For quite some time I have been feeling this pressing need to describe my innermost emotions about my first ever experience with a Tab. Though it’s been sometime now that we purchased the Tab, but somehow I never got close enough physically to it to recount my experiences effusively. A lot of it is however attributed to my 6 year old daughter who seems to have acquired an authority on it and believes that it has been bought for the sole purpose of loading her own apps. In fact she would be the most appropriate person to do the review, if only she could, owing to her familiarity with its features. In fact over the last few weeks since we purchased the device most of her waking hours are being spent in the company of the Nexus 7 . So as I begin writing this review I just hope I do not do an injustice to her favorite device.
The first thing that caught my attention with the Nexus 7 is its clarity. Packing in the 216 ppi (pixel per inch) specification has definitely helped in getting the clear and sharp imagery on screen. Reading books and even watching movies are just a breeze. The 7 inch screen had me worried initially but the best part is I can also zoom in to view smaller fonts on just a tap whenever the screen real estate seems to be compromised. This is particularly helpful when I need to type in a password to log in to a site and the space provided is too small to know whether I typed in the right codes.
Coming to types, the Nexus 7 has the invisible keyboard that appears every time you need to type anything. It again disappears once its purpose is served. This is kind of convenient and it does not hold up screen space unnecessarily. Also the touch and type feature ensures that minimum energy is invested in typing out a long mail.
Interestingly Nexus 7 provides the speech recognition facility. Though it has not quite worked with me, but it does provide a good fun activity to try and see if Google recognizes the Indian lingo we might wish to use for naming folders.
The sleek, light and extremely user friendly nexus is a pleasure to use no doubt. The power/lock key is placed on its side and is followed by the slightly longer volume control key. The USB port and the head phone port are all located towards the bottom end of the tab if it is held vertically.
The Nexus 7 provides the auto rotate facility wherein the screen rotates horizontally or vertically depending on how you are holding it. However, it never imposes its features on users. If required I can lock the screen rotation by swiping open the settings page from any screen. That is sufficient freedom to do what you want the way you want.
The worst part, in my opinion is the front facing camera. It somehow seems to spoil the fun. All it helps to do is get good selfies. Good for my daughter though who loves watching herself on screen but not for me. Moreover, it is really a bother if you need to take a good picture and do not want to be in it, then you will have to crane your neck from behind or plan your position so that you can avoid being included in the photo shoot. That could be tricky sometimes; In fact most of the times. The other alternative being that we can all become narcissus and capture our grinning visage everywhere.
Moreover, the Nexus 7 fails to offer an inbuilt camera app. I had to download one in order to start clicking. That was a bit strange. Nevertheless, I guess we need to get a few thorns in order to call a rose a rose.
Well, don’t really know how good this is for a review, but that sums up my little experience of the Nexus 7. Built on the Android 4.2 (Jellybean) Operating System, the Nexus 7 provides me with a fast easy and splendid viewing experience, a sleek and light travel companion and glitzy features which simply make my day. One thing is for sure, whenever I pick up my little Tab, I feel good in my heart. I guess that should be a good enough feedback for any product. Hey you Google guys! Anybody listening?
