Reports of “faulty” GPS, “buggy” multitouch, “jittery” scrolling and an ecosystem that “still lags iOS” weren’t enough to stop Google’s latest Nexus 7 from getting a stellar review on par with Apple’s iPad mini.
I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation. Now we wait to get it.
It’s gotta be that screen that most consumers won’t care about compared to the already good one that they get with an iPad mini
Similarly positive reviews convinced me to switch to a Nexus 4 from an iPhone 4S as well. Initially, I was seduced by a larger screen and a cheaper price. After spending the past 6 months with this glitchy turd, its crappy apps and horrible battery life, I have learned not to trust such reviews, and frankly, now hate Google products with a passion.
Reviewers are aware of these issues, and are “investigating”.
here’s the explanation:
http://paulstamatiou.com/android-is-better
That doesn’t have anything to do with the Nexus 7. That’s just an Android fanboy who happens to have a popular blog.
Ha! So, when the iPad gets a Hi-DPI display, consumers do – or rather should – care, but when something else does, all of a sudden they don’t?
Let’s see the tune you’ll be singing when iPad Mini’s “already good” display gets changed to “retina”.
All I’m saying is the iPad mini’s screen is great – much better than an iPad 2 and I can read the iPad mini’s screen with my glasses off – something only Retina could do for me before. Ads will make a big deal out of Retina, but it is good enough for lots of people – perhaps not the geeks and reviewers 🙂
The positive reviews convinced me to switch from an iPad 4 and iPhone 4S to a Nexus 7 and Razr Maxx HD. I was seduced by the smaller screen and no customization. After spending the past year with being locked down, and smaller screen I will never go back to an Apple product
really? it doesn’t use Android? my bad
Same as the Chromecast. Lots of hyped up reviews but the thing is so limited, full of bugs and not even close to ready.
Seems reviews involving Google stuff relies a lot on imagination and wishful thinking: what they could do, not what in reality they offer.
Does Matt Cutts go around offering PageRank “bumps” to these sites, higher AdWords rates or what? I don’t get it.
The iPad touchscreen will work well, unlike this one.
Also Apple wouldn’t cut corners on battery life and lie about it like Google did (turning off Wifi)
So by this logic, if you put Android on a device that restarts every 15 to 60 seconds randomly, or has non-working hardware buttons, or whose wifi or cellular signal cuts out for 5 minutes at a time randomly, it’s still awesome because, you know, Android! 🙂 Who cares about working hardware when you have operating system name.
But… Maxx HD is competitor to iPhone 5 (4-inch screen), not 4S and Nexus 7 actually has a smaller screen than iPad Mini… I’m really confused here.
You sound just like the kind of reviewers illustrated by this post.
Jason Ip has no logic. He just spams that link anywhere is can. See his post history.
DimSum apparently doesn’t know English: “He just spams that link anywhere is can.” So 2 posts with that link = spam? ok
well, I guess with the ‘logic’ of the reviewers (majority btw) that is the case. Unless of course, you know, the hardware issues are way overblown. But no, let’s go with the tin-foil hat theory. Everyone is giving high marks to the new Nexus 7 because… wait, we don’t know why. Can’t be because the OS is so much better that it compensates for said issues… It just can’t be that Android > iOS, does not compute! Conspiracy!
Thanks. Paul is a great guy, and it’s nice he likes Android now, but how many people wrote about going back to iPhone? Tons. Word. And I wish I didn’t click on his post history lol…
You’re right that it can’t be. And it can’t be not because iOS > Android either. It can’t be just like BMW > Lexus or Mercedes > Audi can’t be. It’s a personal choice, each brand fills different needs. Comparing iOS and Android in terms of which better, in general, is just as dumb. Neither is better. Neither is worse. Some are very happy with one, some with the other. Some of my friends even use both to fill all their needs (like Android phone + iPad, or vice versa).
It is not possible for an OS to be so good that it makes hardware issues irrelevant. Yet this is the argument these “reviewers” are explicitly or implicitly trying to use, and it’s complete crap.
Coming from iPad 2, sure. But as someone who owns an iPad 3, the mini’s display looks noticeably worse. I truly believe that for many people retina mini would bring noticeable improvements.
Regarding the touchscreen responsiveness (or lack thereof):
Android does seem to hold on to its tradition of jittery-ness, which is certainly annoying to anyone who’s ever used an iOS device.
Regarding the battery life:
As Anand Shimpi (anandtech.com) pointed out, the 6-hr claim was by a reviewer which ran the Nexus at 2/3 brightness, which is around 40% higher (Lux-wise) than that same reviewer did for the mini. As it stands, apples to apples, tested at the same lux brightness, the new Nexus’ battery life (~9.5 hrs) is only slightly below iPad mini’s 10.5 hrs.
So according to you Android is go good that it makes up for lag, touchscreen problems, GPS issues and poor build quality….
Really? Did you actually think that through?
If an iPad had anything even close to these issues, it would be all over NBC Nightly News and ABC World News. Remember when the media went crazy about the iPad 3 getting warmer than the iPad 2? They even had Consumer Reports (of course, who else) on the show with a heat gun looking incredibly silly, trying to stress the iPad as much as possible just so they could get that oh so special meter reading of an iPad running warm.
