The best Android tablet gets even better

The original Nexus 7 enchanted and enthralled - and did so despite some slight compromises. The fact that it was so cheap (£159 for a 16GB version) meant it remained outstanding value for a long time. Problem is, a year is a long time in the tablet world, and competition is fierce, so the new Nexus 7 is just what the doctor ordered.

And then in late July 2013, came the announcement. A new Nexus 7 - so good, they named it twice. (Some have differentiated it by adding the year to the name. For clarity, I'll refer to the old one as "the original Nexus 7-inch from now on.).

Of course, Nexus devices are synonymous with pure Google experiences. This is the chance for Mountain View to show off Android in its purest form, away from the meddling fingers of Samsung or HTC who just love to Sensify and TouchWiz up their devices.

The Nexus 7 launched with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, which was a minor update from 4.2. It has since been updated to Android 4.4 KitKat, which adds a few bits and pieces to the bag of tricks, but I'll get into that later. I expect it will also be one of the first devices to get the next version update, whatever it may be….lemon meringue pie perhaps?

The Nexus 7 is still aiming for that sweet spot. The price has been bumped up - it's now £199 for the 16GB model that would have cost £159 before - but the specs are much better, so it's still very reasonably priced.

And it looks a lot better too. Whereas the original Nexus 7 looked like a medium level device, the new Nexus 7 now looks like a premium slab. I'll go into more detail in the next section, but suffice to say, it's pretty damn gorgeous.

It's only available in 16GB or 32GB versions - the latter will cost you a penny short of £240. And they are strictly Wi-Fi only. As with the previous incarnation, there's also a cellular version, and the difference this time is that the Nexus 7 is 4G LTE (vs HDSPA) compatible.

If ever there was a tablet that you could just pick up and carry around with you, chuck easily in a bag and know it's there when you need it, then the Nexus 7 is the one.

Obviously, you'll need a case or some kind of protection as it'd be nothing short of criminal to scratch that beautiful glass screen, but I assume that most people will be practicing Safe Nexus 7 from the get-go.

It would be foolish to just go into the specs without comparing the Nexus 7 to its predecessor - that's what most people will be expecting. Suffice to say, this is one beautiful piece of equipment. The front is one sheet of high gloss Gorilla glass, interrupted only by the minute presence of a front-facing camera for selfies and Skypes.

It's thinner and lighter than before (200 x 114 x 8.7mm and 290g, compared to 198.5 x 120 x 10.5mm and 340g). Eagle-eyed mathematicians will notice there is a slight height increase, but it's negligible in practice. The LTE version adds another 9g.

Whereas before there was a plastic trim around the bezel, painted to look like metal, here it's gone. This is an all-black device. The screen just blends into the sides, which curve round to create an uninterrupted back panel. And if I had to find fault, it would be with this bit.

Firstly, the bezels have been shrunk right down to make the screen almost extend to the edges. But it makes it difficult to hold the Nexus 7, because the natural act of curling your hand around the tablet and resting your thumb on the bezel is now impossible without touching the screen and causing all kinds of annoyances. Instead, you have to rethink how you hold the tablet.

True, it can be held fully within the palm, but that's quite tiring after a while and not particularly comfortable. Others have taken to holding the Nexus 7 like a giant phone, resting the pinky at the bottom and the thumb at the side.

Yet while this is possible, it's again not the most comfortable experience. The power/sync port at the bottom ends up digging into the skin and the angular left hand corner digs into the palm.

Added to that, the back is no longer textured but a matte plastic, and therefore grip is reduced. It's not going to cause you sleepless nights, but it is going to bug some people (like me) at first. Thankfully, most people will keep their Nexus 7 in a case of some, and that makes this much less of an issue.

Another thing to mention is fingerprints. You have never seen a fingerprint magnet like this. Prepare for lots of rubbing the Nexus 7 against legs (preferably your own) to combat smudges.

