Nexus 7 - 12/13 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jul

The Nexus 7 Has One More Trick Up Its Sleeve: A Magnetic Smart Cover Sensor

Posted by David Ruddock in ASUS, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Nexus 7, Tablets, Tips & Tutorials

You thought you knew everything there was to know about the Nexus 7? Well, you thought wrong. A curious owner of the device started doing what any totally rational person does with a brand-new tablet: expose it to magnetic forces. The results yielded an as-yet hidden feature in the Nexus 7, in the form a magnetic smart cover sensor. Simply take a magnet and put it up against the front or back of your Nexus 7 along the bottom left-hand side while in portrait mode with the display on, and you can see the effect for yourself. Or, you could just watch this video of our tipster doing it:

While Google does sell covers for the Nexus 7, it's unclear if they support this feature (though ASUS does call it a "smart cover" here).

Jul

Nexus 7 Unboxing Video IV: Iron Fist Of The Monkey Returns With A Vengeance

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Nexus 7

When a new Nexus device is released, there are a few things that can be expected: a new version of Android, a stock user experience, and a certain three ninjas unboxing the device in the most ninja-way possible. These three facts also ring true for the Nexus 7, and this time around the Ninjas are up against more than just each other - UFC welterweight Georges St Pierre takes on the role of Dr. Paul to unbox (and defend) the Nexus 7 in a way that only a badass such as himself can do.

Like previous Ninja's Unboxing videos, stop-motion master Patrick Boivin handled the direction work on this one, and even took the time to throw in a few hidden Android/Nexus gems.

Jul

OTA Update JRO03C Pushing To Nexus 7 Now, Brings Android 4.1.1, Speeds Up A Few Things, Squashes Bugs

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, ASUS, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Nexus 7

Our I/O Nexus 7s just received update notifications that a new software build is available for download - this is very likely the final retail build users will see when they receive their devices.

While a "changelog" of sorts pops up with the update notification, it's stock dialogue from a full-on Jelly Bean upgrade, not something specific to this particular update for the Nexus 7. More than likely, this OTA just irons out some bugs and turns off some unnecessary data logging and pre-release testing tweaks.

There are three things I have noticed so far on the updated software, though:

The unlock action from the lock screen was previously a little sluggish and presented a slight pause.

Jul

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Being Released To AOSP Right Now

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Android OS, Galaxy Nexus, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Nexus 7, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), XOOM

Jelly Bean was announced at Google I/O just recently, but a posting from Google's Android open source guru, Jean-Baptiste Queru has confirmed that Android 4.1 is hitting the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) repository right now. Time for the developers among you to update your clients to get all the official bits.

This release will be tagged as android-4.1.1_r1 in AOSP. While the source is going live now, the full proprietary binaries for Google-blessed devices won't be rolled out until later. Google plans to directly support the Nexus 7, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S, and Xoom through AOSP. Be aware that the addition of the Jelly Bean code to AOSP doesn't mean any OTA updates are on the way.

Jul

[Weekend Poll] Do You Intend To Buy A Nexus 7?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Nexus 7, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Are You Happy With The Improvements Made In Jelly Bean?

Now that the real, thorough reviews have landed, you've hopefully had a chance to read thorough some of them and get an intimate look at the Nexus 7. To summarize David's review:

The scary thing about the Nexus 7 is that I can't think of a good reason not to go out and buy one. Seriously - if you're on the fence, just do it.

In fact, just about any review you look at will say the same.

Jul

Editorial: Why The $200 Nexus 7 Has Only 8GB Of Non-Expandable Storage, And It's Not Just About Cost

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, ASUS, Editorials, Nexus 7

The initial draft of this editorial went off on what was, frankly, a pretty stupid rant about piracy or something. I don't know - I wrote half of it at 1AM and upon receiving commentary from readers and colleagues, it was pretty clear this needed to be revised and heavily edited. So that's what I've done. Enjoy - and know that I always read and consider everyone's feedback, even when I disagree with it.

Over the last week, I've read seemingly countless complaints about the lack of local storage on the Nexus 7. "Why isn't there a 32GB version?" "Why isn't the 16GB version cheaper?

Jul

Nexus 7 Review: The Android Tablet, Rebooted

Posted by David Ruddock in ASUS, Jelly Bean 4.1, Nexus 7, Reviews, Tablet Reviews, Tablets

Last Updated: July 15th, 2012

Android tablets, for the last year plus they've existed, haven't been anything to get excited over. At least that's my opinion on the matter. And even if you've wanted one (a good one), most of them have been sort of expensive. But now that Google has unveiled the first true Nexus tablet (XOOM who?), for a mere 200 of your dollars, you can get in on the computing revolution. At that price, Google isn't shooting for the premium market. It's targeting first-time tableteers, boldly going where only Amazon and various Chinese knock-offs have gone before - into the sub-$200 slate market.

Jul

[Update: Winners!] Fourth of July Giveaway: Win One Of Two 8GB Nexus 7s From Android Police And Handy Apps

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Contests / Giveaways, News, Nexus 7

Last Updated: July 10th, 2012

The contest is now over. Here are the winners, selected at random:

Leon
Roderick Cross

Congratulations - you will be contacted for your information in the near future!

Everyone else - keep participating and stay tuned to Android Police so that you don't miss our upcoming giveaway announcements. You can follow AP on Twitter Facebook, Google+, and RSS.

The Nexus 7 was undoubtedly the biggest announcement to come out of Google I/O. And for good reason, too: it's the new face of Android. This next-gen Android slate is the future of things to come for our favorite OS, as it finally puts an incredibly powerful, yet affordable tablet in the hands of the masses.

Jul

[Update: Affecting Only Some Units] The Nexus 7's Screen Has Surprisingly Bad Image Retention - Just Take A Look At These Photos

Posted by David Ruddock in ASUS, News, Nexus 7, Tablets, Tips & Tutorials

ASUS Response: We've received a response from ASUS that they're unable to replicate the problem on production units (I/O units are, technically, pre-production), so this may have been sorted out in time for the initial consumer run. It appears, then, that this problem is at least affecting only some units.

Update: Here are some more comparison photos from a different Nexus 7.

Some have suggested this is a native behavior with IPS displays called "image retention." I did a side-by-side of the same image with a Transformer Prime and Trasformer Pad 300 - both of which have IPS displays.

Jun

Google Releases Full Factory OS Image For The Nexus 7 "nakasi" Tablet (Android 4.1, JRN84D)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in ASUS, Development, Google, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Nexus 7

Google just dropped the full OS image for the recently announced at Google I/O Nexus 7 tablet. The image allows you to restore the tablet back to full stock Android 4.1 (build JRN84D) in case something goes wrong. This way, developers can tweak its internals without fearing a brick and users can always go back to something stable if a flash goes awry.

There are no surprises here - the Nexus 7 is a true Nexus device after all. Great job publishing the image promptly, Google!

It's interesting to note that the page name switched from "Factory Images for Nexus Phones" to "Factory Images for Nexus Devices" which made me realize and allow to sink in yet again just what exactly happened in the last 3 days.