this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023
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Ten years ago today, Google released the 2nd-generation Nexus 7, just days after a surprise announcement. Back then, Android tablets still felt fresh and exciting. It seemed like anything was possible, and things could only improve from there. Well, we know what happened next. But the depressing state of the tablet market to come was in no way the fault of the Nexus 7. In fact, this is still one of the best Android tablets ever made, and it's worth looking back and showing it the honor and respect it deserves.

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[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I loved my Nexus 7. The rubbery silicone back of the tablet made it the most comfortable device I have ever held. Meanwhile my laptop and phone made of glass and metal making them cold and slippery

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

fuck glass, also nexus 5 back is the best

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Oh I loved that one

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I miss that back cover more than anything! It was so grippy.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Nexus One was the highest build quality Android I ever owned. I miss HTC.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (9 children)

The Nexus 7's data storage became extremely slow after a while. The device became completely unusable.

A short while after the Nexus 7, many mobile phones screen got bigger, so the 7-inch screen size became sort of obsolete.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

That was my experience with the 2012 model. Once it received the 5.0 Lollipop update, it couldn't handle basic tasks without significant slowdowns. CyanogenMod improved things a bit, but it was never the same after about 3 years of use.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Aspect ratio is different, so the tablets screen was still noticeably bigger.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I still have it and still use it occasionally. But yes, performance is often bad. Always suspected it was the storage but couldn't understand why or how it could become slower over time. Because I don't remember it being this slow when it was new. I also thought it was the new android updates that came out over time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I thought that was only the 2012 model, and it was rectified on the 2013 refresh.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

As a naive Google fan at that time, I bought the 2012 model when it came out. Google should have recalled the model and provide full refund/exchange.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (4 children)

My Nexus 7 still lives and it's running Android 12. I use it for mostly YouTube these days.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The nexus 7 was siesmic in the android tablet market at the time.

Previously, your choices were iPad, equally expensive (but often lacking) android tablets (galaxy tab, moto xoom), or really rather crap cheap offerings (I had a 7" resistive archos that cost me Β£70...I wish I hadn't spent the money).

When Google released the N7, it was a big change. It was a small tablet, with enough grunt, a good IPS screen, cohesive software, and was Β£150.

The fire-sale of the HP touchpad, imho, kicked google off on this. It made google realise that there was a market for a decent android tablet at a lower price point.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I still have my Nexus 5 somewhere in a drawer, and it’s still my favorite phone ever. Time from time I pick it up, and I get reminded of how good it felt to hold it in the hand. It’s so light. The buttons are at the right place.

I wish they made phones with the same form factor again.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Was great value too, back in the days when you could spend a few hundreds dollars and get a top quality phone.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Damn that phone felt good to hold.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The nexus 7 2013 supports LineageOS 20 which is android 13

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Part of me is intrigued to dig out my N7 and install LoS 20 on it. But I have to imagine that it is slooooooooooooow.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This was my first Android device. Still got it, not using it much, but its still working.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Man, I always wanted a Nexus 7, but it was never easy to get one in my country back then. And then Google officially partnered with Amazon and Flipkart to launch the tablet...right after I'd gotten a new iPad.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I remember when it came out, it only launched in a few countries and I was super surprised to see it on the play store in Australia (when historically we usually get fuck all)

I paid 299 AUD for it. An unthinkable price nowadays

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The 2nd gen Nexus 7 was the reason I left Apple hardware and to never return. I loved the iPhone but I got bored of them very quickly. I tried two Android phones and each time absolutely hated the experience and returned to the iPhone. I eventually picked up a Nexus 7 and wow it changed my perception. No bloat. Simple and fast. It felt like an iPhone where the software complimented the hardware. I switched to a Nexus 5 phone and have been with Google phones ever since.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I loved mine, but sitting a year or two the flash memory had degraded to the point it was completely unusable, even just as a digital photo frame.

