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Nexus 7 |OT| Google's $199 7-inch tablet by Asus

P

panda21

Member
just got one and love it. the hardware is nicer than i was expecting. the store experience of buying it was ridiculous though.

they had none out on display, I had to ask a guy if they had them. at first he said no, and then said 'do you want to see it or buy one?' and when i said buy he said he would check. eventually he found out that they had them and opened a drawer with an enormous stack of them in. after that he tried to upsell the shit out of me on covers, antivirus subscription (lol), insurance etc. just a terrible experience.

do the stores not make a profit on them or something?
 
E

EdibleExplosives

Member
panda21 said:
just got one and love it. the hardware is nicer than i was expecting. the store experience of buying it was ridiculous though.

they had none out on display, I had to ask a guy if they had them. at first he said no, and then said 'do you want to see it or buy one?' and when i said buy he said he would check. eventually he found out that they had them and opened a drawer with an enormous stack of them in. after that he tried to upsell the shit out of me on covers, antivirus subscription (lol), insurance etc. just a terrible experience.

do the stores not make a profit on them or something?
Click to expand...

Weird. The store I got mine from had it out on display and someone who worked there was trying to convince anyone who even went anywhere near it to buy it. Another store I went to afterwards had it as their 'main display', in front of every other tablet.
 
C

Cheebo

Banned
panda21 said:
just got one and love it. the hardware is nicer than i was expecting. the store experience of buying it was ridiculous though.

they had none out on display, I had to ask a guy if they had them. at first he said no, and then said 'do you want to see it or buy one?' and when i said buy he said he would check. eventually he found out that they had them and opened a drawer with an enormous stack of them in. after that he tried to upsell the shit out of me on covers, antivirus subscription (lol), insurance etc. just a terrible experience.

do the stores not make a profit on them or something?
Click to expand...

It's all from the comapny making deals for displays and training the store employees and the like. I suspect Asus doesn't put any effort into that side of marketing.
 
W

womp

Member
DoctorWho said:
More of an Android issue. I go to launch YouTube and Google Play opens instead.
Click to expand...

Hit the back button.

If you jump from one app to another and then reopen the original app, it will sometimes 'remember' the last place you went and it sticks. Like, if you open a YouTube video from Google +, next time you go to Google + it may still be in YouTube. It is definitely weird.

It also has nothing to do with YouTube or Play in particular though. Worst case scenario, if the back button doesn't work, bring up the app list and swipe the offender away or you can simply go to settings and force close it too.
 
D

daviyoung

Banned
Any recommendations for a lightweight and portable rotating case for this? Material and colours don't matter, so long as it protects the screen well.
 
S

Sora_N

Member
Anyone buy screen protectors for theirs off eBay? Got a set of 3 but they were damaged, so got a refund and thinking of just trying a different seller. If anyone bought some off eBay and can recommend the seller? (I think some sellers sell different ones) I prefer gloss if that matters, but I have a feeling most are comparable quality on eBay.
 
W

womp

Member
Sora_N said:
Anyone buy screen protectors for theirs off eBay? Got a set of 3 but they were damaged, so got a refund and thinking of just trying a different seller. If anyone bought some off eBay and can recommend the seller? (I think some sellers sell different ones) I prefer gloss if that matters, but I have a feeling most are comparable quality on eBay.
Click to expand...

I don't really do eBay but I bought and used these from Amazon..Work great!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008LURQ76/?tag=neogaf0e-20
 
KamenSenshi

KamenSenshi

Junior Member
Dunlop said:
I picked up Nova Launcher Prime when it was a quarter last week.Is there any reason to use it on a N7?
Click to expand...
Its good for having your home screen in landscape and if you set up your screens in a way you like but happen to share the tablet, you can lock the screen so that they cAnt be changed.
 
O

opticalmace

Member
Can any fellow Canadians recommend a good case?

I don't really care about a stand, primarily just want something that I can wrap around the back when I'm using the tablet.
 
