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[close to the edge]

I just tried preordering the tablet from Austria (using an American proxy server) and it worked until I got to the Google Wallet part and it appears that it doesn't accept credit cards from outside of the US. Lame. Why don't you want my money, Google?

 

[Izick]

Also, you can't snap photos with the front facing camera? What?

EDIT: Never mind. Not sure why I believe what putzes with a camera on Youtube say.

 

[Hieberrr]

Also, you can't snap photos with the front facing camera? What?

EDIT: Never mind. Not sure why I believe what putzes with a camera on Youtube say.

Apparently you can't out of the box, but there's an app that "enables" the hidden camera app.

Really stupid, imo. I hope they fix that with an update :|

I may be misinformed though.

 

[kehs]

Also, you can't snap photos with the front facing camera? What?

EDIT: Never mind. Not sure why I believe what putzes with a camera on Youtube say.

The problem is that it doesn't come with a camera app loaded.

 

[Izick]

That's dumb, but it's easily rectified.

 

[Sanjuro]

To be honest, it's going to be dumb using that camera to take photos of anything.

AKA: Nexus 7 is going to lead the nation in blurry grey dicks.

 

[Raistlin]

Ah, yeah. I was just hoping you weren't going to go on a LOLAPPLE thing, that's all. If I've ever seen a Honeycomb tablet, I would have just walked by it at Staples or something. Other than that, I've seen a few people get those shitty Android knockoffs at CVS.

I mean ... they haven't sold that poorly ... but obviously relative to iPad there aren't as many out there.

Regardless my point was that all the Honeycomb tablets I recall were 1280x800.




Also contrary to Copernicus's post, unlike prior versions of Android there actually were HW requirements for Honeycomb though I don't recall if that res was the minimum, or if res definitely was part of the spec. Doesn't really matter for the point though

 

[kehs]

There have never been hardware requirements for android.

e: after cupcake

 

[timkunedo]

Hope we get some shipping notifications next week.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Hope we get some shipping notifications next week.

You and me both. My body is quivering in anticipation. Browsing GAF in bed will never be the same...

I'm in love with the 7in form factor, so if I can get the hardware to really be smooth and a silky smooth browsing experience, I'll take that.

 

[Raistlin]

There have never been hardware requirements for android.

e: after cupcake

Searching on Google, there seems to be conflicting info. Some claiming there was for Honeycomb, some claiming it ended up being false. Haven't found an official source though.

For example, I remember reading this article back in the day - http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/03/honeycomb-to-require-dual-core-processor-initially-tablet-only/

Right now I'm not about to kill myself searching around for official documentation (though I wouldn't mind knowing simply for the sake of knowing) ... because either way, it's immaterial to my point.

 

[kehs]

Google has their own hardware requirements for licensing out the Play store, but for android OS itself it's pretty much a "if it runs it runs" scenario.

 

[Vyer]

The Nexus 7 has a higher resolution than a good portion of 10" tablets. It's going to be fine, easier to hold as well.

Eh, IMO it's not enough to offset the size. Of course, I'm in a hi res 10" do it's a pretty sizable difference. Full page on that is great. The last time I read on a 7" it was the Fire.

Still, it's doable and certainly better than any phone at least.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Google has their own hardware requirements for licensing out the Play store, but for android OS itself it's pretty much a "if it runs it runs" scenario.

That's my biggest concern....the poor quality of the store and the potential lack of tablet optimization on the device.

My Kindle Fire is very bad on that front.

 

[Izick]

I think the App store can only get better for Android though. I honestly think this tablet will be a catalyst for Android becoming huge on tablets. Look how much fervor and attention this thing has been getting.

Personally, I haven't given a single shit about a non-iPad tablet at all up until the Surface, and then the Nexus 7. I'm guessing this thing sells like crazy, and a lot of people jump on the Android tablet train, and thus, things like the App store for Android will get bigger and better since the market is there. I think the Nexus 7 is going to change a lot of things for the better on Android.

 

[Sanjuro]

Eh, IMO it's not enough to offset the size. Of course, I'm in a hi res 10" do it's a pretty sizable difference. Full page on that is great. The last time I read on a 7" it was the Fire.

