You know that all looks okay to me
If it does hit that price point and battery life is respectable I will probably buy one.
(I'd still love to have an IR transmitter built in though).
All the details you've read about Google's Nexus 7 are true - if an allegedly leaked training document is genuine. The bumf landed on a desk at Gizmodo Australia and details a 7in tablet with a 1280 x 800 IPS LCD display and based around a 1.3GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 chip. There's 1GB of Ram and either 8GB or 16GB of on-board …
WIll that be the old MHL or Samsung's new incompatible S3 MHL?
Apple connectors have remained compatible far more years than the competition... The iPod connector has been around for 11 years. That beats any mobile port out there, even Nokia and their pop-port connector.
You must have some seriously blind love for Samsung if you're trying to justify them breaking the barely 2 year old MHL standard with a dig against Apple.
11 years would make it as old as the original iPod, which only had a Firewire connector. The dock connector apparently didn't appear until the 3rd generation so it has only actually been around for 9 years. Still a pretty good run though, in consumer electronics terms.
Although I believe Apple have changed the spec a couple of times over that period, meaning that while the connector itself still fitted and it still worked with device and computer, other peripherals did stop working, or had functionality affected. Especially the 2008 change that removed the ability for newer devices to charge over a Firewire connection which resulted in quite a lot of expensive bits of 3rd party kit including integrated car kits no longer charging new iPods. OK, these are all 3rd party devices that stopped working, but they were working according to the pre-2008 spec and the problem wasn't limited to cheap unlicensed products.
Note: I don't consider myself with any particular loyalty. I have a Samsung Android phone, but an iPad and an iPod. I use both Macs and PCs. I go with what works best for me for the job in hand. Hence I'm not having a dig at Apple.
Ok, so 9 years and change (April 2003) instead of 11 years. It's been so long I couldn't remember the connector used on the first two generations. Still an industry leading amount of time, more so considering all the changes that were going on (e.g. Apple's move to Intel CPUs in 2006)
There was a change from Firewire to USB in 2005, but Apple kept supporting Firewire charging in the same connector for 3 more years until the 3rd gen iPod Touch. Again, it's extremely rare for any manufacturer to provide such a compatibility transition time for their connectors.
Changing these connectors is not something Apple has shown to take lightly, so my disagreement with Mr Vomit's statement still stands. It also doesn't invalid my shock at Samsung's seemingly random change of the MHL standard they themselves helped create.
Except one. Apple's own Hi-Fi speaker Doc had 12 volt charging.
And Apple's FM Radio remote that I bought for my Nano (2G) didn't work with a touch.
But yes better then most cell phone makers up to now. Standard micro USB is better then any oddball cable no mater how stable.
But I expect this tablet to be free of strange plugs and cables that require pay-me chips to work.
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<quote>"In my perfect world, everything would be using Bluetooth remotes like the PS3, as line of sight remote controls suck ass."</quote>
And bluetooth sucks serious battery.
Seriously, a proprietary wireless protocol such as those used for many wireless keywords would be a vast improvement over bluetooth for a simple remote. Those wireless keyboards can get months of additional usage from the same batteries as a BT keyboard. However simple IR is still the simplest and least battery draining solution for remote control.
Looks good to me too. I have been waiting for the contract on my feature phone to end (next Dec) so I can get a smart phone (probably Samsung Galaxy S III). If Google or anyone else offers a reasonably priced and reasonably ok tablet before then, I'll keep the phone and get the tablet.
Leave small market for absurdly expensive ones to Apple.
I was after a Kindle Fire because Apple's (love my iPad BTW) idea of an ebook reader is a bit too heavy and unwieldy for really comfortable book reading (love my Kindle Touch too). This device OTOH looks to have the size/weight advantage of the Kindle and ICS/Google Play to boot (and will of course run the Kindle App). It may just be perfect for a general purpose travel tablet.
Part of the reason I have never bought a tablet is because they are too big at 10inch to be portable.
7 inch may just slip into a big pocket but a 10 inch thing needs a bag, so a decent, proper mobile [proper keyboard and multi tasking : cheap Nokia] plus a 7 incher would do my just fine.
This may finally stop my trying to get my Psion 5mx working with Windows AND Linux.
Lets see, ipad mini doesn't exist exceptin some hacks and rumour mungers minds.
The nexus has a different screen layout to an ipad
The nexus has a black TEXTURED back unlike any Apple iDevice
It will most likely have a micro SD card slot unlike the ipad
Pricing looks to be half what a mini ipad would be
So of cource you compare this to vapourware that will look nothing like it.....
same reason i saw a gentleman in birmingham takig photo's of the town hall with one or even worse the person that got mugged whilst using one as an mp3 whilst jogging in NYC last year.
that reason? why use a perfectly capable device (mp3, camera etc) when i can show off my sparkly new toy
Just saying there are perfectly valid reasons for those: gentleman could be updating the town hall records on his iPad, and how do you know the other person was actually listening to mp3s and not something else?