OneEightZero

OneEightZero

aka ThreeOneFour
So, I finally couldn't take the lag bug anymore and switched to Glazed Jelly Bean. Its a lot smoother now, but I'm wondering if there is something I can edit or do to fix this?

i34PwshASjN08.png


The icons and widgets aren't allowed to be put outside of the distance shown on the home screen.

Also, I wanted to ask what everyone's favorite ROM is. Glazed or is there something cooler/better?

And one final question. What is the best free PDF viewer?
 
W

womp

Member
OneEightZero said:
So, I finally couldn't take the lag bug anymore and switched to Glazed Jelly Bean. Its a lot smoother now, but I'm wondering if there is something I can edit or do to fix this?

i34PwshASjN08.png


The icons and widgets aren't allowed to be put outside of the distance shown on the home screen.

Also, I wanted to ask what everyone's favorite ROM is. Glazed or is there something cooler/better?

And one final question. What is the best free PDF viewer?
Click to expand...

I personally have no problems with the basic free Adobe one myself. Does the job for me.
 
D

DagsJT

Member
I highly recommend using Franco's kernel. Battery life is FAR better than stock. There's an app in the Play Store that will flash it for you too.
 
W

WascallyWabbit

Member
DagsJT said:
I highly recommend using Franco's kernel. Battery life is FAR better than stock. There's an app in the Play Store that will flash it for you too.
Click to expand...

Really? Anyone else have experience with this?

And what about it makes it save energy?

this is relevant to my interests
 
Alex

Alex

Member
Do you just need the app or what? I've never really dinked with that kinda stuff on Android before, but this is interesting.
 
A

Angst

Member
Alex said:
Do you just need the app or what? I've never really dinked with that kinda stuff on Android before, but this is interesting.
Click to expand...

I haven't tried the app, but my guess is that you need to be rooted and have a recovery installed. Using the app to install the kernel reboots you into recovery and does the kernel install automatically.

Edit: after checking out the XDA link, this is correct.
 
B

basic_text

Member
Angst said:
I haven't tried the app, but my guess is that you need to be rooted and have a recovery installed. Using the app to install the kernel reboots you into recovery and does the kernel install automatically.

Edit: after checking out the XDA link, this is correct.
Click to expand...

Again, pardon my ignorance/stupidity but do you read it as it requiring a custom ROM too?
I rooted via the Nexus toolkit so should everything be good to go?
 
A

Angst

Member
basic_text said:
Again, pardon my ignorance/stupidity but do you read it as it requiring a custom ROM too?
I rooted via the Nexus toolkit so should everything be good to go?
Click to expand...

Custom rom shouldn't be a necessity - but you do have to check that the kernel support the official ROM (I'm guessing it does).

MY personal experience with kernels it that they are either placebo or plain doesn't work. I'm using CM10 on my SGSII so I am using the CM kernel, but everytime I've tried flashing other kernels things have become decidedly worse. Other people seem to love them though.
 
B

basic_text

Member
Angst said:
Custom rom shouldn't be a necessity - but you do have to check that the kernel support the official ROM (I'm guessing it does).
Click to expand...

Ace, cheers for that. Whilst I don't really have an urgent desire to try it, it does seem like it could be rather beneficial.
 
A

Angst

Member
basic_text said:
Ace, cheers for that. Whilst I don't really have an urgent desire to try it, it does seem like it could be rather beneficial.
Click to expand...

I thought so too, but it pretty much goes like this:

1. flash kernel
2. boot
3. everything looks the same
4. battery last longer / shorter and you might get random freezes.

:p

OTOH if lots of people says it works and give them better battery - go for it.
 
B

basic_text

Member
Angst said:
I thought so too, but it pretty much goes like this:

1. flash kernel
2. boot
3. everything looks the same
4. battery last longer / shorter and you might get random freezes.

:p

OTOH if lots of people says it works and give them better battery - go for it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this whole flashing the kernel business is rather alien to me so I'd rather hear some impressions before I go ahead and do it. Sounds good so far! (other than the random freezes, god know my wife gets frustrated with technology as it is, I don't want another reason for her to throw it through the window!)
 
K

kurtrussell

Banned
Angst said:
4. battery last longer / shorter and you might get random freezes.
Click to expand...