Still, it's doable and certainly better than any phone at least.

There are other options available then for reading devices. I normally use a third generation iPad, but it's too large, heavy, and gets too hot.

I think this would be the perfect solution. I'm only going to be using it for comic books alone and play with the new Google OS updates.

 

[NumberTwo]

I can't wait until this thing arrives on my doorstep. I'm eligible for a phone upgrade later this year, so my experience with a true Google device such as this may have me purchasing a Nexus. (currently using an iPhone 4)

 

[Cheebo]

I think the App store can only get better for Android though. I honestly think this tablet will be a catalyst for Android becoming huge on tablets. Look how much fervor and attention this thing has been getting.

Personally, I haven't given a single shit about a non-iPad tablet at all up until the Surface, and then the Nexus 7. I'm guessing this thing sells like crazy, and a lot of people jump on the Android tablet train, and thus, things like the App store for Android will get bigger and better since the market is there. I think the Nexus 7 is going to change a lot of things for the better on Android.

Well there is also the problem that a lot of the best App Store developers like Tapbots are Apple only and very loyal to that mindset. I mean even the Paper guys who came from Microsoft are pretty dead set on being iOS only. The Apple loyalty that results in them having a base of loyal fans applies to developers as well.

 

[Izick]

Well there is also the problem that a lot of the best App Store developers like Tapbots are Apple only and very loyal to that mindset. I mean even the Paper guys who came from Microsoft are pretty dead set on being iOS only.

For now. For now since there isn't a real reason to develop these things for Android or anywhere else. For now, until the market, and more importantly, the money is there.

 

[Cheebo]

For now. For now since there isn't a real reason to develop these things for Android or anywhere else. For now, until the market, and more importantly, the money is there.

A lot of these guys came from the Mac development scene, loyal Mac devs going back to the dark pre-Steve Jobs days in the 90's. They just now finally have a massive market place to shine in. Those guys, many of whom make the best iOS apps on the market aren't going anywhere. These are the guys who got tons of iPad apps out before it was even seen as a success.

Microsoft has a pretty large group of loyal PC developers too. Which will help the Surface have pretty good software support from day 1, this is an issue Android has with not coming out of a establish OS like Metro and iOS were with Windows and Mac OS. There is no 15-20+ year base of experienced devs who are very loyal and will be there day one for their new platforms.

 

[Izick]

A lot of these guys came from the Mac development scene, loyal Mac devs going back to the dark pre-Steve Jobs days in the 90's. They just now finally have a massive market place to shine in. Those guys, many of whom make the best iOS apps on the market aren't going anywhere.

Well, then there are always others. I don't know the tablet scene as well as you, so honestly, are there really so many of these types of people that it is noticeable, or is it only a small handful of developers?

There's always brand loyalty when there's a king with no visible usurpers in tow. Android definitely hasn't been a big dog, but the Nexus 7 is at least a rallying point, and will likely be a mark for when Android became more visible in the tablet market.

 

[Cheebo]

Well, then there are always others. I don't know the tablet scene as well as you, so honestly, are there really so many of these types of people that it is noticeable, or is it only a small handful of developers?

There's always brand loyalty when there's a king with no visible usurpers in tow. Android definitely hasn't been a big dog, but the Nexus 7 is at least a rallying point, and will likely be a mark for when Android became more visible in the tablet market.

How does that explain the smartphone market though? iOS has less marketshare than Android yet blows it away in app support, iOS has way more exclusives and gets all the big multi-platform apps like Flipboard and Instagram first.

Nexus 7 selling well won't fix this, Android smartphone sales hasn't really fixed the situation there either. Google has a lot of work cut out for them to appeal to devs at the scale of Apple and Microsoft, which I am unsure if they are able to do. MS and Apple have been building third party relationships for over 30 years. If you'd want simplify it to make a video game comparison Android would be the Wii and Surface/iPad would be the 360/PS3.

 

[virtuoso88]

A lot of these guys came from the Mac development scene, loyal Mac devs going back to the dark pre-Steve Jobs days in the 90's. They just now finally have a massive market place to shine in. Those guys, many of whom make the best iOS apps on the market aren't going anywhere. These are the guys who got tons of iPad apps out before it was even seen as a success.

