Yes, I know – I already have a tablet in the form of a Microsoft Surface Windows RT tablet but in order to test out some of the integration features of some new Panasonic products coming my way (particularly the television, tough camera and 3D camcorder) I required either an iOS or Android device.
I already have a Samsung Galaxy S smartphone but to be brutally honest it is far too long in the tooth to provide an enjoyable user experience beyond Android Gingerbread. Meanwhile, my wife has pretty much every iOS device available (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch) I thought a new Android device would be the best choice to maintain some ecosystem heterogeneity in the household.
I wasn’t after a large tablet (already go one of those) so a tablet with a seven inch screen was going to be the ticket. I wasn’t keen on going with a Samsung device because of the TouchWiz interface getting in the way. In a nutshell, this narrowed the field to two device – the Asus FonePad and Asus Google Nexus 7.
I have to admit, I was intrigued by a converged tablet and phone but erred about having a seven inch phone. Furthermore, not all Android applications are compatible with the Intel CPU found in the Fonepad. Whilst this is purportedly small (5%) it’s a mild turn off. I also found myself gravitating more towards a pure Google/Android experience and rapid update cycle which ultimately locked in my decision.
You might be wondering why I didn’t wait another two or three months until a rumoured refresh of the Nexus 7 took place. Sure, a higher resolution screen would have been nice and a rear camera but I reckon the existing Nexus 7 has enough grunt to last two or three years. Plus, the initial rumours of an announcement at Google IO were wrong so I was skeptical of the second round of rumours being wrong as well.
Anyway, I’ve used some of my reward points at work to place an order but it can take a little while for it to arrive so I’ll just have to hang tight until it graces my desk – stay tuned!
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