You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Who knew affordable tablets could be so good? That was our reaction after reviewing the original Nexus 7 when it went on sale last year for $200; at the time, comparably specced products were going for at least $100 more. So, when this year’s follow-up came out at a slightly higher price ($229 and up), we were a little concerned the higher cost would dissuade penny-pinching shoppers from taking the plunge.
After we got a good look at the spec sheet, though, we quickly forgave Google and ASUS for their decision. For the money, you get a gorgeous 1,920 x 1,200 IPS display, 2GB of RAM, a rear camera, a quad-core processor, wireless charging and the latest version of Android, Jelly Bean 4.3. Now that we’ve had the opportunity to take the new and improved Nexus 7 for a spin, we’re ready to tackle all the obvious questions: is this still the best budget tablet on the market? How does it compare to the iPad mini? And does the spec sheet actually reflect real-world performance? Let’s find out.
Gallery: Nexus 7 review (2013)
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
We’re sure glad there’s iFixit to take apart new gadgets so we don’t have to, and it comes as no surprise that the next-gen Nexus 7 is one of its latest experiments. If you’ve read our hands-on with the device, you won’t be surprised by much of what the folks at iFixit saw while tearing it down. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the new version has huge improvements when it comes to repairability. Its huge battery is glued to an adhesive tray, and like its predecessor, its display seems to be the biggest problem — you’ll need a heat gun to get it out. Still, iFixit gives it a score of 7 out of 10, because all they needed to pry it open was a plastic tool.
Source: iFixit
As of now, Apple’s still wholly content letting Google and its clan of followers dominate the sub-$300 tablet market. Hence, the new Nexus 7. For those drawn to a thinner, lighter, more powerful version of the Android-based slate, orders can now be placed directly through Google’s Play Store… for customers located in the United States. Both the 16GB and 32GB WiFi-only models are still on track to ship by next Tuesday, while those on the lookout for a cellular version will need to wait a few more weeks. It’s Friday. You probably just got paid. And really, what’s $230 between friends?
Filed under: Tablets, ASUS, Google
Source: Google Play Store (US)
A tipster has told us that the latest Nexus 7 from Asus and Google will hit Best Buy stores today, and a pre-order we placed earlier for the device seems to confirm that. We put our money down for one when the order page first went up, and while the confirmation originally said it would arrive on the original July 30th launch date, it’s now telling us that we can expect our tablet later today. That jibes with info we were given by a source claiming to be the manager of a Best Buy store. He said that while pre-orders started yesterday, “there were few (of them) in my region,” meaning that “if you are present at a (Best Buy) location today at opening, you have a good chance of buying the tablet.” He added that some stores don’t have stock yet due to agreements with Google, but pre-orders are still possible at those locations. Until we receive confirmation, however, you may not want to make a long journey to one of the outlets. Meanwhile, we’ve reached out to both Google and Best Buy.
Update: Best Buy has touched base, telling us “we can confirm that the Nexus is available at all Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores and BestBuy.com now.”
[Thanks, Anonymous]
Those who observed yesterday’s Nexus 7 shenanigans from across the Atlantic may well be wondering when it’d all become relevant to them, and it seems we have the first hint of an answer. Currys and PC World now have active pre-order pages for the Google tablet, with the 16GB version priced at £199.99 and the 32GB variant at £239.99, and with an availability date of September 13th. It’s possible that this time window could change, of course, but it still sounds like quite a wait.
Via: Android Central
The Nexus 7 was a rather swell device when it was officially launched last year, and now we’ve had the opportunity to play with the next-gen version, which bumps the swellness factor a notch or two. The tablet, which boasts a 1080-quality display (1,920 x 1,200, to be precise) and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, is being shown off after this morning’s Breakfast with Sundar event — which we suppose means we’re now at brunch. We’ve grabbed a few images of the new tablet, seen below, and have added some early impressions after the break. Meet us there to see what we think.
Update: Hands-on video after the break!
Gallery: Nexus 7 hands-on (2013)
Coming as no surprise at all, Google’s just unveiled its newest Nexus 7 tablet at a breakfast meeting in San Francisco this morning. What has caught us off guard, however, is news that the Android 4.3 tablet will bow on three of the US’ top wireless carriers — that’s AT&T, Verizon* and T-Mobile — as a single SKU and with support for LTE. No release date or pricing has yet been announced for the 7-incher, but when it does launch, it’ll be the premier device to ship with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.
Update: Google’s just released pricing and availability for the new Nexus 7, pegging the WiFi version for a July 30th bow in-store and online. There’ll be two configurations — a 16GB and 32GB — that’ll retail for $229 and $269, respectively. Users that prefer to wait for the LTE-enabled version will have to fork over $349 for a 32GB model, although this variant still doesn’t have a solid street date; Google’s saying it’ll hit retail in the “coming weeks.”
*the Nexus 7 LTE will not support CDMA (read: 3G service) on Verizon
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Google, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile
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