Why isn't there a 3G version of the N10?

[KWKSLVR]

I have 4 batteries for my GNex, tethering isn't an issue. From a monetary standpoint, why pay for a separate 3G data plan and/or $10/month for shared data for a tablet when you can buy spare batteries for dirt cheap and just ride the same pool of data for "free". My Gnex tethering on 4G isn't really all THAT bad.

Different strokes for different folks, but battery life on your mobile device shouldn't be a concern. I've never understood the complaint. I average 10-12 hours a day, if I have a heavy day I pop a new battery in. Big deal?

 

[Mobius360]

This has been a big issue for me for nearly a year...

wifi tablets are virtually useless to me, I have one and it gets used when I am at home sitting on the couch but nowhere else. I need one as a tool for business but refuse to an Apple and would prefer to buy something other than Samsung as they are horrible at getting OS updates out in a timely manner.

Not trying to pick a fight here but the "wifi is better because you can use your phone as a hotspot" argument is a non starter. On an LTE network in the US there is not a device on the market that will have any acceptable battery life with hotspot mode active. It's a joke...

I realize part of this is the carriers fault as well because they drive what mfgs produce in many ways. The underlying point is that there is a small but significant percentage of people who want/need this for business and there are not good options on the market right now.


MG

Exactly why I have my Xoom LTE. I kept it and sold my Asus Transformer Prime because it basically just sat there at the house. My Xoom is pretty much always with me. Even has stock Android which I prefer, just need Verizon to get off their ass as always to send out Jelly Bean.

The hot spot argument can be viable sure. I mean it works. Most phones don't have the greatest battery life on LTE but I'm sure there's a few out there RAZR Maxx for example that would be decent. I always hear people say just root and do it for free. That's fine too, hell I've done it myself with my old phone. Let's be realistic though, the percentage of people who root their phones is almost nothing. So in order to use hot spot most people would have to buy the monthly service. At that point it's more convenient for me to have the full time connection on my tablet. That's just me though.

Maybe the original poster should pickup the Nexus 7 3G to give it a try, maybe it will meet your needs. If the demand shows for the Nexus 10 3G I don't see why Google wouldn't release one down the road a bit.

 

[phonegeek]

Great discussion. I realize I am a different type of user than what is typical but it frustrates me to no end that from a hardware perspective Apple is still leading in the sense that you can get nearly any flavor of memory and connection options you want and here we are 8 months later and most of the Android mfg's are still behind. I guess Samsung is catching up and I may have to go that route but hope I can find one that is not locked down like fort knox like what AT&T typically does...

Thanks all!

 

[ChromeJob]

Do you really need 3G in a tablet? I'm of two minds.

• I can have a single "everywhere" communications device, my unlocked phone with tethering or hotspot capabilities, and let the tablets connect through that. My phone is always with me, other devices are optional.
• If my tablet can effectively be my "phone" (using Google Voice, SIP, or 3G direct), then I can leave my "phone" behind if I'm traveling with my tablet. Then my "phone" is a capability that any device I choose to carry provides, rather than a specific hardware device. This appeals to me, but haven't tried it.

In the first case, I don't need a 3G SIM slot in my phone, and my 7" tablet, and my 10" tablet, etc. But in the second case, I could either have several SIMs and prepaid accounts, or a single SIM that I swap out easily from one device to another depending upon what I want to carry.

I can't decide until I try all the options. Perhaps someone who does Use Case #2 can tell me what that's like, how well it works, etc.

 

[anon(20593)]

The 'appeal' of having a tablet with 3G is entirely that it would become a self-sufficient unit, an independent unit - which is not tethered to a phone, which does not depend on people's or places' wifi networks and therefore one that provides greatest utility.

So about wifi networks: Well, I would not care about 3G on a tablet if my use of it was primarily in places where I am most likely to have wifi - such as home or work, or at coffee shops and restaurants. My workplace will not let me login a personal mobile device to the wifi network. In case of a wifi-only tablet, my use will be significantly limited in every place I don't have wifi. I fear 'regressing' in some sense to a state I was in earlier: for a while I did not have unlimited data on my phone and was therefore using wifi networks very frequently. Every time I went out, I would look around ask if the place I was at had wifi. In a number of places, it was free to air, but in a bunch of places I needed to ask for the login details. And then I got unlimited data and could stop doing that! The fact that I had a data cap first and unlimited data later is not important here - it is the fact that my phone became a device I could use without having to depend on something else. Quite frankly, if I could rely on wifi networks that much, I would carry a basic phone and then use the iPod Touch for all my data needs. But airports and hotels don't always have wifi. And places abroad don't either.