The random freezes will be related to the scheduler the kernel uses.

Warning: Long Winded Explanation

Basically the scheduler assists the kernel in sharing out work, and also dictates how the tablet modifies it's clock speed - faster clock speed = more heat generated, more battery consumed etc

This kernel will increase battery life at the expense of responsiveness. There is no such thing as a magic bullet that can increase the battery life of your tablet with no trade-offs (apart from possibly compiling one with Linaro chain, but I don't think anyone's managed that for jellybean kernels yet). Therefore, this kernel uses a scheduler that attempts to slow the clock speed in a more intelligent / frequent way than stock kernel. It primarily does this by prioritising lower clock speeds - it will attempt to lower the clock speed whenever possible and much more frequently than stock kernel. This can, however, lead to lag when unexpected loads don't have the clock speed to deal with them - hence the "random freezes".

The kernel that comes with the tablet is optimised to be silky smooth out of the box at the expense of battery life. It keeps the clock speed high enough to be responsive 99.9% of the time, so if responsiveness is your major concern, there's no real reason to switch kernels (unless you want to overclock).

The short explanation:

The occasional random freeze is a result of the tablet being slowed down and not responding quickly enough as a trade-off for increased battery life.

If you're after battery savings, there are possibly better ways to do it that avoid impacting responsiveness- try Juice Defender for example.
 
B

basic_text

Member
kurtrussell said:
The random freezes will be related to the scheduler the kernel uses.

Warning: Long Winded Explanation

Basically the scheduler assists the kernel in sharing out work, and also dictates how the tablet modifies it's clock speed - faster clock speed = more heat generated, more battery consumed etc

This kernel will increase battery life at the expense of responsiveness. There is no such thing as a magic bullet that can increase the battery life of your tablet with no trade-offs (apart from possibly compiling one with Linaro chain, but I don't think anyone's managed that for jellybean kernels yet). Therefore, this kernel uses a scheduler that attempts to slow the clock speed in a more intelligent / frequent way than stock kernel.

However: The kernel that comes with the tablet is optimised to be silky smooth out of the box at the expense of battery life. It keeps the clock speed high enough to be responsive 99.9% of the time, so if responsiveness is your major concern, there's no real reason to switch kernels (unless you want to overclock).

The short explanation:

The occasional random freeze is a result of the tablet being slowed down and not responding quickly enough as a trade-off for increased battery life.

If you're after battery savings, there are possibly better ways to do it that avoid impacting - try Juice Defender for example.
Click to expand...

Amazing, cheers for that!
 
W

WascallyWabbit

Member
dang thanks for the explanations, might try out the Juice Defender first before going with the kernel, battery life hasn't been a huge problem for me yet
 
K

kurtrussell

Banned
It's probably being rolled out to lower serial numbers first. Anybody with a C60 want to try a manual update? (through about phone in settings)
 
L

Levi

Banned
I downloaded and was about to flash Glazed JB when I saw 4.1.2 was out. Crazy!

Found a link to the package file on XDA, I'm in the process of using TWRP to flash it.

Fingers crossed this fixes the memory manager bug on 16GB devices.
 
Z

Zombie James

Banned
Got some extended time with a Nexus 7 at work today and loaded up some free comics on that thing. It's actually not that bad! Still, I think I'd prefer a 10" for that sort of thing. I also tried some comics on the horrible Acer A500 and the extra room was really nice to have (the N7 wins on every other metric). Bring on the Nexus 10.
 
D

Dunlop

Member
Is there any way to set the pin on the map of where you are to your home setting?

This thing refuses to take my address when I type it in (I even copy the details from the pin). It always only gives me an option for another city
 
V

vdlow

Member
Is there a way to set any app besides Google Voice to show when you long press the 'home' button (the one in the middle of back and multitask).
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
videtonator said:
Is there a way to set any app besides Google Voice to show when you long press the 'home' button (the one in the middle of back and multitask).
Click to expand...

You mean Google Now? Right now, not in stock. Some custom ROMs probably have that option...
 
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