Nexus 7 (2013) - Mini Review
by Brian Klug on July 27, 2013 12:54 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Snapdragon
- Qualcomm
- Android
- Mobile
- APQ8064
- Nexus 7
- Android 4.3
The lack of a rear camera on the original Nexus 7 was always a bit of a downer. It clearly had the space for a module inside, but including a camera didn’t align with the efforts to drive that device into the price point that made it successful. With the new Nexus 7 we finally get a camera, and a 5 MP one with autofocus at that. Inside the camera is an OV5693 sensor, which best I can tell is a 1/4" format sensor with 1.4 micron pixels. It might not be the world’s best camera, but it’s no slouch either.
I took a handful of photos and videos with the Nexus 7 (2013) to gauge camera quality, and even if this isn’t necessarily a device with focus on imaging it’s not bad at all. I came away pretty pleased for what kind of camera it is. Even though I still strongly believe that you shouldn’t be using a tablet to take photos you intend on using for anything more than sharing on social networks, in this brave new era of mobile devices it’s a feature every tablet and smartphone does need.
I’ll save you the discussion once again about how the Android 4.3 camera UI continues to present a 16:9 aspect ratio crop of the 4:3 image captured by the sensor, which results in a smeary looking, inaccurate preview.
Video on the Nexus 7 (2013) is 1080p30 at 12 Mbps, H.264 Baseline with 1 reference frame, and 96 kbps 48 KHz single channel AAC audio. I've uploaded a sample I took in SF to our servers as well as YouTube. Again I’m dismayed why more OEMs don’t use the full encode capabilities of APQ8064 (20 Mbps H.264 High Profile) but that’s what it is by default on the new Nexus 7.
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Laksefar - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
Sadly Google Voice is not available in my country. And although there are plenty of other voip apps I could use instead with any tablet it would not work for the majority of the people who only call me on my GSM phonenumberedsib1 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Does the new Nexus 7 have Miracast support ?? The old one didnt.Mr.Draper - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I was wondering the same thing, I have seen no mention of Miracast. Is Google trying to kill Miracast and push people towards Chromecast?jt122333221 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
The Nexus 4 supports Miracast, but I can't find any info on Product Pages on Amazon, GPlay, or other pages that directly say Miracast, so it's entirely possible (I'd say definitely likely) that it has Miracast support.barich - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
It definitely supports Miracast. Mine has the wireless display option available. The better question is why Chromecast doesn't.nerd1 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
I am now seriously considering to replace my galaxy tab 7.7". It'll be great if they make a slightly larger version (I like 8" alot more than 7" myself) and enable voice call capability for LTE models.eek2121 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Purchase this tablet from staples yesterday after being a holdout for years. Its amazing! Also, nice review!baileyjr1972 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
So Brian, does this mean the SOC will support openGL ES3 like the "official" S600+S800 chips?Brian Klug - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Absolutely, OpenGL ES 3.0 is demonstrated in the initial video, if it's Adreno 3xx, it has OpenGL ES 3.0 support beginning with Android 4.3-Brian
Sunburn74 - Saturday, July 27, 2013 - link
Would like to see HDMI out from this thing so it can be used as a mini media server/netflix streamer.