Microsoft has a pretty large group of loyal PC developers too. Which will help the Surface have pretty good software support from day 1, this is an issue Android has with not coming out of a establish OS like Metro and iOS were with Windows and Mac OS. There is no 15-20+ year base of experienced devs who are very loyal and will be there day one for their new platforms.

Then other developers will come up and fill the need if there is one. Android is a lot easier to develop for and if there's a market/$$ someone will develop it.

 

[Izick]

Good post Cheebo. As I said, I don't know the tablet/smartphone market, but you seem to know you're stuff and make good points. I'm not sure what kind of Apps I need, then again, this is all kind of hard to say what I do or don't need, because I never had a tablet or smartphone before.

 

[Cheebo]

I mean though if all you want is to watch videos and browse the web as you say I am not sure why third party support would concern you too much though. I think you'd be fine either way. For you it'd be more of an OS preference I imagine. I'd watch some videos of Jelly Bean and iOS 6 on youtube.

 

[Izick]

I mean though if all you want is to watch videos and browse the web as you say I am not sure why third party support would concern you too much though. I think you'd be fine either way. For you it'd be more of an OS preference I imagine. I'd watch some videos of Jelly Bean and iOS 6 on youtube.

I just want something that is really smooth and reliable. I have always heard that ios fits that bill because it puts its resources into making sure that the UI is responsive, but Android seems to have fixed this as well with Jellybean.

 

[Raistlin]

Google has their own hardware requirements for licensing out the Play store, but for android OS itself it's pretty much a "if it runs it runs" scenario.

That's true for Android, but Honeycomb was a special case ... and that's what we're talking about.

Unlike traditional Android, Honeycomb was a fork that was not made immediately public. I don't recall if the source code was ever officially released, but if it was that was quite a long time after tablets had been released.

The entire point of doing that was so Google would have a ton of control over the HW. This is why we didn't see a bunch of 10" Honeycomb knock-offs with under powered specs, crap screens, etc. It simply wasn't available. Anyone that wanted to make a cheap 10" Android tablet had to use Android 2.x.

http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile...-source-will-never-exist-on-its-own-20110510/



Again though ... we're stretching further and further from the point.

 

[Vic]

How does that explain the smartphone market though? iOS has less marketshare than Android yet blows it away in app support, iOS has way more exclusives and gets all the big multi-platform apps like Flipboard and Instagram first.

Nexus 7 selling well won't fix this, Android smartphone sales hasn't really fixed the situation there either. Google has a lot of work cut out for them to appeal to devs at the scale of Apple and Microsoft, which I am unsure if they are able to do. MS and Apple have been building third party relationships for over 30 years. If you'd want simplify it to make a video game comparison Android would be the Wii and Surface/iPad would be the 360/PS3.

Are you debating which app store has the best "exclusives"? LOL, get out of here!

 

[Raistlin]

For now. For now since there isn't a real reason to develop these things for Android or anywhere else. For now, until the market, and more importantly, the money is there.

But Nook and Kindle actually have been pretty successful. And while there was a bit of an upswing in tablet app development due to them ... it's still way behind iPad.

Hopefully this will improve the situation, but I wouldn't assume that's guaranteed. And with MS entering the market, that's only going to add another place to look elsewhere for devs.

Are you debating which app store has the best "exclusives"? LOL, get out of here!

Yeah? Why shouldn't we?

Android's tablet app situation continues to be a problem. Any objective Android tablet user will tell you this. I've been using Android tablets for years, and unfortunately the situation simply hasn't improved sufficiently.

 

[rozay]

That's true for Android, but Honeycomb was a special case ... and that's what we're talking about.

Unlike traditional Android, Honeycomb was a fork that was not made immediately public. I don't recall if the source code was ever officially released, but if it was that was quite a long time after tablets had been released.

The entire point of doing that was so Google would have a ton of control over the HW. This is why we didn't see a bunch of 10" Honeycomb knock-offs with under powered specs, crap screens, etc. It simply wasn't available. Anyone that wanted to make a cheap 10" Android tablet had to use Android 2.x.

http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile...-source-will-never-exist-on-its-own-20110510/



Again though ... we're stretching further and further from the point.

