Google Nexus 7 Tablet
Google’s Nexus 7 tablet feels like the device that might just usurp the Kindle. It does everything that Amazon’s device has done so successfully since it launched in 2007, but with Google you can now also watch videos, browse beautifully rendered magazines and the web and of course check your email. A Kindle costs from just £89, but those extra functions are likely to persuade a huge number of people to part with £159.
Indeed, it’s the design of the product that makes Google’s mass market ambitions clear. Just as the iPad is not worried by Kindle sales, so it is unlikely to be worried by the Nexus 7. This is a device that feels cooly utilitarian rather than luxurious. But Google is not the web search engine for a minority of users; it has always aimed to be ubiquitous. And with Nexus 7, it wants to make the ubiquitous tablet. The 7” screen does everything it needs to with a resolution of 1280 x 700px, and at 340g it weighs enough to feel substantial without.
There are nudges toward the future, however: press the button to get to a standard Google search page and rather than a blank screen you get details about flights or films you’ve recently searched for. That ties web search in with everyday life, and it makes the web increasingly central to a wider range of functions.
Battery life is claimed to be 9 hours of video playback – although I’ve not had long enough with the device to test that, getting those sorts of basics right will be crucial. The ‘quadcore’ processor certainly feels more than fast enough.