Aside from that Micro USB port at the bottom, there is little to remark on. Asus and Google have deliberately gone for minimalism here.

Look hard on the front and you may see a notification light beneath the screen - but that only appears when your attention is needed. There's a power/sleep button on the right-hand side, accompanied by volume rocker.

On the back has an etched Nexus logo, along with another addition: the rear camera, which was one thing many original Nexus 7 owners craved. It's fine for showing someone something on Skype - but if you have intentions of using your tablet as a camera, as some antisocial types do, then frankly you need taking outside and giving a firm telling off to.

One thing you will notice is two lots of speakers - stereo, if you will. All mod cons here, it appears. They're on the top and bottom at the rear but the idea is that when you watch stuff in landscape, they'll be at the sides.

Oddly, they're at the back, facing away from you, which seems silly when you consider that HTC has moved the bar with the HTC One. But we'll find out how they fare a little later.

Altogether, this is a solid device. Where the original Nexus sometimes felt like a compromise due to the price (issues of light bleed and creakiness on the left hand side were common complaints), this feels like a premium, well-put-together piece of kit that should command more than the measly amount Google is asking.

This is definitely most apparent when you see the screen. The only word that fits here is "wow." The PPI of the original Nexus 7 represented one of its missed opportunities: at 216 (800 x 1280) it was by no means bad, but it always felt like it could have been just that little bit better.

And now it is. Google and Asus have pushed the density on the Nexus 7 up to the competition's level and beyond. It's now a staggering 323ppi (1200 x 1920). Consider the iPad's Retina display is 264ppi and you can imagine just how razor sharp this is. Text pops out and images look almost inexpressibly crisp.

Add to that the fact that there is virtually no gap between glass and screen, and this is a display to die for. Viewing angles could not be better - which is great, because tablets are more likely to be shared around than phones - and crispness is unmatched.

Naturally, the glass makes it less than ideal for outdoor use, but if you set brightness to maximum it should be able to cope.

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/htc-one-1131862/review

Yes, it's a game of one upmanship to a certain degree. In all likelihood, you don't need a display that sharp. But by God, do I want it. And I love it. Sure, the Retina iPad Mini gives the Nexus 7 a run for its money, but you can't do much better on a tablet in terms of display.

Colour reproduction is also far better. A common complaint with the original Nexus 7 was that images tended to look faded and washed out. Again, I couldn't grumble too much because of the price, but it was one of those things that we geeks tended to notice and grind our teeth at. Thankfully, everything now just appears much warmer on the Nexus 7 than before.

It's still a world away from the brightness and vividity of Samsung's displays employed on the likes of the Note 8 or the Galaxy S4, but they are loved and loathed in equal measure. Some think they look great, while for others the effect is unnatural.

Either way, the fact is, unless you're odd, you won't pick up a Nexus 7, look at the display and feel disappointed in the slightest.

What you might feel disappointed with, however, is the storage issue. You won't find a Nexus 7 with anything more than 32GB of space - and remember, Google doesn't do external memory these days. In its efforts to push us all onto the cloud, you're stuck with what Google deems to be adequate.

And as we've become used to, that 32GB on the box doesn't mean you get 32GB to play with, as the OS takes up a huge chunk. You're left with just 26GB. With the size of some HD games, plus a couple of movies, you'll eat that up fairly easily. Obviously, the 16GB is even more dire in this regard.

There are two things Google could have done here: either given the option of a larger device (64GB or 128GB), or relented and left an SD slot for those who want to expand. Samsung still does that with the Note 8.0, as does Sony with the Xperia Tablet Z, and neither experience too many problems.

But larger memories would mean higher prices and that ruins the Nexus 7's USP. Increasing storage would mean Google losing face. It's a vicious circle, and it's the punters who lose out. If you are a media fiend, the paltry allowance might mean the Nexus 7 isn't the tablet for you, despite how great your content would look on that screen.