I think it's possible that Google is the reason we saw all of the first gen tablets be Tegra 2 (as a result of using it for the reference platform aka the xoom) versus a single core chipset, which is unfortunate because the tegra 2 sucked gigantic amounts of dick when it came out and it still does.

I'm pretty sure the reality is that google does have say for devices that ship with google apps and very specific guidelines and requests for google experience devices. None of that is publicly viewable by us consumers though, aside from the Skyhook debacle.

 

[sca2511]

ugh, bhphotovideo item availability Aug. 15.

 

[tino]

I'm not sure that I'm following you?

Almost all 10 inch Android tablet have the same 1280x800 resolution, except the 1080p Tranformer Infinity. I am not sure if its out yet.

 

[Raistlin]

I think it's possible that Google is the reason we saw all of the first gen tablets be Tegra 2 (as a result of using it for the reference platform aka the xoom) versus a single core chipset, which is unfortunate because the tegra 2 sucked gigantic amounts of dick when it came out and it still does.

Was there really a dramatically better alternative at the time though? Certainly single-core SoC's wouldn't have been an improvement.

To be fair, Tegra 2 isn't all that terrible. Obviously it's sucks compared to current offerings, but it really wasn't the main issue I had with my Transformer. It was decent HW at the time.

I'm pretty sure the reality is that google does have say for devices that ship with google apps and very specific guidelines and requests for google experience devices. None of that is publicly viewable by us consumers though, aside from the Skyhook debacle.

It's kind of funny how we ended up on this derail.

Sanjuro Tsubaki made a statement regarding the resolution of 10" tablets. I simply pointed out the fact that in the Android world, their actual real tablets (ie. devices using the OS that is intended for tablets at the time - 3.x, not the phone OS - 2.x), were at 1280x800 ... and that now we have ones with higher resolution.

Copernicus then took offense to the term 'standard'. He assumed I meant 'requirement' which I didn't really didn't. I meant traditional, common, etc. because that's the resolution that the major Honeycomb tablets used. Actually that may be what they all used, but I'd have to look that up to confirm. Regardless it's what all the high-selling, marketed units had (Xoom, Transformer, Galaxy Tab 10.1, etc).



We then shifted to talking about whether Android has any sort of HW requirements ... so here we are. As you said, as far as I know the info hasn't really been made public. Or if it has, it's hard to come by since there's a ton of conflicting info out there.

The point though is that Honeycomb wasn't a traditional version of Android. It wasn't open sourced (or if it has, that came way later) ... and the only way to get it was to work directly with Google. Whether there were hard and fast HW requirements or not, Google obviously had a ton of say in it. And as far as resolution goes ... you just have to look at the products that were released.

 

[Vic]

Android's tablet app situation continues to be a problem. Any objective Android tablet use will tell you this. I've been using Android tablets for years, and unfortunately the situation simply hasn't improved sufficiently.

I'm just laughing at using the context of software exclusivity in console gaming in this discussion.

 

[Vyer]

RE: apps, I'm looking primarily for something my kid can use for entertainment, so I'm hoping Android will have a good amount of options like iOS.

There are other options available then for reading devices. I normally use a third generation iPad, but it's too large, heavy, and gets too hot.

I think this would be the perfect solution. I'm only going to be using it for comic books alone and play with the new Google OS updates.

For comic books? I think the tablet is still the best digital option as far as reading devices go. And I have no real problems with the 3rd gen really. The hi res 10" more then makes up
for any increase in weight for me, but certainly if you're looking for a decrease in weight 7" tablet is probably the best way to go.

 

[kehs]

I didn't take offense I was just correcting you.

 

[Raistlin]

I'm just laughing at using the context of software exclusivity in console gaming in this discussion.

Well ... if the show fits.

I didn't take offense I was just correcting you.

As usual though, you weren't correct.


¯\_(&#12484_/¯

 

[kehs]

Let me know when you track down the hardware requirements for android.

 

[Izick]

 

[Raistlin]

^^^ lol

Let me know when you track down the hardware requirements for android.

