Google Nexus 7 2 – The Perfect Balance

Display

Performance

Apps

Value for money

Battery Life

Summary:

4.3

Google has chosen a very interesting time for releasing the latest version of their tab, the Nexus 7. It has been released after 9 months of release of Apple’s iPad Mini, proving that the mom and dad of Nexus were not sleeping while Apple was starting its latest foray into the tab market, they were working hard to conceive their child. And … the child has not disappointed, although a bit late to the party, Nexus 7 has retained the solid specs of its elder brother while keeping good the promise of being affordable.

Features

• Android OS, v4.3 (Jelly Bean)
• Quad-core 1.5 GHz Krait Processor
• Adreno 320 GPU
• 16/32 GB Internal Memory
• 2 GB RAM
• LED-backlit IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen
• 1200 x 1920 pixels, 7.0 inches (~323 ppi pixel density)
• 16M colors
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band
• 5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, autofocus primary camera, 1 MP secondary camera
• Bluetooth 4.0
• microUSB 2.0
• 3.55 mm audio jack
• HDMI port

Pros

• Great specs
• Awesome display
• Affordable price

Cons

• App ecosystem for tabs not mature in Android
• Awkward bezels

The original Nexus (or Nexus 7-1, for brevity) was more of an experimental device by Google. The Nexus 7-1 had plastic edges and a subdued back which added to it , a feeling of a cheap and disposable toy. I once got a disposable Kodak camera when in the nineties, it was my first camera so I was elated and took great care, but it felt like a toy instead of a real gadget. I got similar feeling when holding the Nexus 7-1 for the first time.

Nexus 7-2 has diminished, if not entirely eliminated the said effect. The new tab has a better finish and is easier to hold in one hand due to removal of bezels from the sides. This makes the device more usable and practical as compared to its competitors. I can hold Nexus 7-2 in one hand, with the tab resting on my palm and thumb tapping the screen, but I cannot do the same with iPad Mini.

According to the specification comparison chart given below Nexus 7-2 is the tablet of the choice if you are looking for a device which is portable and practical.

Google Nexus 7-2 by Asus features two cameras. A 5 megapixel shooter at the rear and 1 MP camera for video chat at the front which is really awkwardly placed. The rear shooter takes reasonable photos, and people don’t usually use their tabs for taking snaps, so it’s performance is not a critical factor when deciding which tab to buy. MicroUSB port is placed strategically at the bottom which is used for both syncing and charging. I have forgotten the last time when I plugged my tab or phone in to a wall socket and I really don’t like the position of the USB port on my HTC One X (left), hence I totally agree and want all the manufacturers out there to bring some sanity to the positioning of Micro USB port in devices.  The power and volume control are situated on the right side. You can see the Nexus logo and Asus tag if you hold the tab in landscape orientation. The improved speakers sit on the back which aim to output stereo sound (and succeed in it).

Google Nexus 7-2 is the first tablet to feature Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. In Android 4.3, Google has increased the OS version number, but, as the lack of change in name suggest, there are no major updates in 4.3 Jelly Bean. There are minor changes which improve graphics that you will never notice. Restricted profiles is a new feature which allows to create several profiles and hence I can give my tab to my nephews and nieces sans the tension of them purchasing games from app store from my credit card. Google has introduced Google Play Games in Android 4.3 which keeps track of (supported) games played and you can compare your scores with your friends and other users who have syncd their games to the Play Games.

Unlike Europeans or Americans who use apps like Netflix, Kindle and Hulu, we don’t use these apps in Pakistan. I like to read books on an e-book reader like Aldiko, read news and articles on feedly, play games, use social networks, check my email via the native Gmail app and watch movies on MX  Player. The tab performed all of these tasks perfectly and gave more than 7 hours battery time while playing videos throughout. A nice display is critical for most of the tasks I perform and Nexus 7-2 does not disappoint as far as it’s display is concerned. The Nexus 7-2 features a 7-inch screen which boasts resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels which amount to 323 ppi which is quite impressive. Google claim it to be the tab with the sharpest-ever display in the 7-inch category. The colours are bright and the display is crisp and it is sharp enough to handle most of the everyday lighting conditions with awesome viewing angles and great readibility.

