http://www.digitalone.com.sg/reviews/article/1181/1
The Bad: No rear camera; lacks expansion slot.
The Bottom Line: The Nexus 7 has a great looking 7in display and powerful quad-core processor running on Jelly Bean. It's great for browsing the Web, reading e-books, watching HD videos and playing games.
Google has joined the tablet wars with its Nexus 7 which it designed in collaboration with Asus. It is no surprise that Google chose the 7in form factor, as it is becoming increasingly popular.
The build quality is great - the Nexus is compact, lightweight and comfortable to hold.
It is one of the first devices to run on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) which has a host of new features, but we'll get to that a bit later.
The front is dominated by the slick 7in IPS display which has a resolution of 1,200 x 800-pixels. The higher resolution makes text legible even when they are small.
Also, the screen's colours are bright and rich with good contrast. It is even viewable under direct sunlight thanks to a handy outdoor mode that brightens the screen significantly.
There's also a 1.2-megapixel camera on the front for video calls. However, the Nexus doesn't have a rear camera which is strange.
The built-in speaker on the back is serviceable but if you want to enjoy a YouTube video or two, we recommend a pair of good headphones.
Performance
The main advantage of getting a Google tablet is that it runs on the latest operating system.
Jelly Bean is full of fancy improvements and chief among them is Google Now, a powerful search tool that you can bring up at any time.
It looks like a series of cards and each one presents you with useful information like your next appointment in your calendar, the estimated travel time from your office to home and weather report.
Voice search is nothing new but Google Now does it well - you can ask it questions, directions to places you want to visit, and definitions of words. Not surprisingly, it has trouble understanding names of places like Seremban and Johor Baru.
As the Nexus is a WiFi-only device you won't be able to use all of Google Now's voice search feature if you are not connected to the Net. Luckily, it can still give you directions to your destination.
We also found the Current app handy as it condenses web content and packages it to look like a magazine.
It is a shame that the content we get here is limited and we won't have access to TV shows, magazines and music.
Also, the Nexus' quad-core nVidia Tegra 3 processor is more than powerful enough to handle the OS.
It handles everything from apps to video playback smoothly. We also tried graphics intensive games like Shadow Gunner, Dead Trigger and Asphalt 7, and all of them worked without a hitch. The Nexus is definitely a capable mobile gaming device.
Unlike other Android tablets, the Nexus does not offer its users the option to expand its memory via a microSD card. Instead, you will need to make do with the 16GB of onboard memory which isn't too bad if you don't plan to store a lot of movies.
It also supports NFC (near field communication) although its application is limited to beaming content like videos and pictures to another supported device for now.
Surfing
Chrome comes pre-installed and is the default browser for the Nexus. It renders webpages fast and accurately.
However, it doesn't support Flash. To make matters worse you cannot download the Flash app from Google Play, as the tablet is listed as an unsupported device.
Although the popularity of Flash is waning, many websites still use it and it's annoying to see empty boxes when surfing to Flash sites.
For such a thin tablet, the Nexus's battery has decent stamina. With normal usage it'll last a day but heavy surfing or gaming will deplete the battery a lot faster.
Conclusion
The Nexus 7 has a great looking 7in display and powerful quad-core processor running on Jelly Bean. It's great for browsing the Web, reading e-books, watching HD videos and playing games.
The addition of Google Now also makes it much easier to find relevant information.
However, the Nexus 7 lacks a number of features. It doesn't have a microSD expansion slot which means you'll just have to be happy with 16GB of storage.
And if you are the type that likes to shoot pictures you'll be disappointed that it doesn't have a rear camera.
Also, the review unit is a WiFi-only model. If you prefer to be connected at all times you should wait for the 3G model which Asus expects to ship in the near feature.
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