Move the goal posts some more. First off I wasn't originally even referring to requirements ... you made that assumption. Second, once we did start talking about requirements I was referring to Honeycomb, which is not standard Android.

Even if they aren't public, that doesn't mean they don't exist. Here's what we know:

1) Whether there were are weren't hard and fast requirements, unlike normal Android Google had direct say in the HW for Honeycomb. It was up to them. OEM's could not release Honeycomb devices on their own.

2) Whether resolution was or wasn't part of a spec, look at what was actually released. OEM's exist to sell devices. One of their ways of competing is to compete on price. Since no one to my knowledge has released Honeycomb tablets at lower res, one might infer Google was not receptive to it. Either way ... why are we continuing on this derail? The original point was answered.



The obvious fact here is that you either forgot or were not aware that Honeycomb wasn't a public release. It was a private fork of Android that Google had sole discretion over in terms of product release. So whether there was an official minimum requirements specification or not, functionally there was one. It's whatever Google felt it should be.

 

[Raistlin]

http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/screens_support.html

As you design your UI for different screen sizes, you'll discover that each design requires a minimum amount of space. So, each generalized screen size above has an associated minimum resolution that's defined by the system. These minimum sizes are in "dp" units—the same units you should use when defining your layouts—which allows the system to avoid worrying about changes in screen density.

• xlarge screens are at least 960dp x 720dp
• large screens are at least 640dp x 480dp
• normal screens are at least 470dp x 320dp
• small screens are at least 426dp x 320dp

Note: These minimum screen sizes were not as well defined prior to Android 3.0, so you may encounter some devices that are mis-classified between normal and large. These are also based on the physical resolution of the screen, so may vary across devices—for example a 1024x720 tablet with a system bar actually has a bit less space available to the application due to it being used by the system bar.

Oh look ... there are resolution requirements for Android ... and they were defined starting with Honeycomb

¯\_(&#12484_/¯

 

[Divvy]

My thinkpad tablet is getting sent back for repairs, so I think I want this tablet now.

Yeah, I think I do.

 

[kehs]

Good thing you didn't quote the dp definition as in "device independent pixel".

As in....abstraction of hardware that eliminates....wait for it....specific hardware requirements.

 

[killertofu]

Man this tablet is really tempting at the price. I've been borrowing a friends iPad and I've barely used my MacBook Pro to browse.
However, I'm not sure if I can make the jump to android again. I have a MacBook Pro and an iPhone so I'm kinda already in Apples ecosystem.

Does anyone feel like theyre in my situation?

 

[Izick]

I'm not quite sure I understand your problem. Is it that you don't like Android, and you prefer ios, or do you already have a lot invested in Apple stuff like the itunes store?

 

[killertofu]

I'm not quite sure I understand your problem. Is it that you don't like Android, and you prefer ios, or do you already have a lot invested in Apple stuff like the itunes store?

A bit if both actually. Jelly Bean looks nice but part of me just wants to stick with iOS.

I also jumped ship from android because of lack of apps (I moved from a G2x).

Does anyone know if they're gonna have this on display at Gamestops? I feel like getting a hands on would help me decide.

 

[Izick]

At Gamestops? I doubt it. I'm guessing it would more likely be on display at Staples, if they are indeed selling them. Who knows though, maybe Gamestop will make a big push to sell these, and thus have them on display to entice more people.

 

[killertofu]

That's a shame. It looks like a good product that needs to be pushed. Was the Amazon Fire ever put on retail?

 

[RJM77]

A bit if both actually. Jelly Bean looks nice but part of me just wants to stick with iOS.

I also jumped ship from android because of lack of apps (I moved from a G2x).

Does anyone know if they're gonna have this on display at Gamestops? I feel like getting a hands on would help me decide.

Not all gamestops sell tablets. the ones that do have them on display.

 

[Raistlin]

Good thing you didn't quote the dp definition as in "device independent pixel".

As in....abstraction of hardware that eliminates....wait for it....specific hardware requirements.

Except there are requirements regarding the DPI grouping for running content in 'tablet mode'. Based on the screen size grouping, you then calculate the minimum physical resolution.