I debated long and hard (with myself) before deciding to buy the new Nexus 7. This was because I adored my old N7 and couldn’t see how it could be improved enough to make the £200 investment worthwhile. I’m glad I gave into temptation. There are plenty of technical reviews online so I’m going to concentrate on my personal impressions.
Form
The new device is longer and narrower, lighter and thinner – all of which makes it more comfortable in the hand, especially when reading or watching a film – in fact it reminds me most of the Kindle Paperwhite. If you experienced the difference between the original iPad and its successor, you’ll get the picture
Screen
The display is gorgeous – brighter, higher saturation and sharper resolution. It’s a joy to use – you can see the quality of the display by clicking the thumbnail above – text is ultra smooth. Compared with the old Nexus 7, the whites are much whiter and the contrast seems deeper.
Performance
I was pretty happy with the speed of my Nexus 7 but the new version is flawless. I’m shallow enough to use Minion Rush as my favourite way of gauging performance and, whilst the previous Nexus stuttered occasionally, the new one works completely smoothly. Going too and from the menu is much, much quicker as is the game load time. Browsing seems faster and, overall, the device feels just a little snappier – despite having to push around far more pixels.
Wireless
Here’s a slight surprise – the antenna in the new N7 seems far better than the previous iteration. I can now use my device in areas of my (small) house inaccessible before – my N7 can go where my Nexus 4 cannot for example. This was an excellent bonus and has the biggest impact day to day.
Camera
I’m not about to start using a tablet for photography when out and about (I’m not that big a tit) but for occasional use, the camera is fine. I used it to take photos of the back garden in our newish house (it was a jungle when we moved in) because it’s more convenient to use the N7 to post to Facebook. However, it’s likely to be more use for scanning barcodes and suchlike.
Overall, the new Nexus 7 is the best tablet I’ve ever seen or used. As a tech journalist of many years experience, I’m reluctant to say this but it’s perfect.