Ten years ago today, Google released the 2nd-generation Nexus 7, just days after a surprise announcement. Back then, Android tablets still felt fresh and exciting. It seemed like anything was possible, and things could only improve from there. Well, we know what happened next. But the depressing state of the tablet market to come was in no way the fault of the Nexus 7. In fact, this is still one of the best Android tablets ever made, and it’s worth looking back and showing it the honor and respect it deserves.
removed by mod
deleted by creator
Yeah, mine barely lasted to years before it just refused to boot.
Aaah tablets, the grown ups toy.
My Lenovo Duet 3 (8gb) is the only tablet to feel as nice as the Nexus line to me.
Magnetic keyboard, pen, full Chrome via ChromeOS, Android apps, Linux support. And with Code-server its basically a desktop for me when needed, all for $300 at time of purchase.
Agree but the battery is too light for my usage
Really? I use mine like crazy with no issues. I use mostly Android and Chrome apps, and rarely start the Linux container.
If you use the camera it drain the battery really fast. That’s what I noticed. For everything else is ok.
I had the first gen, and it wasn’t great in terms of performance, but damn I Ioved it. Very fond memories.
Also, I do have to chuckle at the progress since then. My S23 Ultra’s screen is almost as large at 6.8 inches, yet the overall device is much smaller and obviously much, much, much more powerful. Progress!
Completely different aspect ratios, the tablet had a much larger screen than the s23u
This was my first Android device. Still got it, not using it much, but its still working.
Man, I always wanted a Nexus 7, but it was never easy to get one in my country back then. And then Google officially partnered with Amazon and Flipkart to launch the tablet…right after I’d gotten a new iPad.
I remember when it came out, it only launched in a few countries and I was super surprised to see it on the play store in Australia (when historically we usually get fuck all)
I paid 299 AUD for it. An unthinkable price nowadays
Mine still works
When digging through some stuff from a move in 2018 I noticed a tablet. WTF is this?
Charged it. Booted it up. Nexus 7 v2
Little fucker still was going
The 2nd gen Nexus 7 was the reason I left Apple hardware and to never return. I loved the iPhone but I got bored of them very quickly. I tried two Android phones and each time absolutely hated the experience and returned to the iPhone. I eventually picked up a Nexus 7 and wow it changed my perception. No bloat. Simple and fast. It felt like an iPhone where the software complimented the hardware. I switched to a Nexus 5 phone and have been with Google phones ever since.
Man, Google really had a great run for a bit there. The Nexus S, Nexus 4, and Nexus 5 were all great phones in my eyes. Both Nexus 7’s were nice tablets, but taking care of the performance issues in the 2nd gen made it great. I know a lot of people also loved the Nexus 6, though way too big for my tastes, and the Galaxy Nexus would have been much better if not for the Texas Instruments CPU hamstringing it. Then they went on to develop the Moto X 2013 and 2014, though I feel they were starting to slip with the 2014.
I still miss how nice this was when it came out. Rocking a Galaxy Tab S5e with Lineage OS which I’m really enjoying now though.
So far I’ve been pretty happy with the new Pixel Tablet, hope we see more like it and better in the future.
iPad Mini is about the same dimensions, though slightly wider.
All other Android tablets that exist in that space have horrible CPUs.
Or just some terrible flaw that’s obnoxious
I have some 8" Lenovo tablet I got years and years ago. It’s fine for videos and such and that’s where I use it most. It also has 2 forward facing speakers. Very decent, balanced sound. Low on space because android sucks under 64GB but it’s manageable
Any “upgrades” to it over the years have had single speakers or some other annoying flaw so I haven’t upgraded
I’ve tried Samsung ones but even their newer ones are slower than my 5 year old one. It’s so annoying
Hmm. I have a Tab S4, a Tab S6 Lite and a Tab S8, and the S8 is markedly quicker.
None of those are 8.x inches. They’re all 10" or greater. Once we’re talking 10+ inches, I’d just use a Surface Go. It seems nobody besides Apple wants to sell a tablet in that form factor that has decent speed.
Even the Lenovo M9 is vastly superior to the M8 in terms of CPU. Good 8 inch tablets outside the iPad Mini don’t exist. I’d gladly pay $400 for something that’s good on Android. I’ve even thrown money away for a Dell Venue 5855.
The only reason I stopped using my Tab S 8.4 was because you can only get so far trying to keep it alive with LineageOS.
All Samsung? And maybe that’s the case, relatively, but going from Lenovo with pretty much stock android to a newer Samsung was a very noticeable downgrade
Sorry yes, those are all Samsung model names that I was listing.
Well, I can’t speak for the Lenovo experience as I’ve never used one, and I’ll happily admit that any Samsung device needs a little tweaking to begin with, but I use my Tab S8 regularly for editing 60mb RAW photos off my full-frame camera and I can confidently say it performs very well.
My daughter uses my Tab S6 Lite and it’s more than up to meeting her demands — which includes a lot of educational games and so on.
My son uses my Tab S4 and he’s had no complaints either.
I mean, there’s not much else a tablet is meant for, really!
And now that I look it up, it’s a $500 tablet? This discussion was around the cheap media consumer ones that are $150 give or take. At $500 I would just get a $1000 laptop
The Lenovo M8 4th Gen is slower than the 3rd Gen. We’re going backwards.
The Nokia T10 is only decent one. The Samsung A7 Lite has bad performance and traditionally poor Samsung OS. Amazon Fire is another option, but I won’t do FireOS.
I had the T10 and it was horrible. The display was poor and pixelated and it took the entire first day to update software, which was required on first login.
I seriously thought to return it, the update was taking so long. Eventually it let me log in.
But then it lasted six months before the screen glitched out and stopped working.
Ok, that makes it even more sad what they’re doing. Feature wise it was already worse in my experience, but actually worse for performance? Geez
Guess I’ll just have to keep my Tab4 8 alive even longer
Hi friend. Just wanted to alert you the Lenovo Legion Y700 2023 version checks all my boxes, assuming there’s a Global/US version launching…
Thanks, I keep checking their stuff but haven’t seen anything. I’ll take a look
deleted by creator
The Nexus 7 would be absolutely pointless today. It’s barely bigger than most phones.
I had one at the time but the form factor was simply inferior to either a 10inch Android offering or any iPad.
I remember a co-worker having the Dell Streak (5") and being astounded how something that large would fit in your pocket.
Mind you, a decade later and I still use a phone under that size!I had that phone also, anytime anyone would see it outside they would marvel at how large it is. Now I have a fold which is even bigger when unfolded. The dell streak from what I remember feels like an s23u would be similar size to it but it was probably larger due to bezels and the aspect ratio
I disagree. 7" 16:9 is still much more usable than 6.7 20.5:9. And not everyone wants a giant phone. Having a cheap, usable tablet would be very useful for a lot of people.
Agreed, this is rationale for my comment about the Duet 3. Its the “new kind of tablet” for today. And cheap.
The nexus 7 2013 supports LineageOS 20 which is android 13
Part of me is intrigued to dig out my N7 and install LoS 20 on it. But I have to imagine that it is slooooooooooooow.
It is slow. But it is OK as a spotify hub for house parties
I remember listening the launch of this one in the local radio, the hosts sounded excited, I was excited, everything was great. Never got one though, it was my dream device at the time
Same! Never had one but definitely wanted one. I also wanted that Nexus 4 with the sparkle back to compliment it but I ended up with the Note 2 for that massive screen.
Back then people made jokes that I carried an iPad as a phone lol how times have changed
At this point I use all Apple Products (Except for my Ubuntu Desktop) but damn do I miss the Nexus 7 so so so much