People are really too quick to criticise with a mere brief look.
Yet another tablet where they don't realise that 4:3 actually works much better on a device where you might want to read a web page in portrait mode. The iPad and the HP Touchpad understand this but the majority of Android tablets are still 16:9. Probably because the screens are cheaper or easier to get hold of.
16:10 or 4:3 does work better for tabletly things. You don't need to be an iOS user to know that, but just be someone who has used a netbook. The only downer to 16:10 is that it is usually width, not height, that determines which pockets the device can be put in.
Its in the interest of Android users to make the point if they want it.
(sent from my 16:10 Dell)
>Yet another tablet where they don't realise that 4:3 actually works much better on a device where you might want to read a web page in portrait mode.
Web pages are tall - and the people designing these devices have used an iPad.
>Probably because the screens are cheaper or easier to get hold of.
Yep, that'll be the reason....nothing to do with widescreen, 'cos that'll never catch on. One day all screens will be 4:3, Apple are just trail blazing as usual.
no SD / micro SD slot.
no GPS.
no 3G.
no mini/micro/nano USB
therefore
no OTG
no camera (f... the camera, who cares ;)
shame, because battery life, processor and resolution are... well, decent. And because it's google there will be lots of mods. But the above no-no list, or most of it, makes it a no-buy. But then, do I need one? No. Do I want one? Well, to read, and for kids to play with doodles.
GPS is largely irrelevant in a tablet since they are used almost exclusively indoors. 3G is largely irrelevant too because most people will use them with wifi and if they needed 3G could turn their phone into a portable hotspot, or buy a mifi device and probably for less than integrated 3G.
It will have to offer USB in some form even if its through an adapter. More serious is lack of micro SD if it lacks one of those. I think it's incredibly cynical to charge $49 extra for a poxy 8GB extra RAM.
Couldn't disagree more.
My 7inch tablet has been everywhere with me, it's been up mountains, kayaking, cycling, golfing and done lots of kms in the car. Yes 3G and GPS were an absolute requirement.
A 7inch tablet remains a very portable device, you may not use it that way but it is important to realise that others do or might.
( I have moved on to the Galaxy Note because the screen definition alows be to do all of the above, relatively confortably, in a slightly smaller package. )
"My 7inch tablet has been everywhere with me, it's been up mountains, kayaking, cycling, golfing and done lots of kms in the car. Yes 3G and GPS were an absolute requirement"
Then you're in a tiny minority. Anyone who wanted those things probably already has a smart phone that would provide them. 3G is available with mifi devices too and for much cheaper than tablets that bundle the 3G modem. Some tablets even support 3G dongles in USB master mode.
Err...7' Tabs MUST have GPS and 3G to be genuinely useful
Mine goes everywhere with me. Used as a phone (although mainly texting), On the move mail, Calendar, Organizer, Map reader, Car Navigation etc..Same size as a Filofax and infinitely more useful. nobody complained about carrying them around..
The whole point of 7' size tabs is their portability otherwise get a 10' one. Heck it will even slip into my other-halfs handbag if ask nicely...
No SD card is also a bit of a bummer as well..7' Tabs also make very nice portable music/movie players..
ah, by my understanding of "portable" is a bit more extreme than moving my hairy ass from the shitter to the couch and back. Why would I want an oversized remote with an undersized screen, when I have, like a good consumer, I should have a gazilion-inch flatscreen telly and all other "essentials"? Maybe I don't expect to have a tablet with me on a 30 day ski touring trip on a glacier in a far, far away, but, you know, a bit further. than a my home router range, or a starbucks hotpoint.
I do realize though, this is way too extreme to venture outdoors for the general public though ;)
actually... I am trolling a bit, because there are decent tablets outthere, which tick most of "my" boxes. I was just hoping that Google would be a bit more... generous with the "consuming". Even if this costs me a little more.
@all the people who wander about a bit and are complaining of lack of GPS/GSM etc
You can already buy tablets that do exactly what you want. Why not buy one of them? Oh, hold on, you wanted the cheaper price. Has it occurred that this has a cheaper price BECAUSE it doesn't have those (less than useful to most people) features? So people who simply want a cheap indoor tablet can have one, and people who want a more full featured device can, well, just go out and spend a bit more to buy something else?
That said, I want uSD.
Capacitive, 1GB RAM, 8GB flash, 1.2ghz ARM, 7" display, HDMI output, USB, SD micro, VGA camera - £57 plus postage. The screen is a fairly crappy 800x400 resolution affair and the flash is a bit slow but for the price I can't complain and works well enough with most apps. I was able to flash it with a custom rom which so far is working admirably.
I would therefore expect that a branded tablet using higher grade components could comfortably sell for $200 or less.
So it's got a front camera, and no rear camera. That make sense, since who really wants to use a tablet sized device to take photographs (other than Galaxy S3 users, obviously).
But by the same measure, who's going to want to carry around a tablet and use that to pay for coffee and underground tickets? I can see NFC being a great addition to a phone, but on a tablet? really?