As with most modern devices, you'll find a sensor which adjusts the display to make sure you are getting optimum backlighting for battery power conservation. I found it to be pretty unremarkable - it just does what it should do.

However, if you decide to turn it off and put the display onto full manual brightness, make sure you've some sunglasses handy. This is one bright son of a gun, and you will be dazzled.

The battery has taken a hit, at least on paper. It's no longer 4325mAh and now reports for duty at 3950mAh. But Google appears to have some method in this madness. Aside from the fact that it makes the Nexus 7 lighter than the original, it doesn't seem to have much of an impact.

In fact, I'd say that the battery here is better than the original Nexus 7. Android 4.4 is great at battery management. When this unit goes to sleep, it goes to sleep. Not a slumber, not a doze, but a complete conk-out. And yet, it'll stand to attention at a second's notice when you need it again.

Key features

7" 16M-color IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen of WXGA resolution (1280 x 800 pixels), scratch-resistant Corning glass
NVIDIA Tegra 3 chipset: quad-core 1.2GHz (1.3GHz in single-core mode) ARM Cortex-A9 processor; 1GB of RAM; ULP GeForce GPU
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
8/16 GB of built-in memory
1.2 MP front-facing camera
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth; Android Beam
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
GPS with A-GPS support; digital compass
Accelerometer and proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor
4325 mAh Li-Po battery
Incredibly attractive pricing

Main disadvantages

The screen is a bit washed out and has poor sunlight legibility
Non-expandable memory
No USB mass storage or TV-out
No mobile data-enabled version
Front-facing camera only
Disappointing audio output

The Nexus 7 sure has its downsides, but it makes a killer tablet for web browsing, email or gaming. With the Samsung Galaxy Nexus price set at $350 (one of the cheapest dual-core droids, especially considering the screen size and resolution), it looks like Google's Nexus line has transformed from developer-oriented devices to some of the best Android buys.

But there's more to it than just bang for the buck - a Nexus gadget is a ticket to fast updates to the latest Android OS, an untouched Android at that (some don't really like vendor skins) and a great developer community pushing the gadgets beyond what Google had in mind for them.

Nexus 7 tablet at ours

So, is smart money on the Nexus 7 tablet or were there too many corners cut to make the price? Is the Kindle Fire shaking in its boots?

The specs look promising despite a few stinging omissions, but it's now for our tests to answer those questions.

Software features
The Nexus 7 ships with the very latest version of Android (4.3), and to be quite honest, the OS isn't much different from the previous incarnation (4.2.2). At least not obviously so. For a detailed look at the updated OS' features, check out our Android 4.3 review .

One of the few notable Android 4.3 additions is the Multi-User Restricted Profiles feature, which allows you to set up accounts with extremely limited access. Josh Miller/CNET

The notable new features are Multi-User Restricted Profiles, OpenGL ES 3.0 support, and Bluetooth Smart. User profiles were introduced with Android 4.2, and the latest version allows you to add a kid-friendly profile that the primary profile controls. The restricted profile will only have access to apps deemed acceptable and will have no access to the Play store. It's an ideal solution for families wanting to share a single tablet; however, Google leaves the decision of implementing it up to the developer.

OpenGL ES 3.0 improves polygonal graphics performance and allows the tablet to better handles effects like lens flares, shadows, and other shader effects. With Bluetooth Smart, the Nexus 7 can connect to a newer generation of Bluetooth devices as well as transmit metadata like song titles.

I'm a huge fan of close-up pics of tablet buttons. Actually, I'm not, but I liked this particular pic so much, I married it. That's also not true. Josh Miller/CNET

The other 4.3 changes are minor or so deep into the back end that most people will never notice the difference. It's certainly not as satisfying a leap as 4.1 to 4.2 was, and we'll likely have to wait until Android 5.0 to get some really meaty and truly exciting software upgrades.

