{"id":4077,"date":"2012-07-30T00:05:37","date_gmt":"2012-07-30T00:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/redmonk.com\/gearmonk\/?p=4077"},"modified":"2012-07-30T00:05:37","modified_gmt":"2012-07-30T00:05:37","slug":"nexus-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/gearmonk\/2012\/07\/30\/nexus-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Days With a Nexus 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

In February of last year, I purchased<\/a> a Motorola Xoom Android tablet from Verizon the day they went on sale. Intended to serve as a travel machine for shorter trips – same days to Boston or New York, as an example – it adequately served in that role until November of 2011, when I purchased a MacBook Air 11″. While that machine was intended to replace my dying Thinkpad X301, not my Xoom, in the end it did both.<\/p>\n

For a half pound more weight, I could bring along a keyboard. And while I, like Apple, believed that the 10″ form factor was ideal for tablets, the reality was that the Xoom was just big and heavy enough to dissuade casual usage. The Xoom was still great for trips, both because of the built in LTE and the battery life, which was roughly double that of the MBA, but I used it more and more rarely outside of that context. Which was not the end of the world, having been purchased as a travel machine, but certainly not what I had originally envisioned.<\/p>\n

When Google announced its Nexus 7 tablet at Google I\/O, I was initially underwhelmed. First, because I already had an Android tablet. Second, because the form factor seemed small; little bigger than my Galaxy Nexus, in fact. And last because Android tablets have, in general, underwhelmed. The more I thought about it, however, the more interesting it seemed. A smaller unit would mean even less weight for travel, the pricepoint was very aggressive, and the reviews were good. Excellent, in fact. When I solicited feedback on Twitter, it was immediate and universally positive and I was sold. Last weekend I walked out of the Staples in Brunswick, Maine with their last unit (most venues were already sold out<\/a>).<\/p>\n

A week later, and I’m that much more sold. Here are a few questions and answers on my seven days with a Nexus 7.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong>: First, what are you going to do with your Xoom and the Verizon contract?
\nA<\/strong>: It’s headed for eBay, and as far as I can tell should – with the free stand Motorola provided as an apology for the delay in the LTE upgrade process – more than offset the purchase price of the Nexus 7 ($249). The LTE contract, meanwhile, will be maintained via the Verizon MiFi Google handed out at Google I\/O last year; I extracted the LTE SIM from the Xoom, popped it into the MiFi and my Verizon hotspot lives on.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong>: Which model Nexus did you get?
\nA<\/strong>: The 16 GB. 8 GB is, to me, too small. Even 16 is a little light, though fine if you stream most of your video and audio. The extra $50 is well worth it here, IMO, because the device does not include expandable storage.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong>: Is the Nexus 7 unboxing as hard as everyone says<\/a>?
\nA<\/strong>: The fit was pretty tight, but not that big a deal.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong>: What stands out about the Nexus 7 on unboxing?
\nA<\/strong>: The build quality is solid, and the unit feels good in your hands. The matte-like covering on the back is perfect; neither slick nor tacky. The speed of the UI, also, is impressive. It’s very responsive.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong>: How’s the activation and setup?
\nA<\/strong>: For Android users, it’s pretty straightforward. You feed it your account details, and it will begin populating inboxes, browser bookmarks, calendars and so on. It will also list all of your available Android applications, although I was sadly unable to find an option to bulk install multiple applications.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong>: What surprised you about the device?
\nA<\/strong>: The vertical orientation, although it shouldn’t have, because that was how everyone I saw using one interacted with it. But coming from the Xoom, which was designed to be held horizontally, the vertical orientation of the Nexus 7 was mildly surprising at first.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong>: And how do you feel about the orientation after using it for a week?
\nA<\/strong>: It’s perfect. Typing, for one, is dramatically improved. It’s a bit like using the keyboard of a very large phone, the result of which is a dramatic increase in both the speed and accuracy of typing on the device. I probably won’t be using it to blog, as has Tim Bray<\/a>, but there are things I would not consider typing on my phone that I’ll happily compose on the Nexus 7.<\/p>\n

Transitioning to a horizontal layout for applications that require it – Evernote, MLB At Bat, and so on – has been a non-issue thus far. The vertical orientation seems perfect for the 7 inch form factor.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong>: How do you use the Nexus 7 differently than you used your Xoom?
\nA<\/strong>: Mostly, I use it more. It’s just small enough that it will fit in my shorts pocket (though admittedly sagging them to dangerously teenage levels), so if I’m walking over to lunch at the sushi bar, I’ll bring it. It’s replaced my Galaxy Nexus as the device I carry around the house or the property for browsing, Twitter and so on. And once I start traveling again, it will be making every trip, not just the long haul ones the Xoom was relegated to by the end. And it will replace my MBA for the short duration visits, an up and back to NYC, let’s say. In short, I think Tim is correct<\/a>: the 7″ form factor is the correct one for personal use. My personal use, at least. Portablility might be its most compelling feature.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong>: When you use the device, it’s still primarily about consumption, I assume?
\nA<\/strong>: Correct. The Nexus 7 is much easier to type on than either my Galaxy Nexus or the Xoom, but it is still no match for a full keyboard. If I’m writing sentences, the Nexus 7 is fine. When I’m writing in paragraphs, I’ll use something with a keyboard.<\/p>\n

Q<\/strong>: What are your specific use cases for the device, and how have you organized it?
\nA<\/strong>: In setting it up, I’ve tried to build three basic screens. The home screen is populated by applications I use regularly (Calendar, Dropbox, Maps, Skype, Untappd, etc) as well as widgets for weather and so on.
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The screen to the left of that is half entertainment (Plex, Roku, Rdio, etc) and half utilities (ConnectBot, GitHub, WordPress, etc).
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And the screen to the right of home is oriented towards travel. The TripAdvisor widget tells me what’s around, the TripIt widget my schedule details and applications like FlightTrack, GateGuru and Wi-Fi Finder are a boon on the road.
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Q<\/strong>: Speaking of applications, how have you found the Android application experience?
\nA<\/strong>: Mixed, and I know that iPad users I know like Alex King have found this frustrating:<\/p>\n

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@sogrady<\/a> The hardware and system are quite nice. The apps really suck compared to what I use on the iPad. Seriously limits the usefulness.<\/p>\n

— Alex King (@alexkingorg) July 19, 2012<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n