Manufactured by Asus, the new Nexus 7 is powered by a monstrous 1.5 GHz Krait Qualcomm Snapdragon S4Pro Processor which is assisted by 2 GB of RAM and Adreno 320 GPU so you won’t suffer any jitters and lag while perforimg everyday taska and opening apps requiring lots of processing power. As mentioned earlier, it is quite impressive that the battery lasts for more than 7 hours of video playback with full screen brightness despite featuring the best display in the market and a quad-core processor. The also packs GPS, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC in its  potent arsenal. The GPS locked the location in no time and Bluetooth worked flawlessly with my wireless speakers (click here to read the related review).

Nexus 7 comes in three models, which are as follows:

1. Google Nexus 7-2 – 16 GB, WIFI – $229
2. Google Nexus 7-2 – 32 GB, WIFI – $249
3. Google Nexus 7-2 – 16 GB, WIFI, LTE, HSPA+ – $349 (coming soon)

Unfortunately Google Nexus 7 is not available officially in Pakistan but can be bought from various shopping websites offering cash-on-delivery for around PKR 32,000 to 34,000 and you can buy top-notch Nexus 7 accessories online too.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a device for reading books, playing games, browsing the net and using social networks then Google Nexus 7-2 is the tablet offering a great balance between features and price and you should not think about any other option. However, if you want to do some serious stuff on-the-go like writing reports and blogs, working on spreadsheets and editing media files, then you would be better off with a laptop.

Acer Announces the Budget Liquid Z3

Some months back, amidst the declining pocketable smartphone market, Acer stood out of the pack and announced that it will launch a “small” Android phone with respectable specs in the near future. That moment has arrived today and the Liquid Z3 is official.

The phone boasts a 3.5 inch display, a size similar to the iPhone 4S and the previous Apple smartphones. Resolution is unknown though. The Liquid Z3 is 10.4mm thick and weighs 120 grams. It runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, two steps behind the latest version 4.3.

Under the hood, you get a 1Ghz dual-core processor of unknown breed. Amount of RAM is behind the covers too. 4 GB of storage is available onboard which also happens to be expandable. A dual-sim version of the Liquid Z3 will be available later.

The back boasts a 3 megapixel camera. For connectivity, the phone uses Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS. The phone also features several special modes in its UI, including the basic mode with only calls and text messaging, and Classic mode where the UI get simplified for first-time smartphone owners.

Here are the specs of the phone:

• Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
• 3.5 inch touchscreen
• 10.4mm thick
• 120g heavy
• Optional dual-sim
• 1Ghz dual-core processor
• 4 GB expandable memory
• 3 megapixel camera
• Front-facing camera
• Bluetooth/Wi-Fi/GPS
• Special modes in UI

The Acer Liquid Z3 will be available this August for a price tag of about $130. At that price tag, the specs of this phone are not bad but if you are willing to get a Chinese phone, either from a reputable or an unknown manufacturer, you can get much better than this. Still, this effort doesn’t seem too bad. Just wait for the complete specifications to be revealed.

ASUS Outs the Monstrous Tytan G70 PC

How many PCs out there can hold as much power as a Lamborghini right now? You’re right, not many.

This, however, might be the Lamborghini moment of computers in their history. The ASUS Tytan G70 is one of the most powerful computers to be announced lately and fits the bill of the fabled Italian supercar quite perfectly: fast, bizarre and uncommon.

First thing’s first, the design is itself unique. It weighs 24 kilograms, far from anything close to portable (and rather un-Lamborghiniish). You get a big LED-lit, color-changing logo on the front.

The top houses a wireless charger. On either side are movable flaps which resemble a hypercar’s scissor doors. Why are they movable? Of course, they house two shy of a dozen cooling fans inside which come to life as soon as you activate the “Turbo Gear overclocking mode” by a press of a button. It is, in simpler words, Turbo boost.

On the inside, you get internal water-cooling (seriously, how much heat does this thing produce?). It has a 4th-generation quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, along with the latest Nvidia GeForce GTX780 GPU which supports up to 4 displays and 3D gaming. That’s alongside up to 32 GB DDR3 RAM and 15 TB of hard drive storage.

