Google Nexus 7 - All in One Reviews [Unboxings, Build Quality, Camera, Benchmarks...] - Nexus 7 General

Please Read First:
Introduction
Hi everyone! So basically in this thread i wish to cover everything that one would want to know about the Google Nexus 7! I have a youtube channel which i plan to make the reviews on and embedd them here. I will basically try to cover the Nexus 7 as much in detail as possible. Hopefully my series of videos will help you truly to get to know this device and help you in the decision to spend your hard earned money on this device or save it for something better. All Reviews here are my opinions and may differ from your so i encourage you to tell me how you feel about the nexus 7 by leaving a reply to this thread or on my youtube video page.
A bit about myself:
I am an Android user currently. I started using Android about a year back and since then have learnt almost everything Android threw at me. So i have rooted and unbricked and installed tons of ROMs for myself and my friends. I am by no means a developer although I am currently learning to program in Java. I have also got the chance to work with many Android devices in the past year. You can find the list in my signature. I personally have never used Apple devices(i like them but find them very limiting, expensive and overrated)! After a year of using Android devices i have ended up with the Nexus 7 and thought i would help the community by making a series of Videos dedicated to the Nexus 7. Hopefully this series will help the people to decide if the Nexus 7 is the right device for them in the wide world of Android. My previous device was the Galaxy Note N7000!
Reviews Completed So Far:
Unboxing
Camera Recording Test
Camera Application
Benchmarks
Build Quality
Reviews Still To Come:
Jelly Bean + User Interface
USB OTG + Storage Alternatives
Battery Life
Display
Gaming - Shadowgun
Gaming - Asphalt 6
Gaming - Dead Trigger
Should You Buy?
Note: I will Look To Cover Anything The Community Asks for so Dont Hesitate to Ask for Something In Particular
Note: I will also be updating this thread with the latest Video Reviews so stay tuned to the thread or subscribe to my youtube channel.
Review 1 - Unboxing
Review 2 - Camera Application
Review 3 - Camera Recording Test
Review 4 - Build Quality
Review 5 - Benchmarks
Review 6 - Battery Life (Upcoming)

Related

For a Tegra 3 based tablet the Camera App performance is garbage.