Funny how legitimate issues like these never get much attention in the press. Instead, the device gets littered with praise. I’m not saying the N7 is a bad device, its certainly cheaper in some ways than the iPad due to cutting corners. But I just always laugh about things like this. Apple gets graded with a fine-toothed comb. Google/Android doesn’t even get combed at all. Google is just the tech media darling nowadays, despite their often questionable behavior.
No, this specific Nexus 7 has touchscreen problems far worse than Android’s general lack of resposiveness:
See example: http://youtu.be/MYGd7GFVqB0
The 6hr battery life was found by the WSJ, not Anandtech:
“Another drawback: In my test, the new Nexus 7’s battery life was underwhelming. Compared with the same battery test of the iPad Mini and first Nexus 7, it fell short at just six hours; the others clocked in at 10 hours and 27 minutes and 10 hours and 44 minutes, respectively. Google claims the battery life can last over nine hours, but the company tests it in Airplane mode (Internet connection off), with screen brightness set to 44% while playing video. I keep Wi-Fi on in the background and screen brightness at 75% while playing video.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323854904578637983964905800.html
Anand has not released the full review of the Nexus 7 yet.
I didn’t write any reviews…
“I’m really confused here”
don’t worry, you’re not the only iOS user out that is. Apple will release a bigger screen Iphone soon enough to clear up all this ‘confusion’
same with a cheaper Iphone, confusion runs rampant within the iOS community but not to worry, Apple will clear it all up.
No sure if serious or sarcastic.
“The 6hr battery life was found by the WSJ, not Anandtech”
I never said it was. Anand Shimpi debunked the validity of WSJ testing methodology on one of his recent podcasts (http://www.anandtech.com/show/7200/the-anandtech-podcast-episode-24). He attributed it to 2013 Nexus’s display being considerably brighter than iPad Mini’s (75% on 2013 Nexus 7 is actually brighter than iPad Mini at 100%).
I suggest you check out Anandtech’s own battery tests. (http://www.anandtech.com/show/6073/the-google-nexus-7-review/7)
They are really methodical, and compare actual brightness (lux-wise), rather than GUI brightness slider position.
As for the video, it tells us nothing about the supposed “problem”, its scope, or magnitude. For all we know, it could be a defective unit.
That’s true. You’d probably install Android 4.2.2 full GE conversion and TWRP rooted which would fix all the problems.
Just like any Android user, really.
In a podcast? You’re having a laugh. Get back to me when they have actual published results for the new Nexus 7.
The tests you linked to are for the old Nexus.
The touchscreen issue shown in the video has been widely reported, if anything there’s a lot of defective units out there.
This Verge article has plenty of information about it: http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/13/4617350/nexus-7-buyers-report-more-defects-touchscreen-freezing
we got a troll, here… (pointless jerkwad with nothing better to do than attempt to validate himself by mocking others). what are you, twelve?
Pretty close actually, I’m on 4.3 full GE conversion with TWRP
Guess there’s no such thing as jailbreaking on Iphone
Not having a laugh at all. Anand Shimpi is a serious, well respected reviewer. He is not one to claim something without being able to back it up with data. On the podcast #24 he talks about 4.3 lag concerns (around 1:17:00 mark) and his preliminary battery test findings vs. WSJ test methodology (around 01:22:00 mark).
As for the review data, I stand corrected. There’s no actual battery data in anandtech’s 2013 Nexus 7 “mini review”. It appears that amidst a barrage of tabs open in Chrome, I confused the old Nexus review data, and link, for that matter, for the new one 🙁 My apologies! I will try to be more careful in the future.
I’m really confused here
That was my immediate thought when I read the article. Frankly, it was evident that the reviewer didn’t have a clue what she was doing and I was rather upset that it was as widely linked to as it was. That entire battery life issue was predicated on a lie.
As the self-appointed welcome wagon as of now, I’d like to say welcome, Gizmodo reader. Your reputation for witty commentary precedes you.
Why? Why does the mere fact that a company made a mediocre product make you “hate” them? It’s this sort of vehemence and ridiculous bigotry that is destroying most discourse on the web.
I was on the verge of purchasing an iPad mini, but, at this point in the game, the screen resolution is just comical. Any kind of text is just painful to read. (Frankly, I’m of the belief that even the retina iPad screen isn’t adequate. Apple set the bar way too high with the retina iPhones, which are still the best screens of any device on the market.)
Hindsight. They also gave iDevices with janky hardware rave reviews on launch. Take the iPhone 5 with it’s glass and “paint” issues, faulty home buttons*, etc rocking an 8.8 review from The Verge.
It’s all hindsight, which we never have until the device has been out for a while.
Just heard all of that and he never actually says how long the battery lasts.
What a fucking waste of time.
Oh, you installed it last week?
The fact that I wasted $400 on this piece of crap that was advertised and reviewed in many cases to be somehow superior to the stability and quality of an iPhone is what makes me hate them. What is so hard to understand about that? Vehemence and bigotry? You’re ridiculous.
Vastly lower expectations?