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The Nexus 7 was Google’s only great tablet, and it has never tried to replace it

arstechnica.com

1–10 of 16 posts

Re: The Nexus 7 was Google’s only great tablet, and it has never tried to replace it

#3
The Nexus 7 has been replaced, just not by Google. Small tablets rule the Android world; they're cheap and disposable, everything the Nexus 7 was.

Emphasis on the 'disposable' bit, as Asus (N7 OEM) used an eMMC with a high failure rate, in order to meet Google's $200 price point with a 1200p display. No one wants to admit it, but that was a big reason as to why Android tablets are seen as cheap today; you can't everything right with price that low.

Google's hardware efforts outside the N7 have sales numbers that would be a rounding error compared to Samsung and Apple. Their new foldable phone costs almost $2000 and doesn't have pen support or a desktop mode, things that were available on the Galaxy Fold years ago.

Re: The Nexus 7 was Google’s only great tablet, and it has never tried to replace it

#4
post #3

The Nexus 7 has been replaced, just not by Google. Small tablets rule the Android world; they're cheap and disposable, everything the Nexus 7 was. Emphasis on the 'disposable' bit, as Asus (N7 OEM) used an eMMC with a high failure rate, in order to meet Google's $200 price point with a 1200p display. No one wants to admit it, but that was a big reason as to why Android tablets are seen as cheap today; you can't every…

Was going to say the same thing, my Nexus 7 was a piece of crap as the storage went to floppy disc speed.

Re: The Nexus 7 was Google’s only great tablet, and it has never tried to replace it

#5
post #2

Loved my Nexus 7. Still have it and it works, although it was rendered completely unusable through a software update about 6 years ago (jellybean?)

Not just me then. It was great and then suddenly it became completely unusable. Lineage OS got a few more years out of it. Technically it still works but even Lineage dropped it.

Sadly the Samsung Tab A 10.1 that came later also suffered a huge performance drop (like many seconds to open the keyboard) and there's no supported Lineage for it, so it'll probably just go in a drawer and be forgotten.

Another family member got an iPad mini around the time I got my Nexus, and that's still going.

Re: The Nexus 7 was Google’s only great tablet, and it has never tried to replace it

#6
post #3

The Nexus 7 has been replaced, just not by Google. Small tablets rule the Android world; they're cheap and disposable, everything the Nexus 7 was. Emphasis on the 'disposable' bit, as Asus (N7 OEM) used an eMMC with a high failure rate, in order to meet Google's $200 price point with a 1200p display. No one wants to admit it, but that was a big reason as to why Android tablets are seen as cheap today; you can't every…

It's a damn shame, too... the original nexus 7 was a great form factor and a great looking device. As soon as an OS update came out it destroyed it. I thought that was what destroyed it and had no idea that the emmc was also a problem until much later.

I also loved my nexus 5... until it got stuck in a bootloop. It was a week or two out of warranty but Google replaced it for me anyway... only for the replacement to start bootlooping as well. Which is another damn shame, because the Nexus 5 (not P) remains my favorite looking phone ever. Nothing even comes close aesthetics wise.

It was at that point though that I completely swore off Google hardware and given their track record since, that was probably a good choice. Maybe not every device, but enough that, along with just how unreliable Google has since been as a company on the software side, has basically killed any enthusiasm for Google. Enough so that I doubt I'll buy another Android phone, unless Apple does something remarkably stupid, and I'm not even sure what that might look like.

Re: The Nexus 7 was Google’s only great tablet, and it has never tried to replace it

#7
post #2

Loved my Nexus 7. Still have it and it works, although it was rendered completely unusable through a software update about 6 years ago (jellybean?)

Not just me then. It was great and then suddenly it became completely unusable. Lineage OS got a few more years out of it. Technically it still works but even Lineage dropped it. Sadly the Samsung Tab A 10.1 that came later also suffered a huge performance drop (like many seconds to open the keyboard) and there's no supported Lineage for it, so it'll probably just go in a drawer and be forgotten. Another family membe…

IIUC LineageOS didn't drop it. Rather it requires repartitioning, and is thus referred to by another code name. https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/flox/

Re: The Nexus 7 was Google’s only great tablet, and it has never tried to replace it

#8
I still have the 7. It was not a good device and I really wanted to give it a try. What really annoyed me was the constant and lengthy updates required (and often times the device wasn’t fully functional without the updates). And the lack of apps.

Re: The Nexus 7 was Google’s only great tablet, and it has never tried to replace it

#9
post #8

I still have the 7. It was not a good device and I really wanted to give it a try. What really annoyed me was the constant and lengthy updates required (and often times the device wasn’t fully functional without the updates). And the lack of apps.

At the time, my wife’s Nexus 7 tablet was amazing compared to my ASUS tf700 Transformer tablet.

I spent more time installing ROMs on the ASUS than using it. There was a hope each time that it would make it feel fast enough it to not be frustrating. It was apparently a cheap storage problem.

The ASUS was also twice the price. Amazing screen, and that was about it.

Re: The Nexus 7 was Google’s only great tablet, and it has never tried to replace it

#10
post #3

The Nexus 7 has been replaced, just not by Google. Small tablets rule the Android world; they're cheap and disposable, everything the Nexus 7 was. Emphasis on the 'disposable' bit, as Asus (N7 OEM) used an eMMC with a high failure rate, in order to meet Google's $200 price point with a 1200p display. No one wants to admit it, but that was a big reason as to why Android tablets are seen as cheap today; you can't every…

I'm using a ~$100 Amazon Fire 8 right now. Is it speedy? Is the hardware amazing? Hell no but it's good enough, cheap enough and feels like it's built out of old Game Boys so I have no problem tossing it around. And it even runs Emacs unlike my old far more expensive and powerful iPad Pro.
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