For connectivity, you get 6 USB 3.0 ports, 4 USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, headphone jack, card reader and more.

Here is the complete run of Tytan G70 Specs:

Tytal G70 Specs

• Operating system: Windows 8 (64-bit)
• Processor: 4th generation Intel Core i5 / i7
• Chipset: Intel Z87
• Graphics: Up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 (3GB GDDR5)
• Memory: 4GB (32GB max) dual-channel DDR3 (1600MHz)
• Expansion slots: 1 x PCI-e x 16, 1 x PCI-e x 1, 1 x PCI-e x 8 (shared with x16), 1 x PCI-e x 4
• Storage: Up to 15TB (5 x 3TB) SATA 6Gbit/s hard drive (7200RPM), Up to 256G SATA 6Gbit/s SSD
• Drive bays: 3 x 5.25-inch, 5 x 3.5-inch
• Optical drive: Super-multi DVD burner / Blu-ray combo / Blu-ray writer

Audio

• 7.1 channel with ASUS SonicMaster technology
• Xonar Phoebus sound card (optional)

Connectivity

• 6 x SATA 6.0Gbit/s
• 4 x USB 2.0, 6 x USB 3.0
• HDMI-Out, DVI-D, DisplayPort, VGA D-sub
• Gigabit Ethernet
• 3.5mm headphone, 3.5mm microphone, 3.5mm 7.1 audio-out, S/PDIF-out
• PS/2 mouse/keyboard
• 16-in-1 memory card reader
• Power supply: 500W / 700W
• Size: 300 x 530 x 630mm
• Weight: 24kg

But what about the price? That hasn’t been revealed yet, but it will quite easily go above the $1000 mark. Then again, what can we do for Lamborghinis don’t come cheap!

Cheaper Version of Motorola Moto X is Coming to Prepaid Markets

When Motorola announced the much-hyped Moto X smartphone a few days back, it made it clear that the device certainly isn’t for the masses. It further made that fact clear by deciding not to release that phone in Europe, a decidedly important market.

That last step wasn’t without a reason though. Very soon after the launch, the company’s CEO revealed in an interview to CNET that a phone carrying the Moto X brand name will be released soon and that the Moto X is just the first smartphone of this lineup.

Motorola hinted that its relatively low-priced – i.e. under USD 200 – Moto X smartphones will be designed and priced to appeal to international customers in markets where people generally don’t buy subsidized devices.

“Moto X is the brand that we are most focused on,” Dennis Woodside, CEO Motorola Mobility, said. “And there is more to come. You will see additional products within months. The experience of devices you can get for less than $200 is subpar right now. We want everyone to have access to affordable smartphones.”

While he didn’t reveal the date of the phone’s release, it should hit the market later this year. Woodside made it clear that that product will be targeted towards prepaid markets. That’s undeniably important for Motorola which is currently bleeding money at an alarming pace.

Google Reveals the Motorola Moto X

Google’s acquisition of Motorola happened quite a lot of time ago and nothing serious had been achieved from the partnership yet, but the two companies have finally done something unique with the Moto X. The much-hyped smartphone is not the most high-end smartphone you’ll see but is undoubtedly the most customizable.

To start with, the Moto X comes with a 4.7 inch AMOLED display with 720p HD resolution. The reason why the flagship-norm 1080p wasn’t chosen was because “it would just suck the battery and nobody would know the difference”. That’s right to some extent, especially since anything more than 300ppi is useless. It is protected by a new breed of Gorilla Glass dubbed “Magic Glass” and is a bit curved on its edges.

Under the hood, the phone packs a Qualcomm SnapDragon S4 Pro SoC, dual-core 1.7Ghz Krait CPU and Adreno 320 GPU. Motorola’s new power-efficient X8 chip is also there. The amount of RAM in the phone is 2 GB and the storage capacity will be 16 or 32 gigs, non-expandable.

The back boasts a 10 megapixel camera with 1080p Full HD video at 30fps, LED Flash and HDR. A 2 megapixel Full HD camera is at the front too. Talking of fronts and backs, the phone is really customizable.

Firstly, the phone is made of high-quality plastic. The back is curved which makes the Moto X fairly usable with one hand. It’s 10.4mm at its thickest point and 5.4mm on the edges. It weighs 130g.

