Cheaper, slimmer Google Nexus 7 rumored for Q1 2013 Google may be readying a revamped model of the middle sibling in its Nexus line of Android devices for as early as the first quarter of 2013, if the supply-chain snoops at Taiwanese tech news site DigiTimes are correct. Sources in the tech manufacturing sector are whispering that the Chocolate Factory and its manufacturing …
I like what you did, so I don't know whether to upvote you for your joke, or downvote because I'm a fandroid.
Anyway, the difference is when Apple do it, the sheeple lose many hundreds of pounds/dollars buying the next new shinyshiny. My Nexus, buy a new one and just chuck the old one, give it to a homeless person, whatever, it was cheap.
"iPads will hold their value though so when a new one comes out you can still get roughly 60% value on the old one".
60%, maybe in your dreams. But let's play along with the 60% imaginary number. Let's say you paid $500 for your ipad (plus some more for the magical cover, idyllic power supply, fairy dusted usb cable and whatever else). According to you, you can recover $300 (minus all the poetic accessories), so you are out $200. That's the price of a nexus 7, and if you wanted a new one, you could've given it to some poor kid to save you the hassle of dealing with craigslist scammers and actually would've made the poor kid happy.
If a product holds its value, it's a sign that there isn't much progress being made in the newer models.
I wish I knew these tactics back in the last days of the Amiga - "£2000 for an Amiga 4000? Actually that's much cheaper than your Mac, because it keeps its value longer".
"you can still get roughly 60% value on the old one"
That only applies as long as the market isn't saturated. The only way it's sustainable is if new buyers are made at a rate that doesn't exceed the supply of used iPads. Where the saturation point is, I don't know but I imagine if the mini proves more popular than the full size one it won't be long before there is a glut of iPads. At that point, the price will drop precipitously. It's likely another reason Apple seems to have "supply problems", wouldn't want the market falling out from underneath that profit margin after all.
They sell because a three year old Mac still has another three years in it easily unless you really like videogames. A three year old Dell if its made it that far is usually falling to bits, case creaking, hinges loose, paint gone off the keys, fans going bad, ect.
The only reason I updated the last one is Warcraft updated its graphics to the point where it was effecting running heroics. "and I had people badgering me to buy my old one" when is the last time people begged you to sell them your three year old PC laptop?
% cat regTroll.sh
#!/bin/bash
echo "My ${product} is far better than your ${product2} because ${product} has ${feature_of_dubious_value} whereas everyone knows that owners of ${product2} perform ${sexual_act} with ${unsuspecting_animal} and ${product2} ${invective}. Let's see what ${short_product2_name}bois have to say about that or will they just go and cry to mummy?"
1. This "upgrade" is not forced on consumers since newer releases of Android will still run on older phones. Not so with iPhones.
2. $99 < ($199 || $299 || $399)
2.5. If the $99 rumor is not true, then it'll still be a helluva lot cheaper to upgrade storage (via SD card)
0/10 must troll harder
"since newer releases of Android will still run on older phones. Not so with iPhones."
All right. Enough. That sounds like the comment I expect from a Dixon's employee.
I don't have an iPhone. (I have a nexus S) But my daughter just updated her 2-year old iPhone to iOS6 (or whatever the latest version is). She said it was easy.
If your phone is 3-4 years old, yes. I get a new phone every two years, which is pretty common.
How many people are still using an iPhone 3?
Many Android phones don't get updates at ALL unless the manufacturer pushes out updates.
Not sure what your point is here. When I got my Nexus 7 online, I was offered an OS upgrade. One tap later, plus a reboot, and the OS was upgraded. It literally couldn't have been easier without a telepathic interface. And I'm sure that Google's working on that. ("You only have to think of a product, and we'll deliver five pre-qualified sellers!")
Yes, but that is specific to GOOGLE'S product line, the other manufacturers are not following suit.
That's why I originally bought a Nexus 7, actual updates. Go talk to the other device makers who think an "android update" means a new device.
Erm, Apple phones have some of the longest support periods. The 3GS is still supported by the latest OS (albeit lacking some features), that's a phone that's over three years old. Try finding a supported Android phone that old.
@ Comments are attributed to your handle
"1. This "upgrade" is not forced on consumers since newer releases of Android will still run on older phones. Not so with iPhones."
Are there a lot of two year old phones that happily run Jelly Bean? (I'm asking because I honestly don't know.) Only my two year old iPod Touch is swinging right along on iOS 6.0.1, so I'm not sure where you got your info that older Apple hardware can't run the latest OS.