The small tablet market is still underserved today, I’m running an iPad mini, which is great, but it’s definitely a second-class citizen compared to the bigger iPads.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

That was the first version, the article is about the 2nd gen device where the flash memory problem got fixed.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I had a second gen one, and it suffered less than the first, but definitely did suffer as it aged.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yes, definitely! I don't have as much use for a tablet these days, which is an unfortunate thing. My phone is big enough to cover most use cases, and my iPad 2017 is too big to be used comfortably for most things - it's not ergonomic to hold upright in most conditions, it's slippery without a folio case (and cases are hard to find unless you get an official Apple one which is very expensive), typing on it is a pain because of how thin it is, and the only saving grace it has in terms of typing is the mini floating swipeable keyboard added to iPad OS in recent years.

I'd definitely love to run something like a Nexus 7 again! Perfect form factor for most things, including media consumption, reading books, and much much more!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I still miss how nice this was when it came out. Rocking a Galaxy Tab S5e with Lineage OS which I'm really enjoying now though.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

My Lenovo Duet 3 (8gb) is the only tablet to feel as nice as the Nexus line to me.

Magnetic keyboard, pen, full Chrome via ChromeOS, Android apps, Linux support. And with Code-server its basically a desktop for me when needed, all for $300 at time of purchase.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

At this point I use all Apple Products (Except for my Ubuntu Desktop) but damn do I miss the Nexus 7 so so so much

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (12 children)

iPad Mini is about the same dimensions, though slightly wider.

All other Android tablets that exist in that space have horrible CPUs.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

This was my primary device for a couple of years. I didn’t have a phone at all. I could do everything I needed to do. Camera quality was of course terrible, but I had one of those Sony β€œlens cameras” paired with it, and that worked great.

I even sailed across the Atlantic with the Nexus 7 as my only media device (I packed a Kindle but it died a week in).

That is why I’m considering a foldable now. If only they weren’t so fragile…

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I had the first gen, and it wasn't great in terms of performance, but damn I Ioved it. Very fond memories.

Also, I do have to chuckle at the progress since then. My S23 Ultra's screen is almost as large at 6.8 inches, yet the overall device is much smaller and obviously much, much, much more powerful. Progress!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Completely different aspect ratios, the tablet had a much larger screen than the s23u

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Mine still works

When digging through some stuff from a move in 2018 I noticed a tablet. WTF is this?

Charged it. Booted it up. Nexus 7 v2

Little fucker still was going

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

I had one. Well I still have it, but I stopped using it years ago for some reason. I forget why. I think I ran out of storage or something. Anyways, I had gotten a cheap Fire tablet and that thing sucked, so I dug out my Nexus and somehow wound up bricking it. Yay. Now I have a Tab A8 that's working fine so far.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remember listening the launch of this one in the local radio, the hosts sounded excited, I was excited, everything was great. Never got one though, it was my dream device at the time

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Same! Never had one but definitely wanted one. I also wanted that Nexus 4 with the sparkle back to compliment it but I ended up with the Note 2 for that massive screen.

Back then people made jokes that I carried an iPad as a phone lol how times have changed

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I would vouch for Mi Pad 4 as N7 2nd gen sucessor had it not been for its limiting supply

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I had one of these! Loved it 😍

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I'm still enjoying the Pixel C, still a great tablet I think

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

So far I've been pretty happy with the new Pixel Tablet, hope we see more like it and better in the future.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

NVidia Shield K1 was pretty great too. It was also $200, about the same size (8"), 1920x1200 screen, fairly stock android, and had a pretty speedy chipset. It even had decent speakers. Came out 2014. I really liked that thing. I got it to replace my first Nexus 7 (2012), whose storage had decayed really fast, to the point it wasn't really usable anymore.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Loved the Nexus 7. I remember getting the 4G model and finally being able to do crap on my way to work (back in the days when 4G connectivity was hard to get back on Android tablets)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I won mine off a KitKat bar. Still have it, a little sluggish but it works.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I still have mine, changed screen 2 times, battery is weak, but it is still used daily to watch videos. I installed Lineage on it. I have it for 10 years, it is still pretty snappy!

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