The phone’s front panel is either black or white but the back comes in a mind-blowing range of 18 colors. Three special versions made of wood will be available later. The further customizations are done via the Moto Maker site. You can also customize the accent colors and the color of the charger & NFC speaker there. Overall, 2000 customizations can be made with Moto Maker.

But wait, the software is also a beneficiary here. You’ll be able to choose the color of the phone’s wallpaper and add your Google ID via Moto Maker. Still, if you don’t like the end result much, Google will also replace your phone within 2 weeks. The service won’t be available until next year though.

Here are the specs of the Moto X:

• Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
• 4.7 inch AMOLED display with 720p resolution
• 5.4mm thick at its thinnest point and 10.4 on its thickest
• 130g heavy
• 1.7 Ghz dual-core Krait CPU with Qualcomm SnapDragon S4 Pro SoC
• Adreno 320 GPU
• 2 GB RAM with 16/32 GB non-expandable storage
• 10 megapixel camera with 1080p Full HD video
• 2 megapixel 1080p camera
• Bluetooth 4.0, dual-band Wifi, microUSB 2.0, GPS
• Mind boggling customizations via Moto Maker
• 2200 mAh battery

The phone will be available via a contract in late August. International availability will start from Canada later on. While this phone is lacking a bit of pace on the hardware side, the great customizations alone will find it customers. The Moto X makes even the Lumia series look dull.

Mediatek Announces World's First True Octa-Core Smartphone Processor

MediaTek, usually reputed for manufacturing low-priced ARM processors on mid-end and low-end smartphones, has announced their world’s first true Octa-core mobile processor which is based on ARM architecture. Which means you’ll be able to use 8 cores simultaneously on your mobile devices with 2X performance of what you get on your current Quad Core processors.

The company has not revealed a lot about their “True octa-core processor”, not even the official launching date yet.

The processor has been codenamed as MT6592, that will feature a 28nm eight-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU that would be clocked around 2.0 GHz, with an unspecified GPU and radios that support up to HSPA+ mobile networks.

LTE modem would not be included in this processor.

Now the word “TRUE” actually means that it uses all of its Cortex-A7 cores for CPU tasks, unlike what we’ve seen in Samsung’s Exynos 5 processor that has an eight core CPU which is actually a hybrid, made of 2x quad core processors which doesn’t take advantage of its all 8 cores simultaneously instead 4 cores work at a time.

Surprisingly MT6592 power consumption would be same as the quad-core processors available in the market.

A graph given by MediaTek shows that, while decoding a video the power efficiency is the same on MT6592 clocked at 2GHz and its competitor clocked also at 2GHz, while the decoding speed is twice the quad core on MT6592. Which means you’ll have some battery smooth performance with faster processing power.

MT6592 would show real benefit in multitasking as every task is allocated to a different core, as per application.

HP Announces the SlateBook x2 PC Running on Android

Android PCs aren’t exactly a new idea, by far, but not many of the bigger manufacturers are actually using it on their computers. HP, however, has dared enough to take up the challenge and has announced the SlateBook x2.

The SlateBook x2 is a convertible with a detachable keyboard and runs on Android Jelly Bean.

The Specs

The display of the tablet is of 10.1 inches and also boasts a Full HD resolution. The LED display is also multi-touch.

The SlateBook x2 runs on the latest Nvidia Tegra 4 processor clocked at 1.8Ghz and Intel HD 4000 graphics. It features 2 GB RAM and 16 GB SATA SSD. The Android 4.2-running PC uses Wifi, DLNA, Bluetooth and microSD card slot for connectivity.

The screen/tablet part of the PC can also connect with a keyboard through a magnetic mechanism. The keyboard houses the battery as well so connecting the keyboard will partly improve your battery life too. It also increases the no. of ports by adding a USB 2.0 port, another micro SD card slot and HDMI.

There are also 2 cameras at the front and back of the tablet for occasional snapping and video-calls.

The tablet will be launched this August for $479 without the keyboard, and $649 with one. That will put it in the Windows 8 laptop range, lots of whom can be found cheaper and that is far from an ideal situation to be. The thing is, that it wouldn’t matter much to you if all you want is a decent Android-running tablet, along with a processor. The real question, though, is that how many people want that?