Explain please?
Not really. I've never seen people making those comments of the Apple stories. The problem is when the media concentrate on endless vapourware and rumourware only about Apple all the time. The Register doing it for many companies is less a problem. (Alternatively, perhaps it would be nice to focus on actual news rather than vapourware, but I don't see what that's got to do with your moaning about "fandroids".)
So, you bought a Nexus 7 for $199. A new, slimmer one comes out just a while later that is thinner, sexier, etc for $199. You buy it, now you're out $400 total, but have TWO tablets now. And you're roughly out the same price getting just the single low-speced iPad would have cost (iPad Mini is selling around $350 for the low-storage model).
Nobody wants a manual, there is a charger in the box, and the aftermarket support is great.
My Nexus7 had a fault. I phoned Play Devices support, was on the phone 5 minutes, 2 days later a courier arrived with a replacement and a bag to send the old one back in, all free of course, including the freephone call.
My "local" Apple store is 80 miles away (160 mile round trip). I far prefer Google support.
The N7 comes with a charger (standard small USB), unless something changed in the few months since I got mine.
There is an electronic manual in the Google Books app, which you cannot miss because the widget, showing the book cover, is on the home screen by default.
Google's support (and ordering process) is pretty awful though, I'll give you that. I just went through a lot of hassle to get a Nexus 4 and I'm not sure I ever want to buy a device direct from them again.
I have to disagree, and I had both. I personally prefer the iPad Mini, but the Nexus 7 is very well made, "for a plastic thing" solid, good battery life, genuinely robust, and it does comes with a charger.
A manual wouldn't hurt it so the slower people could get on with it a bit easier, but it was hardly difficult to use. It was my first Android device and it was not exactly hard to use.
The one gripe you may have valid is customer support, I didn't have mine long enough, but support is not Asus's strong suit.
Storage is a type of memory, in this case flash memory.
storage ≠ RAM
but that's not what was said
It's quite clear what the writer meant as no one thinks the Nexus has 16GB of RAM.
Saying the device has 16GB of storage isn't really correct since that implies there is 16GB of space to store stuff. In reality there is much less due to the way Android partitions up the available flash memory for use by the OS, installing programs and space for your files.
Ahh, granted I'm being pedantic (because it's the end of the world today, and because I like it), but 16GB of storage is still 16GB of storage regardless of whether it arrives already half used, completely empty, or whatever. It's just not 16GB of usable storage...
Anon, because I'm annoying even myself, and I don't want to be attributed to this post.
@Fuzz: If storage is a kind of memory and thus capable of being used interchangably since "no one thinks" something, does that mean we can advertise a 4GB Android device as havi g 4GB of memory, or perhaps I should sell you a desktop with 8GB of memory...that actually had 256MB of RAM with an 8GB sd card. Of course, you wouldn't be confused or misled at all, since anyone would know....
So they use thinner technology for the screen. Probably lighter as well, so it is a benefit. But does a thinner case make sense? I'm not sure, but that feeling could arise from how I hold the thing. I have one of those rubber case-things from Asus, and that thicker package sometimes feels awkwardly thin.
The tech gets thinner, but human hands don't change. And a thinner object is easier to flex, which can be a problem. If the screen component is cheaper as well as thinner, does a thinner case cost too much to design and make?
One interesting thing I have seen is a tablet sold for kids which has a case designed to easily hold. And I wonder if the Nexus-style case is pushing the limits of that particular element of usability. It is a little too easy to touch that touch-sensitive screen with so narrow a bezel.
I have a Nexus 7 already and am quite happy with it - this rumour of a new one isn't the end of the world and will be 9-12 months after the original one, which is the sort of time period you expect a successor model to come out in.
What is upsetting though, is the complete balls-up Google have done with the Nexus 10 launch. Unlike the Nexus 7 (which was available from many online retailers - I got mine from Tesco Direct in the first week of its launch), Google are *only* selling the Nexus 10 on their Play store (and throwing in a dubious 10 quid delivery charge to boot).
Now this would be OK if you could order or pre-order but you can't - the Nexus 10 is almost permanently sold out with tiny periods (less than a few hours) where it re-emerges on sale, only for the Play store to be crushed by the wait of people ordering it.
I can't understand why IT sites aren't screaming blue murder about this every day - the most desirable Android tablet on the market has been basically unorderable since its launch over a month ago. It's a sorry state of affairs and one Google should hang their heads in shame about.
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