x]

Performance hasn't been that good for me, at least not consistently. I had the iPad Mini Retina and the Air. The screen of the Nexus 7 is better than the iPad Mini Retina, but the Air has a better display.

Doesn't the iPad Air have the exact same display as the iPad Mini 2?
What specifically did you notice with performance? Most users here say it performs flawlessly

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

 

[UJ95x]

So, are there any other Android tablets I should try? Hardware quality must be top, and I don't care about the price.
I will pay a premium happily if I get something for it. The Nexus 7 is priced very low, and unfortunately it shows..
I am not saying that it's a bad tablet, it's just not top. Apple totally owns the tablet market and user experience. Unfortunately for me I find iOS to be very limiting and boring, so I hope Android becomes better and that quality devices appear..

The G Pad 8.3 is also pretty good, and is only about $100 more than the Nexus 7.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

 

[petvas72]

Doesn't the iPad Air have the exact same display as the iPad Mini 2?
What specifically did you notice with performance? Most users here say it performs flawlessly

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

No, it doesn't. The Mini Retina has a low gamut, while the iPad Air offers the full color space. A very impressive and accurate display.

Most of the times the performance is very well, but sometimes it stutters, or stops responding for a second or two, and then resumes normal operation.

It also loses WiFi signal and says that the WiFi network is unreachable (which of course isn't true). Only a reboot solves that.

 

[petvas72]

The G Pad 8.3 is also pretty good, and is only about $100 more than the Nexus 7.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

Thanks, I will have a look at it.

 

[UJ95x]

No, it doesn't. The Mini Retina has a low gamut, while the iPad Air offers the full color space. A very impressive and accurate display.

Most of the times the performance is very well, but sometimes it stutters, or stops responding for a second or two, and then resumes normal operation.

It also loses WiFi signal and says that the WiFi network is unreachable (which of course isn't true). Only a reboot solves that.

I see. Did you try a factory reset? That's definitely not a fair comparison if you got a lemon, and it does happen unfortunately.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

 

[ffejjj]

The G Pad 8.3 is also pretty good, and is only about $100 more than the Nexus 7.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

This ^^^

I have the G Pad and really like it. Very smooth and no freezing.

The battery has been average but lasts a long time in standby mode. I also like the in hand feeling.

Sent from my HTCONE using AC Forums mobile app

 

[petvas72]

I see. Did you try a factory reset? That's definitely not a fair comparison if you got a lemon, and it does happen unfortunately.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

Yes, I have
I can live with the WiFi problem. What I can't live with is the uninspiring design. All electronic devices must be attractive, almost inviting people to use them. I don't feel like that with the Nexus 7. The opposite.

 

[UJ95x]

Yes, I have
I can live with the WiFi problem. What I can't live with is the uninspiring design. All electronic devices must be attractive, almost inviting people to use them. I don't feel like that with the Nexus 7. The opposite.

That's subjective. I personally love this soft touch back on the recent Nexus devices, but to each their own. The G Pad 8.3 might be better for you in terms of build...

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

 

[brosko]

So, are there any other Android tablets I should try? Hardware quality must be top, and I don't care about the price.
I will pay a premium happily if I get something for it. The Nexus 7 is priced very low, and unfortunately it shows..
I am not saying that it's a bad tablet, it's just not top. Apple totally owns the tablet market and user experience. Unfortunately for me I find iOS to be very limiting and boring, so I hope Android becomes better and that quality devices appear..

Samsung galaxy tab pro 8.4 would be the tablet for you.

 

[brosko]

That's subjective. I personally love this soft touch back on the recent Nexus devices, but to each their own. The G Pad 8.3 might be better for you in terms of build...

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

I like the button design too. Its actually very intuitive. You kind of just pinch it with you thumb on top edge of the bezel to activate a button. It makes it much easier to use one handed like this without having to support the opposite side of the tablet with counter force to push the button.

 

[worldspy99]

That's subjective. I personally love this soft touch back on the recent Nexus devices, but to each their own. The G Pad 8.3 might be better for you in terms of build...

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

Agree. I have an iPad, Surface and Nexus 7 and I use the Nexus 7 the most. The iPad is for the other members of the family. The Surface is going to someone in about 3 weeks or less.

 

[petvas72]

I like the button design too. Its actually very intuitive. You kind of just pinch it with you thumb on top edge of the bezel to activate a button. It makes it much easier to use one handed like this without having to support the opposite side of the tablet with counter force to push the button.

Maybe you are right. I am not used to it though and maybe I should give it more time. I am now using it to type this post and I can certainly understand what you are saying about the soft feeling on the back
I think it's the button that bothers me the most.

 

[petvas72]

I think I should give the Nexus a second chance and try to make it work for me. At the end of the day I like having Android on a tablet.

 

[TraderGary]

I too really disliked the buttons at first. Then I learned to pinch the buttons with thumb and index finger. Give that a try. It really works. The buttons actually push in at an angle towards the screen.

Sent from my 2nd Generation Nexus 7.