Hardware features
The 7-inch Nexus 7 houses a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro system on chip with a quad-core Krait CPU and a single-core Adreno 320 GPU. It has 2GB of RAM and includes support for 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz and 5GHz) Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 (including Bluetooth Smart support), and a GPS. Additionally, a gyroscope, accelerometer, and a digital compass are included as well.

*The Micro-USB port doubles as an HDMI port, as long as you have the required (costs about $30) adapter. Josh Miller/CNET*

The tablet supports SlimPort, which allows you to use the Micro-USB port as an HDMI port via a $30 adapter, but there is no physical HDMI port on the Nexus 7.

NFC support returns, and we also get wireless charging, which according to Google will allow any Qi-compatible charger to fill the Nexus 7's battery. And that does indeed appear to be the case, as the Nokia Lumia DT-900 wireless charger worked without issue; however, the actual charging speed was painfully slow compared to a wired charge.

Performance
First things first, the Nexus 7's screen is incredibly sharp and text is particularly fine and easy to read. You may not fully appreciate its high pixel density immediately, but when looking at it next to almost any other tablet screen, the Nexus 7 clearly comes out on top. It's also one of the brightest tablet displays I've ever seen. Colors are more accurate and fuller compared with the 2012 Nexus 7 and the contrast ratio is noticeably higher. Viewing angles are wide and images appear to have a fuller, more corporeal integrity.

*Behold the beauty of the Nexus 7's razor-sharp screen. Josh Miller/CNET*

However, despite its color improvements, the 2013 Nexus 7's screen doesn't represent color as accurately or vibrantly as the 8-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 3's, though the Tab 3's screen isn't as sharp. The Nexus 7's screen looks comparatively greenish when looking at pictures or movies of faces and sometimes pushes purple when lots of bright colors are in the mix. Most won't notice, but it definitely stands out with the two tablets side by side.

If you're looking for pre-done customisation out of the box, you're looking in the wrong place. Nexus devices are intended to let you see Android in its rawest form. It's a way of witnessing Google's vision. And that's exactly what you're getting with the Nexus 7: pure, unmodified, untinkered-with Android 4.4.

That means homescreens - five of them. But of course, you can instantly replace them with your own launchers and tweaks. Lots of people go for custom launchers, which provide a safer, less technical way of modifying the look of a device without having to go down the rooting and custom ROM line.
Ultimately, what you're getting on the surface of the Nexus 7 is something that looks pretty much identical to previous Jelly Bean versions, give or take the odd tweak.

Widgets are prevalent, as they have been since day one of the Android OS, making them a key selling point that iOS users can only hanker after. And nowadays, they're not just on your homescreen, but your lock screen too.
It's ideal for the ultra-lazy - you don't even have to swipe to unlock your screen when you want to perform a task. It equates to dozens fewer finger swipes a day for heavy users. No wonder we're turning into a nation of fatties.
(As a side note, remember, Nexus devices get updated first. So when that OTA notification comes, it's just a matter of hitting 'Install' to stay on top of the pack.)
Breaking with the look of Jelly Bean (and Ice Cream Sandwich before it), the colour scheme is much lighter in KitKat.

All those Tron-looking blues have been swept away, and replaced by a clean and crisp white and the odd touch of grey. It gives everything a lighter, more elegant feel.
Looks aside, it's easy to navigate and intuitive enough. First-time users may find the menus a little overwhelming, but seasoned tinkerers will be at home.

This is a world away from the extreme handholding of Apple's models, as any Android fan will attest.
In fact, most of the changes to the OS are under the hood. There are some slight differences, like the fact you can now have user profiles, but it's other things that make a difference. Things like support for Bluetooth 4.0 and OpenGL ES 3.0, plus better DRM coding.
Google's invested some serious time and effort into providing a usable keyboard in its interface, something which first broke cover in the Nexus 4 in late 2012.
It's a great effort, albeit hardly an original idea. It apes the functionality I first grew to love with the Swype keyboard, which was later adopted by Swiftkey.
Indeed, it's almost on a par with the latter in terms of functionality and reliability, though I still prefer Swiftkey for two reasons.