Toshiba Announces New Mid-Range Laptops

Toshiba is one of those Windows manufacturers which have faded away a bit in the past few months, after announcing PCs which didn’t sell all that well and failed to give some tough fight to the competition (one laptop is an Amazon bestseller though).

So here they are, giving the idea another go by announcing new mid-range Windows 8 laptops. The new laptops have taken design inspiration from the higher-end laptops of this series and come in multiple configurations.

They are powered by both AMD and Intel processors. Unfortunately though, they all come with the very basic 1366 x 768 resolution.

Toshiba Satellite E55

The first among the new laptops of the popular Satellite series is the E55D which comes with a 15 inch display. It comes with an AMD A6 CPU & 750 GB HDD and is priced at $579. The E55Dt version with AMD CPU, 1 TB HDD and touchscreen costs $679.

The most higher-end offering with the 4th generation Intel Haswell processor and a touchscreen costs $899. They all come with the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard for connectivity and the number pad.

Toshiba Satellite E45t

The other laptop announced by Toshiba was the Satellite E45t which comes with in a single specifications list. It comes with a 14 inch display with touchscreen and Intel Core i5 processor. For storage it will have a 500 GB HDD.

The laptop will be priced at $818. It also supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi for connections.

While all these laptops come with striking designs for a relatively affordable price tag, the display is a bit of a disappointment, especially for the higher-end models.

The Satellite E55 will be available this September while the E45t will be brought to customers only next month.

Samsung and Apple Slide Down in Smartphone Marketshare, Lenovo Emerges

According to the new report by International Data Corporation (IDC), Samsung and Apple are currently the top manufacturers in the smartphone hierarchy right now, as before, but their lead has slid down notably in the last quarter.

Compared to same quarter of 2012, where both the manufacturers sold 32.2% and 16.6% of the smartphones worldwide, they topped out at only 30.4% and 13.1% this time around.

Sales increased though, obviously, topping out at 72.4 and 31.2 million units respectively, compared to 50.3 and 26 million of the year before.

HTC and Huawei dropped out from the top 5 manufacturers’ list altogether while Lenovo was a surprise entry in the list. The Chinese company sold 11.3 million units and attained a marketshare of 4.7%, unbelievably close to LG, which holds a marketshare of 5.1%.

Apple’s dropping sales were not unexpected, especially since a new leak of the so-called “budget iPhone” comes out almost everyday but in Samsung’s case, it does look awkward, curiously coming after the launch of the numerous versions of its Galaxy S4 flagship.

The overall smartphones sales were 237.9 million units. The case for Nokia shouldn’t be dissimilar from Apple, since this was the time period when it launched its Lumia 1020 flagship.

Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, 2013 Q2 (Units in Millions) 

Vendor	2Q13 Unit Shipments	2Q13 Market Share	2Q12 Unit Shipments	2Q12 Market Share	Year-over-year Change
Samsung	72.4	30.4%	50.3	32.2%	43.9%
Apple	31.2	13.1%	26.0	16.6%	20.0%
LG	12.1	5.1%	5.8	3.7%	108.6%
Lenovo	11.3	4.7%	4.9	3.1%	130.6%
ZTE	10.1	4.2%	6.4	4.1%	57.8%
Others	100.8	42.4%	62.8	40.2%	60.5%
Total	237.9	100.0%	156.2	100.0%	52.3%

Top Five Total (Feature+Smartphone) Mobile Phone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, 2013 Q2 (Units in Millions) 

Vendor	2Q13 Unit Shipments	2Q13 Market Share	2Q12 Unit Shipments	2Q12 Market Share	Year-over-year Change
Samsung	113.4	26.2%	97.5	23.9%	16.3%
Nokia	61.1	14.1%	83.7	20.5%	-27.0%
Apple	31.2	7.2%	26.0	6.4%	20.0%
LG	16.2	3.7%	13.1	3.2%	23.7%
ZTE	15.0	3.5%	15.2	3.7%	-1.1%
Others	195.2	45.2%	172.2	42.2%	13.4%
Total	432.1	100.0%	407.7	100.0%	6.0%