Now about tethering the wifi-only tablet to my own smartphone's wifi hotspot: yes, this is what many many people who will buy wifi-only tablets will do, and what most people appear to be recommending. But while traveling or on a bus or the metro - the idea does not appeal to me that I should first switch on the hotspot on my phone, connect the tablet to that hotspot and then use the data on the tablet. It would mean that I am using the battery on 2 devices at the same time. And so? I end up reducing the battery life on my phone even lower. Also, I am stuck with my tablet in a narrow range around my phone. I can see that multiple people in my household will use the tablet. But they don't all have smartphones with wifi hotspot capabilities. So if they are using it outside the house when I'm not with them with my smartphone, they are back to the business of looking for free wifi networks.

I am not saying this is the only way to go. I am saying that for some of us, it makes the most sense to have mobile data on tablet. But not having the option at all makes no sense.

 

[Suntan]

Are people with iPads more likely to be the sort to travel, and especially abroad? For anybody who travels abroad, especially to East and South Asia as I do, not having mobile connectivity on the tablet severely undermines their utility during travel.

Android user here. Been round and round this globe. Take a "global" roaming phone with me and get one of the company SIM cards for the areas I am headed to. I'd say 6 times out of 10 I can actually get a local provider to hook up when I get in country. That said, 9 times out of 10 I can catch an open wifi signal. Even when traveling to remote parts of Eastern Europe and the sort.

I have no need for anything more than wifi on my tablets, and they get thousands of miles put on them yearly.

-Suntan

 

[anon(20593)]

Android user here. Been round and round this globe. Take a "global" roaming phone with me and get one of the company SIM cards for the areas I am headed to. I'd say 6 times out of 10 I can actually get a local provider to hook up when I get in country. That said, 9 times out of 10 I can catch an open wifi signal. Even when traveling to remote parts of Eastern Europe and the sort.
-Suntan

Global phone with local SIM-card is the only way I am able to communicate in an affordable way when I'm abroad. So thats not an issue.

I would like to be able to use local provider's data plan on the N10 also. I don't get free open wifi that easily when I travel. People with iPads around me do fine now and would do so every time, whereas I, if I buy the wifi-only N10, would stand out as the loser Android loyalist.

 

[phonegeek]

Do you really need 3G in a tablet? I'm of two minds.

• I can have a single "everywhere" communications device, my unlocked phone with tethering or hotspot capabilities, and let the tablets connect through that. My phone is always with me, other devices are optional.
• If my tablet can effectively be my "phone" (using Google Voice, SIP, or 3G direct), then I can leave my "phone" behind if I'm traveling with my tablet. Then my "phone" is a capability that any device I choose to carry provides, rather than a specific hardware device. This appeals to me, but haven't tried it.

In the first case, I don't need a 3G SIM slot in my phone, and my 7" tablet, and my 10" tablet, etc. But in the second case, I could either have several SIMs and prepaid accounts, or a single SIM that I swap out easily from one device to another depending upon what I want to carry.

I can't decide until I try all the options. Perhaps someone who does Use Case #2 can tell me what that's like, how well it works, etc.

First off I mean no disrespect at all and enjoy the discussion. That said where is it written that someone else gets to determine what I need in a tablet? There are plenty of reasons why tethering and hotspot are not viable options for me. Chief among them being that with current LTE phones you need to be chained to a power outlet which doesn't work and in my mind defeats the purpose. Now I understand that for many, even most, people wifi is probably fine and they don't want a 3G/4G tablet because they don't want the cost of another data plan. That's fine and I don't propose telling them how they have to use their tablets and that they have to buy a 3G/4G version. This happens to be a function I need, it is technologically possible, but manufacturers of Android tablets seem fine to let Apple have that market and that is frustrating to me...

 

[Raptor007]

I would say cost is one factor for not adding cellular capabilities in the Nexus 10, that and dealing with carriers in general (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, etc) in the US is a PITA to say the least. Compromises, updates, bloatware. Forget about it Google realizes you can clearly tether to your phone, access WiFi Hot Spots or get a MiFi to carry with you. All of those are reasonable options.

 

[ChromeJob]

Get an external power supply e. g. Anker Astro3 or ZaggSparq -- no more chained to outlet. Works wonders for me daily.

I'm still interested in hearing others' real world experiences.

 

[Suntan]

I would like to be able to use local provider's data plan on the N10 also. I don't get free open wifi that easily when I travel. People with iPads around me do fine now and would do so every time, whereas I, if I buy the wifi-only N10, would stand out as the loser Android loyalist.

To each their own. I was just commenting that in my experience (whether it is a technically advanced market region or a back woods rural region) it is much easier getting a wifi connection than it is getting a local celular connection. YMMV, but that's what I've encountered.

