Nexus 7 2012 vs. 2013 vs. Nexus 10 2012

How Google is Helping Customers Get Over Apple.

31 July 2013
Melbourne Oz,
Loren W.

With the release of the Nexus 7 Tablet, Google with Asus did something pretty special. They took the tablet form factor dominated by Apple since the launch of the iPad since its release in November 2012, and shrank it from a 9.5 x 7.3 x .37 inch device to a more ‘svelte’ 7.8 x 4.7x .41 inch device with only a little bit lower screen quality (~216 ppi vs ~264 ppi for the iPad). This happened  a month after Apple launched the iPad mini with a 7.87×5.3x.28 in model in October 2012., However the iPad Mini took a step back and only offered a ~162ppi screen a whopping 25% reduction in screen quality of the Nexus 7 and a 29% reduction over the larger iPad.

This is all relevant because when Google/Asus launched the Nexus 7 they did this for under $200, Apple for $329, for what many felt was a lower quality device. However, many marveled at the new Apple device whilst others were just locked into using Apple eco-system having media, such as music and video in the Apple only iTunes, so it was not a slam dunk for Google by any stretch of the imagination.

Well Google/Asus has done it again, this time with the launch of the new Nexus 7 (or Nexus 7 – 2013). Now the quality gets a big bump above the golden chalice title of retina screen with ~323ppi. Retina® screen being the name Apple gives to devices with over 326ppi for small devices and 264ppi for iPads.

Apple has hinted the retina screen for their iPad is not possible till 2014 at the earliest (either a market issue or a technical one). In the case of the new Nexus 7, few will care, it will attract new users, now a slave to the Apple eco-system or make many consider the jump.

For 15% of this huge marketplace there is yet another factor. The television, that other golden chalice, which has yet to see an elegant transition of content and users otherwise watching from other mobile devices or computers. That is many watch content (movies, video, YouTube, Netflix etc.) on a device other than the TV (85% to be exact), and using 50% of the Internet in the process. But getting content to the TV has proved less than simple.

In my case I get content from my PC computer and ‘stream’ it my Apple device then stream it to my Apple TV connected to my TV. Far from difficult it is not elegant, but works well usually. The complication there, is the streaming device (say an iPhone or iPad) cannot totally be used to turn off during the streaming process, and there is no social element to it, just a technical one.

For that Google has launched the GoogleCast a small device looking a lot like a USB key, but offering a method to stream from apps, videos, PCs, Macs, music etc. simply and cleanly. It essentially makes any TV with an HDMI port (smart tv or dumb), into a viewing device via a method it would not normally get.

About Me Loren W      An American/ Brit, that immigrated to Australia less than a decade ago, after running an ISP or two, then as a product manager for one of the largest Telcos in the world British Telecom, I went on to introduce something called business broadband in the UK then several other mobile, and cloud services in the UK and here in Australia for some of the largest companies in the world including NEC Japan (man this dude is old). Many of these are mainstays of technology today. As a result passion for all things tech are part professional and part personal. Full of funny and not so stories, this is my brain dump page.“The Technology Market like the Internet itself, evolves differently in different continents and countries”. Like the cars shown in Mad Max and the fact the last Pontiac GTO was made here, Australia, offers a different view, cool, and sometimes out of sync with the rest of the world. A country the size of the USA but the population of New York City, some things here are just not like the others