Firstly, the fact you can alter the keyboard's theme (I'm fickle), and secondly, because flicking between letters and numbers is easier on Swiftkey than Google Keyboard. But there's really not that much in it.

As for the performance, boy does this baby fly. Last time, I got excited by Project Butter - a bit of Android code that would revolutionise our lives by making everything run smoother and quicker.
But it wasn't as great as it sounded. Anyone with a creaking original Nexus 7 will tell you that Project Butter can't work miracles.
The optimisations of Android 4.4, and Project Svelte, are a different matter altogether. Mixed in with that 1.5GHz quad-core Krait CPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset and 2GB of RAM, they mean there is little you can do to make the new Nexus 7 stall.
Games and apps load in a flash and you can swipe between screens, littered with widgets, and not encounter the slightest stutter.
Multi-tasking is handled with ease - it's all done via one of the three on-screen soft buttons you'll find throughout the OS. I had more than 20 apps open at the same time and encountered no problems whatsoever. The Nexus 7 is hard to beat in this respect.

Battery Life

I have to hand it to Asus and Google here. It may be sorcery – I won't pry too much – but they have managed to pull off the impossible here.

They've shrunk the battery size, and yet seem to have improved battery life compared to the previous iteration.

From 4325mAh to 3950mAh, on paper at least, I thought they'd taken leave of their senses. But it just goes to show how much the software influences the energy spend that the Nexus 7 seems to just go. And go. And go. And go.

This is hardly a scientific comparison - it's hard to compare an old Nexus 7 that's been used for a year with a different processor and screen to the new one and hope to give a fair verdict.

But what I'll say is this: where I expected the new Nexus 7 to fall down, it actually just keeps on giving.

In real world usage, results will vary – it depends what you're using your tablet for, but I found that when testing, I was using the Nexus 7 nearly all day.

With all Google services enabled, I managed about two hours worth of surfing the web, read a Kindle book for about 45 mins, sent 20-30 emails from a separate Exchange account set to push, connected to the car stereo via Bluetooth and streamed some music on a 20 minute drive, as well as checking out Google Maps Navigation for the duration of that journey.

I went from a full charge overnight, taking the Nexus 7 off the juice at 8am. By 9pm, I was still going strong with 41% of battery remaining.

The new Nexus 7 was put through TechRadar's video battery test which sees a 90 minute video played at full brightness (or 300 Lux, whichever arrives first), with multiple accounts syncing in the background.

After the video had finished the Nexus 7 had dropped just 20% battery which is similar to the Kindle Fire HD, while the G Pad 8.3 dropped 30% during the same test and the Tesco Hudl saw a 21% loss.

This is a tablet that you can use without worrying it will die on you. Of course, you have to remember that the more apps you load on, the more background processes you have running and the more juice you're likely to get through.

And when the LTE version comes out, it'll be running an extra radio which is likely to impact. But for now, it's pretty damn good.

On top of that, I'm pleased to see that Google has continued with previous models and kept the charging port as Micro USB.

There is nothing worse than an OEM using a proprietary port. It's so stressful worrying in case you lose it and have to pay a king's ransom to replace it officially.

The alternative is being able to charge wirelessly - something that is available on the Nexus 7, but I was unable to test just yet as the correct accessories haven't made their way over.

Spesification

CPU	1.3-GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 (Kai platform)
RAM Included	1GB
RAM Upgradeable	1GB
Storage Drive Size	8GB
Storage Drive Type	Flash Memory
Display Size	7
Display Resolution	1280 x 800
Graphics Chip	NVIDIA GeForce
Graphics Memory
Wi-Fi	802.11b/g/n
OS	Android 4.1
Camera Resolution
Front-Facing Camera Resolution	1.3MP
Ports	Headphone; microUSB
USB Ports
Card Reader Size
Warranty / Support
Size	7.8 x 4.7 x .41
Weight	12 ounces