Is it true that the nexus 7 is still one of the most competitive tablets on the market?

[Sarah Irvin]

If you have this tablet are you still happy with it and would you reccomend buying it now over other, new tablets? If you have upgraded from it which device did you replace it with and how did you experience compare?

 

[Aquila]

The NVIDIA Shield Tablet is the tablet to beat now. It's better than all others at any price and very similar to Nexus pricing, starting at $299. I went from the Nexus 7 2012 to the Nexus 7 2013 to the NVIDIA Shield and it's by far the best tablet experience available to date.

 

[Sarah Irvin]

Ya I've been looking at that one too!! It does sound like a great piece of kit from the spec and such but.... I have been put off by loads of really bad reviews I have read though of the tablet cracking or overheating and stuff, so I'm a bit torn between forking out loads of money and just going for something like the nexus 7 which is older but known as a solid tab :S

 

[brosko]

I would take the n7 over the nvidia shield.

 

[kioshi]

But the Nexus 2013 is still crazy good. And I use a much faster Xperia z3. Even so, no complaints from my nexus.

 

[Laura Knotek]

The NVIDIA Shield Tablet is the tablet to beat now. It's better than all others at any price and very similar to Nexus pricing, starting at $299. I went from the Nexus 7 2012 to the Nexus 7 2013 to the NVIDIA Shield and it's by far the best tablet experience available to date.

I'm not familiar with the NVIDIA Shield. How is it in terms of bloatware or lack thereof? One of the reasons I like the Nexus 7 is because it has zero bloatware.

Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013) using Tapatalk

 

[Aquila]

I'm not familiar with the NVIDIA Shield. How is it in terms of bloatware or lack thereof? One of the reasons I like the Nexus 7 is because it has zero bloatware.

Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013) using Tapatalk

It comes with Twitch and some Nvidia apps, such as their Grid service, framework to support the controller and PC GPU integration through GeForce experience, software to support the stylus. I'm not aware of any non nvidia or google apps except for Twitch. The UI isn't skinned, it feels very much like a Nexus with some extra gaming stuff added.

 

[douglerner]

I was very happy with it at first, but now I am unhappy with it and do not recommend it. Why? Since upgrading to 5 (including 5.1) battery life has dropped like a rock. It’s a drain-o-matic. Even after resetting to new factory settings. The battery cycles are still very low, but the thing just can’t stay charged even for one day on standby, without being used. My iPad will stay charged on standby for weeks. So I basically don’t use it anymore.

 

[sparksd]

I was very happy with it at first, but now I am unhappy with it and do not recommend it. Why? Since upgrading to 5 (including 5.1) battery life has dropped like a rock. It’s a drain-o-matic. Even after resetting to new factory settings. The battery cycles are still very low, but the thing just can’t stay charged even for one day on standby, without being used. My iPad will stay charged on standby for weeks. So I basically don’t use it anymore.

I'm seeing the same drain issue. Seems to help if I leave Wi-Fi off, turning it on only when I need it.

 

[BullwinkleMoose]

If you asked me yesterday I would have said, yep, n7 2013 is great -
but that was before I - ha ha - upgraded it to v.5 lollipop.

 

[sparksd]

I'm seeing the same drain issue. Seems to help if I leave Wi-Fi off, turning it on only when I need it.

Yesterday, I used Nexus Root Toolkit to load a factory 5.1.1 image and after reinstalling everything I am no longer seeing the rapid battery drain while idling (Android System was the biggest user). I had loaded 5.0 and on as over-the-air so I figured getting a clean start was worth the effort and so far it is proving out.

 

[cybernutte]

I've had my Nexus 7 (2013) for almost two years (from the first week it was available), and I love it. After reading some of the horror stories about Lollipop, I kept my tablet on KitKat 4.4.4, which I think is what it came with (oops, I think it came with KitKat 4.4.2 but has been on 4.4.4 for quite a while), and I'm very happy that I did so. I think it's likely that if you buy a new Nexus 7 (2013), it will probably come with KitKat, not Lollipop. However, if you buy one used, it's quite possible that it's being sold by someone who "upgraded" to Lollipop and is now trying to get rid of the tablet. Even if you buy it new, be sure to ask about which Android version it's using.

 

[BullwinkleMoose]

Lollipop 5.1.1 isn't as bad as the earlier 5's. The battery still looks like it runs down faster than it used to, but that's just a subjective impression.

 

[Ntchwaidumela]

I just got the OTA 5.1.1 and it eliminated a couple of minor things from 5.0.2. and 5.1. I hadn't noticed much more battery drain, so that wasn't an issue for me. I've been in love with just about everything about the Nexus 7 since it came out. I started with the 2012, then upgraded to the 2013. I'll keep this one until they stop supporting it (OS upgrades, etc.) since it does everything I need it to do. I may change at a later date. But that won't be for a while yet. Maybe by the end of the year, or even later.

 

[cybernutte]

Lollipop 5.1.1 isn't as bad as the earlier 5's. The battery still looks like it runs down faster than it used to, but that's just a subjective impression.

Well, I'm glad to hear that 5.1.1 "isn't as bad as the earlier 5's." But that's not exactly a strong endorsement. My general philosophy is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." KitKat 4.4.4 works really well for me, and I haven't heard of anything that Lollipop offers that I need or want. Indeed, almost every change Lollipop brings is one I don't want or don't care about. And if there's even a slight possibility that my battery life will deteriorate in Lollipop, that by itself would be reason enough for me to stay with KitKat.

 

[physioprof]

Same here. I'm staying with KitKat until the tablet dies.

 

[brosko]

Well, I'm glad to hear that 5.1.1 "isn't as bad as the earlier 5's." But that's not exactly a strong endorsement. My general philosophy is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." KitKat 4.4.4 works really well for me, and I haven't heard of anything that Lollipop offers that I need or want. Indeed, almost every change Lollipop brings is one I don't want or don't care about. And if there's even a slight possibility that my battery life will deteriorate in Lollipop, that by itself would be reason enough for me to stay with KitKat.

I'm still on kit Kat too. On both my n7 And n5

 

[BullwinkleMoose]

Well, I'm glad to hear that 5.1.1 "isn't as bad as the earlier 5's." But that's not exactly a strong endorsement. My general philosophy is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." KitKat 4.4.4 works really well for me, and I haven't heard of anything that Lollipop offers that I need or want. Indeed, almost every change Lollipop brings is one I don't want or don't care about. And if there's even a slight possibility that my battery life will deteriorate in Lollipop, that by itself would be reason enough for me to stay with KitKat.

"if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Those are the exact words that I posted on here earlier re "upgrading". And then what did I do? I went ahead and "upgraded" anyway - on both of my 7's! Stoopid me. But I will say that there is one single thing that I have found to be better on "lollipop" - and what's with all these baby talk names, kitkat lollipop? - and that is a better keyboard.

 

[cybernutte]

"if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Those are the exact words that I posted on here earlier re "upgrading". And then what did I do? I went ahead and "upgraded" anyway - on both of my 7's! Stoopid me. But I will say that there is one single thing that I have found to be better on "lollipop" - and what's with all these baby talk names, kitkat lollipop? - and that is a better keyboard.

The keyboard won't matter to me, since I use (and LOVE) the SwiftKey keyboard, so I'm not dependent on whatever keyboard comes with a particular OS version.

 

[Apokaliptor]

Between this prices I can say yes, mine is still working great with android 5.1