I am a big fan of the Nexus 7 so far. The only other thing I would want from it is cellular as an option. But it’s not something I need. If I need immediate access, that’s what my cell phone is for.
If I’m in a Starbucks or Whole Foods, sitting down for a while, then I can take it out and join the wifi.
On first heft, it’s definitely a bit lighter than the Kindle Fire, and it feels thinner, although that may be the beveled edge. I like the fact that the bezel is symmetrical both horizontally and vertically.
On the Kindle this is not the case, and although that is okay, on some level the asymmetry bothered me whenever it was in landscape mode. I would be watching something on Netflix and thinking the letterbox was off kilter. It is a tiny thing considering I am watching Bob’s Burgers in my kitchen as I am preparing dinner.
Bluetooth is a big deal. I can now pair my Jambox and my Apple wireless keyboard.
So far the battery life has been pretty good. I’m not dipping below 50% and this is even with New Gadget Syndrome. On the other hand, I’ve been trained to top off my tablet every time I can do so because the ICS ROM I currently have installed on the Kindle Fire is a bit of a power drain. So I’m probably not a part of a typical usage scenario.
On the other hand, I haven’t tried to turn on the tablet and failed due to the battery being completely drained.
It picks up wifi networks very quickly, and is constantly syncing when it has connectivity.
Google Now is interesting, although I want more cards and more tweaking options. For instance the calendar cards.
These cards show up if you have an appointment, and are tuned to traffic, although I’d prefer them tuned to mass transit. By tuned, I mean, if I have put in an address for a scheduled event, Google Now takes traffic into account and will alert me when I should leave based on traffic, based on my current location.
Useless for me as it is, but if they start putting in bus schedules and metro schedules into account then this would be great. It already shows me the bus schedules for nearby stops, but it’s hard to see how useful this is when it’s not constantly connected to the internet.
Overall, I really prefer the Nexus 7 to my ICS flashed Kindle Fire. It’s a significant improvement. Now my only problem is the fact that I’ve got a Kindle Fire I need to give away.