In any case, it is what it is. If you want built in celular, get something else. Not saying it's right, just saying it is. If you want your friends to think you're cool, it sounds like you should buy an ipad like they did.

-Suntan

 

[anon(20593)]

If you want built in celular, get something else. Not saying it's right, just saying it is. If you want your friends to think you're cool, it sounds like you should buy an ipad like they did.

Right. Precisely. You got it. Genius.

 

[Chazinski]

I have a nexus7 and and when I want to tether it to my phone the only way I can do this is with the phone
on the charger plugged in.

I had a Transformer Prime and with the keyboard dock on, it was able to charge the phone during tethering. Weird, huh? Got me through a few hairy meetings, and worked great. Not sure yet whether the N10 will be able to do that with OTG or not, and of course it will have half the battery life.

 

[Suntan]

Right. Precisely. You got it. Genius.

I smile when people get frustrated with reality...

-Suntan

 

[ultravisitor]

Now I understand that for many, even most, people wifi is probably fine and they don't want a 3G/4G tablet because they don't want the cost of another data plan. That's fine and I don't propose telling them how they have to use their tablets and that they have to buy a 3G/4G version. This happens to be a function I need, it is technologically possible, but manufacturers of Android tablets seem fine to let Apple have that market and that is frustrating to me...

Apple sells lots and lots and lots of iPads. Way more than Android. Selling an iPad is much more of a sure thing than selling yet another Android tablet, especially since the larger Android tablets. You might want a specific function, but that hardly matters to the companies when their biggest concern is likely whether or not many people will be buying the WiFi version of the tablet. Companies aren't going to be spending lots of money until they can be reasonably sure that the product will sell. You don't have to like that, but that's the way it is right now.

 

[anon(20593)]

The Verge calls it review of the N7, "Google Nexus 7 with mobile data review. Or, why I'm never buying a Wi-Fi tablet again."

Google Nexus 7 with mobile data review | The Verge

David appears to have read my earlier post on this subject. He says, "I stopped thinking about where I'd be able to find a Wi-Fi hotspot. I no longer needed to make sure I had downloaded the documents I needed before I went to a meeting to discuss them. It all felt a bit like the first time I had a smartphone, or the first computer I used with Wi-Fi; all this preparation I'm used to doing, and all the location-scouting to figure out where I can get connected and get to work, was just gone."

 

[Suntan]

The Verge calls it review of the N7, "Google Nexus 7 with mobile data review. Or, why I'm never buying a Wi-Fi tablet again."

Google Nexus 7 with mobile data review | The Verge

David appears to have read my earlier post on this subject. He says, "I stopped thinking about where I'd be able to find a Wi-Fi hotspot. I no longer needed to make sure I had downloaded the documents I needed before I went to a meeting to discuss them. It all felt a bit like the first time I had a smartphone, or the first computer I used with Wi-Fi; all this preparation I'm used to doing, and all the location-scouting to figure out where I can get connected and get to work, was just gone."

I'm going to go out on a ledge and guess that your man writing the review wasn't sitting at a cafe in Ninh Thuan Province, Vietnam when he was making those comments. You said you want easy data access when travelling abroad, don't be too disapointed when that fantasy doesn't meet up with expectations in a lot of regions of the world.

-Suntan

 

[ChromeJob]

I'm going to go out on a ledge and guess that your man writing the review wasn't sitting at a cafe in Ninh Thuan Province, Vietnam when he was making those comments. You said you want easy data access when travelling abroad, don't be too disapointed when that fantasy doesn't meet up with expectations in a lot of regions of the world.

-Suntan

It's an unlocked device. So arguably you could just get a prepaid local carrier SIM at the airport and use that. Of course, you could, and probably would, do that with your phone, so barring any block-ware preventing tethering, a non-3G N7 could tether to the phone. But ... I suppose a busy traveler could get SIMs for phone and tablet. Really depends upon where and how much $ ? ? ? ....

(edit) Oh, duh. Like you already said earlier in the thread (top of this page). Sorry.

 

[Alex Wendling]

I am in great need of a tablet. I'm a college graduate student researching and writing more papers than I can imagine and would love to have the portability option and access to google docs all the time. I also enjoy browsing websites like CNN and NFL but do not enjoy the iOS experience. I would like Google and Samsung to please come out with a 3G or 4G option for the Nexus 10 soon so I can get this taken care of. If not, they will lose another customer to Apple. Also looked at Asus Transformer Infinity but am not in love with their build quality. If anybody hears anything about a release, please let me know ASAP.

 

[Tyler Lietz]

Cause the Nexus 10 is so fast and powerfull that you will go through data like you wouldn't freaken believe. Just hit 20gb of data today and haven't even been 30 days yet