Now, lets just forget the fact that this is a flagship Nexus device for Google, who have top engineers and programers working day and night on the Nexus 7. Some how they deliberately left out a camera app. Now I won't even go into the quality because at 1.3 Megapixels its good enough for Skype. And thats it. Myself like the rest of you had to download, the Top rated camera App from the Google Play store from MoDaCo, just type Nexus 7 into Google Play its the 4 result down. The App is a disaster, For a Tegra 3 based device, its does not even give you $199 iPod Touch Facetime results. Ok maybe thats not a fair comparison. But it draws me into me second point, the fact that Google deliberately said NO Camera App for you. Its unlikely they are even going to develop a decent camera App. Which has huge underpinnings. Unlike any other device, most of my friends and co-workers have a Nexus 7 already. We would like to have some type of real Camera App that works at something higher than 10 frames per second. Google is unlikley to give us any kind of Facetime Like App for the Nexus 7 which is disasterous failure. When a single core CPU iPod Touch is delivering a better experience (camera wise and App wise) to the end user. I know leave it up to the Developers ! developers are the answer like Fring which is also super choppy . Really you sound like Steve Ballmer at this point. How hard would have been for Google to add in a Camera App running smoothly with tons of Fun, Effects and Layers that you could essentially Facetime Videochat with friends. The fact that Google is against this makes me think they have already given up on the Nexus 7. Because any 3rd party App is not going to be universally adopted, like A Camera App baked into the device out of the box. Would the Nexus 7 been an even bigger success, its hard to ridicule a success however it is something the Nexus 7 needs. Not 3rd party poorly done camera Apps that look choppy and running on a single core CPU which is struggling to keep up. I know Google Talk is there but everyone I have shown are like WTF! Why name a Video Chat feature as "TALK" most did not know it was even there or an option. It does not even work on the Nexus 7 at least for Video Chat purposes. Does anyone know if Google has hinted or said they will developing a Camera App for the Nexus 7 and a fix for Google Talk ?
rant over its frustrating
The way i see it, there really isnt a need for a camera app. its a front facing low mp camera, so your not going to take pictures of your vacation or go sightseeing with it... you have your phone or actual camera for that.. beside how will you hold the tablet when trying to take a picture with out yourself in the shot? hold it backwards? now you just look silly and your picture still looks like crap.
then you might say "What about taking pictures of my self?" well instagram, facebook, and i think google+ (not really sure about G+, just assumeing so) have a camera app built in that works well with the N7 camera.
sooo not sure what your looking for :silly:
IceColdKila said:
Now, lets just forget the fact that this is a flagship Nexus device for Google, who have top engineers and programers working day and night on the Nexus 7. Some how they deliberately left out a camera app. Now I won't even go into the quality because at 1.3 Megapixels its good enough for Skype. And thats it. Myself like the rest of you had to download, the Top rated camera App from the Google Play store from MoDaCo, just type Nexus 7 into Google Play its the 4 result down. The App is a disaster, For a Tegra 3 based device, its does not even give you $199 iPod Touch Facetime results. Ok maybe thats not a fair comparison. But it draws me into me second point, the fact that Google deliberately said NO Camera App for you. Its unlikely they are even going to develop a decent camera App. Which has huge underpinnings. Unlike any other device, most of my friends and co-workers have a Nexus 7 already. We would like to have some type of real Camera App that works at something higher than 10 frames per second. Google is unlikley to give us any kind of Facetime Like App for the Nexus 7 which is disasterous failure. When a single core CPU iPod Touch is delivering a better experience (camera wise and App wise) to the end user. I know leave it up to the Developers ! developers are the answer like Fring which is also super choppy . Really you sound like Steve Ballmer at this point. How hard would have been for Google to add in a Camera App running smoothly with tons of Fun, Effects and Layers that you could essentially Facetime Videochat with friends. The fact that Google is against this makes me think they have already given up on the Nexus 7. Because any 3rd party App is not going to be universally adopted, like A Camera App baked into the device out of the box. Would the Nexus 7 been an even bigger success, its hard to ridicule a success however it is something the Nexus 7 needs. Not 3rd party poorly done camera Apps that look choppy and running on a single core CPU which is struggling to keep up. I know Google Talk is there but everyone I have shown are like WTF! Why name a Video Chat feature as "TALK" most did not know it was even there or an option. It does not even work on the Nexus 7 at least for Video Chat purposes. Does anyone know if Google has hinted or said they will developing a Camera App for the Nexus 7 and a fix for Google Talk ?
rant over its frustrating
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Paragraphs please.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Face time is apple.
Google+ hangouts is Google.
Sorry you didn't know. Its hard to be mad at Google for your lack of knowledge.
A camera app with weird facial features? Cool? For 5 mins. I tried it on my iPad once. Literally. Then got annoyed when everyone was uploading pics to fb of their fat/stretched/skinny/alien faces.
Again, this isn't apple. I'm sure an app will pop up eventually, some day
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
This tablet is all about promoting Google's content and services. It's very well built and pretty much given away. Most people don't find a high quality camera necessary in a tablet, so this has no rear camera.
It came with no camera app, because the front camera really isn't intended for photography. It's there so you can take advantage of Google Hangouts, which I assume the quality should be good enough for that (haven't tried myself).
My only complaint about the camera is that it really should be angled down slightly. You have to hold the tablet very awkwardly to get the camera to center on your face.
Quite honestly, I really don't think of the front camera. The camera quality and speed shouldn't really be a con, what were you expecting for $200? It has a Tegra 3 and a IPS Display, which cost over $100 alone.
Learn something new everyday, a tegra 3 is camera hardware. Also the commercial s shoeing face time are no where near the quality in real life
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Wow you are horribly misinformed.
Firstly, the words "flagship" and "Nexus" don't correlate to meaning the same thing. This way of thinking represents a terrible misinterpretation of what the Nexus program actually is.
Secondly, you have to realize that the Nexus 7 tablet is aimed squarely at the cheaper end of the tablet market. Google set out to introduce a 200 dollar quad-core tablet, and they succeeded. To do this, cuts in other areas needed to be made. One of these areas is the cheaper sensor in the front-facing camera, and the lack of a rear camera. Now, I myself feel that the front camera is perfectly acceptable for video chatting in G+ hangouts (its intended feature, and the one feature of the camera that is touted prominently in the features list). If you wanted a tablet that could take amazing pictures of yourself or other things, you bought the wrong tablet.
And by the way, just for sake of clarity...Google did not strip the camera apk from the Nexus 7. They simply did not give you a shortcut for it. This is all MoDaCo's app in the Play Store does...unlocks the shortcut for the camera software and places it into your app tray. That's it.
At the end of the day, this is a 200 dollar tablet.
Wow! :banghead:
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda premium
Such a poor misinformed person. Please let your friends know that you can video chat in high quality using Google Talk and Google+, both on the device by default.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
And also, you said Google Talk doesn't work? Is this a troll post?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
I have a handful of tablets, including an iPad1 and iPad2. I can honestly say that I probably never had the need to take a picture with any of them. Cell phones have higher quality cameras and are much more portable/accessible. The FFC on the Nexus 7 is intended to be used specifically for video chatting which you can use either Google+ or Google Talk. A camera app wasn't included because any video chat service you use is all you need.
The reference to Google Talk is a stupid video chat service name, well, you have to imagine that Google Talk was around LONG before video service. Video conferencing wasn't originally its main function (and still isn't). It is a chat service app that simply support video.
Video Chatting is great but not useful on a day to day basis. The back camera is a useless tool for a tablet.
I guess this is dumb, but I see nothing called "google talk" on mine. So it's better to tell them to look for "talk"
kangxi said:
Such a poor misinformed person. Please let your friends know that you can video chat in high quality using Google Talk and Google+, both on the device by default.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
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Stop with the whole camera drama in this forum already. Most consumers don't need one since they have point and shoots or a smartphone. It's a non-issue that everyone should put to rest. And this thread is also a troll thread as well since he keeps mentioning face time which is an Apple product.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
who really needs a camera an a tablet? I'm glad they left it out. The front facing camera works just fine with Skype.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Who the hell takes pictures with a tablet anyway? You'd look ridiculous and frankly, I'd probably run up and kick you in the nuts if I saw you trying to do it (figuratively speaking, of course). Quit your damn *****ing already, it got real old real quick.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
JD914 said:
who really needs a camera an a tablet? I'm glad they left it out. The front facing camera works just fine with Skype.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
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This. People taking pictures and videos with iPads and other tablets look like douchbags anyway.
I have the One X to take pictures if need be.
NJGSII said:
This. People taking pictures and videos with iPads and other tablets look like douchbags anyway.
I have the One X to take pictures if need be.
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Now that you mentioned it there seems a direct correlation between people who use tablets to take pictures and people who make camera troll threads.
reply
CharliesTheMan said:
Now that you mentioned it there seems a direct correlation between people who use tablets to take pictures and people who make camera troll threads.
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I appreciate all the response, I wanted to be clear on somethings which many focused on, I am not complaining about the camera Megapixel quality itself. Or what do I expect from a $200 tablet. Its the fact that, Google does not want the majority of people video chatting. When the devices is perfectly capable of this more so than a simple iPod Touch. Facetime has become, a verb now, and Android needs a response. Why Google is deliberately blowing an opportunity, is not by mistake. On Campus at work everywhere, almost overnight I see as many Nexus 7's as iPad's. Not many people want to risk a $600 iPad but a $200 tablet is a take everywhere thing. Even places not in class where you dont need an iPad the Nexus 7 is there. But Google does not want you to embrace Facetime like Apple has given people the opportunity to. Probably why the video chat feature is hidden away in a program called TALK. Anyways in response to MMcCraryNJ who says MoDaCo just links to the Camera apk, its not stripped this is even worse. I thought the camera was just a poorly developed 3rd party Ap. And lets not even care about the Visual quality, Have the CPU and GPU help out theres no reason. Its should run so choppy. And if they don't want people using which is why they left out the Icon for a $200 tablet why include one ? If the sensor is so bad, no matter what its gonna deliver what feels like 10 frames a second choppyness. I can't post links yet but just add whats missing to the begining, the Nexus 7 would be a perfect Mom and Pop device for FaceTime (I know FaceTIme is Apple but Android needs a catchier name) or for GrandDads or Grandmas who are not ready for a Smartphone or want to spend $500 on an iPAd. Its the perfect demographic, and yet Google does not want you doing this especially on a perfect devices for it. And it would not cost them extra or 5 cents more per sensor, its software thats not working right, and that they don't want to make user friendly.
youtube.com/watch?v=R8qtjT-pioM&playnext=1&list=PL390E25B9AA821DB7&feature=results_main
I can just imagine similar Nexus 7 adds would be a hit.
8 posts.

