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
One of the biggest complaints I had about the original Nexus 7 was connectivity, as it only included 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n support. The hilarity of that situation was only compounded by the fact that Google could only demo the Nexus 7 at that Google I/O plugged in through USB-OTG Ethernet adapters because 2.4 GHz is effectively impossible to use at conferences. With the new Nexus 7, dual band (2.4 and 5 GHz) WLAN is now included with a WCN3660, Qualcomm’s companion WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n, BT 4.0, and FM Tx/Rx combo (though FM features aren’t enabled on the Nexus 7 2013).
Performance is correspondingly improved, and if you’re in an urban area where 2.4 GHz is congested beyond use, this makes the difference between an unusable brick and working tablet. Many have asked, why not WCN3680 (the 802.11ac enabled successor to 3660), the answer is of course, you’re talking about a ~$200 tablet, stuff like this understandably has to be n–1 without making the bill of materials untenable.
There’s also GNSS (GPS+GLONASS) on the WiFi only model which I tested, this goes through WCN3660 and into the baseband on APQ8064 in this configuration I believe. I’ve had nothing but great success with Qualcomm’s GNSS being the fastest out there to 3D cold fix, that holds true with the Nexus 7 (2013), even walking around the urban canyon scenario that San Francisco poses to GNSS.
Charging
The Nexus 7 (2013) is Qi (pronounced: “chee”) enabled, the de-facto wireless charging standard of the now. The Qi charger area is dead center in the middle, using a coil inside of the NFC one. That makes positioning easy.
I tossed the Nexus 7 on my Energizer Qi two-position mat when I got home, and it works perfectly, of course Qi can only charge at up to 5 watts. The in-box supplied charger is a 1.35 A variant, which isn’t anything special. Connected to my special linear power supply and battery charge downstream port controller which negotiates the proper standard, I saw the Nexus 7 (2013) draw a max of 1.32 A (6.6 watts), which makes sense given the supplied charger. I don’t have a 0–100 percent charge time number yet.
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hughlle - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Agreed, what is the issue. I do not know whether my N10 has dual line in line out for the very reason that I have absolutely no reason to have tested it, the built in microphone is more than sufficient in terms of quality for video calls and such.Hrel - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
Seriously with the no 802.11ac? It's 2013, no wireless devices should be shipped without 802.11ac; that's stupid.Arbie - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
-No micro-SD = no sale. As the author notes, tablets are widely used for watching videos. With SD you can swap media sets in and out infinitely faster than any other way. Like... 16GB in 5 sec. Google and Amazon can continue to pretend that it doesn't matter, but that's obviously idiotic. I'll buy something else, that's designed for ME. The price difference is worth it for a such major feature.
fteoath64 - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
Yeah. No SD no sale for many out there. Look at HTC, almost going OUT OF BUSINESS for omitting such a simple thing. In fact, none is so bold as to provide TWO microSD slots!!!. People looking to MicroSD slots flocking to GS4 by the millions and millions!, Like over 10 million!.darwinosx - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
Good for the few how care. Very few devices have them now and soon none will. Get used to it.netmann - Tuesday, July 30, 2013 - link
Can someone please review Nokia Lumia 1020 since 920 review was skipped!darwinosx - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
Yeah! There's like 3 people who care!!Travis Jackson - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Very tempting... However, I think I'll wait a few months to see if a "Bay Trail" equivalent turns up - Preferably something with the same resolution (1920x1200), but an 8-inch screen.I would gladly pay extra for Intel inside.
fteoath64 - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
Forget Intel's BS of a chip for any tablets. Their gpus are so slow, you might only be watching videos and not playing cool games you wanted. Sorry, that chip has been left behind unless you are after a Windows RT tablet ?!.! Why would you want that ?.KDOG - Saturday, August 3, 2013 - link
No HDMI?? Why? It seems backwards that the Nexus 10 - with its already easier to view bigger screen has a HDMI out port but the smaller one - that you'd be more likely to want to send out to a bigger screen - doesn't have one. Its not like the hardware wouldn't support it.