I just find taking pics with a 7 or 10 inch device to be both ridiculous and embarrassing, lol
It just looks ridiculous, but that's just me.
I agree, it does look silly and awkward. I saw someone with an iPad taking a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge recently (one of those picture postcard views, with San Francisco and the bay in the background, and the bridge in the foreground) and cringed. I thought to myself, "Please use a real camera for such a magnificent shot." But who am I to judge? As you implied, to each his own.
With that said, and despite the poor quality of the camera and Google's intent that it simply be used for video calls, they still should have included the camera app. Instead, people scratched their heads about it and had to do some research to realize they had to download a 3rd party app. I say this because there are plenty of reasons for a camera on a tablet or phone besides taking photos of beautiful landmarks. This is why the N7 also needs a rear camera (yes, the old rear camera on the Nexus 7 debate).
The reason for having a rear camera on the N7 is not for taking photographs or even snapping pics of friends at a party (though if the latter is your thing, then go for it). It's to:
- make video calls more versatile when trying to show the caller a document or something other than yourself
- make scanning a document or QR code or whatever easier
- allow the use of artificial reality views utilized by some games, as well as some astronomy and aviation apps (FlightRadar24 let's you point the camera at the sky to identify specific airplane flights - kind of hard to do with a front camera only)
- make it easier or even possible to take a picture when using some apps, like ebay, that let you take a picture from within the app to use when creating a listing (instead of taking a photo with a different device and importing it to the N7)
- allow some apps to be listed as compatible with the N7 in the Play Store, because they have a requirement for a rear camera (yes, can often download from other app stores, and developers should update their apps, but adding a rear camera fixes the problem for all)
- Oh look, my cat is hanging from the ceiling and cleaning her private parts! This will be great to take a quick snapshot since she'll drop any second now. Phone is in other room, real camera is who knows where, but I have N7 in hand, ready to snap and post to Buttbook or Guzzle+ or whatever. But, damn, every time I point the camera and try to see the shot I'm getting, my face is in the way! Too late, cat dropped and private parts are now clean. Sure wish my Nexus 7 had a rear camera!
Okay, none of these reasons are imperative, and we'll all survive without a rear camera on our Nexus 7s. Some users might never utilize a rear camera (or even the front camera) based on how they use their device. But for some of us it would be convenient, not as a substitute for that magnificent photographic instrument known as a telephone, but to supplement and enhance the usage of our beloved N7 in the ways described above, especially the hanging cat scenario.
I did find something that works for me tho.
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