Nexus 7 review Consumers Take by SNNTEC

So right now im pretty sure the market is flooded with N7 reviews but like always i just wanna throw in my 2cents.. hope you guys enjoy, nothing in here should be to surprising excpect the Name of the GPU paired with Tegra 3 processor.. this will be multi-part so ill update this thread as i upload the other parts
Part 1 hardware
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaWn9F-sbSE&feature=plcp
Video sample
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxkGAKCchdQ
Part 2 Comparison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNlSK5ZJCwc

Video - Nexus 6p vs Nexus 5 (Speed and Ram Management test)

Hey all,
I wanted to compare the Nexus 6p and Nexus 5 in terms of performance, so I made a video about it for anyone that is interested.
I must say, the Nexus 5 really put up a good fight...
https://youtu.be/uUyJrpXG3Uo
Cool video bro.
Audio was kinda weird, seemed like it was coming from behind me lol.
And I don't trust web-based tests like youtube etc, since different routers distribute packets differently. Gaming and RAM management were more realistic imho and showed that our trusty N5 can still hold its own against the new gen.
But damn that 6P looks sexy <3
RazorMC said:
Cool video bro.
Audio was kinda weird, seemed like it was coming from behind me lol.
And I don't trust web-based tests like youtube etc, since different routers distribute packets differently. Gaming and RAM management were more realistic imho and showed that our trusty N5 can still hold its own against the new gen.
But damn that 6P looks sexy <3
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Hey, thanks for the feedback. Sorry about the audio. I'm just getting started with the whole youtube thing, so the only microphones I have available are what's built into my pc and camera
I'll keep in mind your comment about Web based tests for any future comparisons like this.

A Full Review of the Blu Vivo XL!

Hello everyone! I recently reviewed the Gionee S Plus, which is essentially the Blu Vivo XL but comes with 3GB RAM instead of 2. Overall, I loved using the device. It was my daily driver for more than a week and it did a very great job in running everyday tasks and playing some high end games. The only thing disappointing about this phone is its Camera performance but if you're not into clicking very images, it will get the job done. I have published a full video review of this phone on my YouTube channel and you guys can watch it here: Do let me know your views about the phone! Thanks

Initial review and comparison after 1 day

Initial review and comparison after 1 day.
I am a self certified phone junky and a proud dad and here is my initial review and comparison between the OnePlus 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S8,
Design.
Well this one is a no brainer the Samsung Galaxy S8 makes the OnePlus 5 look dated even though both of the screens are excellent in terms of contrast, viewing in direct sunlight the curved edges and form factor are a massive win for me with the Samsung.
Win Samsung Galaxy S8
Build Quality
Both phones are superbly built I was very apprehensive about the OnePlus 5 due to hearing lots of horror stories about the fit and finish of the product and luckily enough mine is free of any of these defects.
Win Samsung Galaxy S8 and OnePlus 5
Features
The stock OOS has some very nice features such as gesture support, remapping the capacitive buttons to perform other functions and is very well laid out and easy to find what you need.
The Samsung is well a complete mess way too many options in way too many categories and you have to search to find anything as it can be buried very deep.
The vast majority of the features on the Galaxy S8 I do not use nor care for basically.
Win OnePlus 5
Camera
This is a big one after reading review after review I did not have very high expectations of the OnePlus 5 specially when compared to my other phone the Samsung Galaxy S8.
However until you zoom in the photo’s actually look pretty good as long as you use HQ or Pro mode (the HDR modes are very poor)
I am definitely not a camera expert and what makes a good camera for me is can it take a “Clear Photo” of my manic 4 year old daughter without any motion blur or other artifacts.
The camera on the Galaxy S8 is much better you can rely on this to take excellent photos every time you want to use it and even when zoomed in the photo’s remain clear, crisp with no water color effect which the OnePlus 5 has.
Win Samsung Galaxy S8
Performance.
This is very easy for me to state the OnePlus 5 is one of the fastest phones I have ever owned and it has none of the lag or stutter of the Galaxy S8 (why oh why with so much power under the hood does the S8 have stutters in the UI)
Easy victory for the OnePlus 5
Thanks for your summary which in many aspects copies my own experience (presently have both and have to decide which to keep).
I'm still looking for a good camera app from playstore to copy the excellent image processing of the Samsung camera app.
To add to the points above: from my comparison the OP5 is vastly superior in GPS reception to my (Eynos) S8 !
s3axel said:
Thanks for your summary which in many aspects copies my own experience (presently have both and have to decide which to keep).
I'm still looking for a good camera app from playstore to copy the excellent image processing of the Samsung camera app.
To add to the points above: from my comparison the OP5 is vastly superior in GPS reception to my (Eynos) S8 !
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Try Cameringo+, that has some good processing ...
So how did the OP5 do at photos of your 4 year old? I have a 1yr and 5yr old and have the same struggles to get clear shots.
atistang said:
So how did the OP5 do at photos of your 4 year old? I have a 1yr and 5yr old and have the same struggles to get clear shots.
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It did ok although not as life like as the S8.
daleski75 said:
It did ok although not as life like as the S8.
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Looks like it focused good though. Was that HQ or HDR? I've read recently that the OP5 seems to have sharper pictures in HQ mode.
atistang said:
Looks like it focused good though. Was that HQ or HDR? I've read recently that the OP5 seems to have sharper pictures in HQ mode.
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I think they where all in HQ
daleski75 said:
It did ok although not as life like as the S8.
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Oh she's adorable! So cute. I'm no photographer, but the picture quality looks good to me.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Updated to 4.5.5 yesterday and took some more photos was quite surprised by the results.
Link to the originals https://goo.gl/photos/kzY2SeMxPZ5yXmXv8
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk
daleski75 said:
Updated to 4.5.5 yesterday and took some more photos was quite surprised by the results.
Link to the originals https://goo.gl/photos/kzY2SeMxPZ5yXmXv8
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk
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Very nice!! Moving kids was the Achilles heel of OP3T :good::good: With op3t I basically could not a get a decent picture with my kid unless she was in complete standstill*
*You need Tom Cruise for that – i.e. Mission Impossible X

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