The Nexus 7 tablet is in the nexus of news, marketing and maybe controversy. There are two new how-to videos with tips for beginners as well as a new not-perfectly real Nexus 7 commercial.
The new commercial is airing for the Nexus 7 which may be considered misleading either that or there is a very good Wi-Fi connection.
A father is shown camping with his son in a wooded area. Daddy loves his Nexus 7, he shows dinosaur videos to his son, they roast wieners, read the Little Prince book, use the compass, use it as flash light, watch a Dr. Suess movie and view a satellite map of what appears to be their home.
Most of the the apps and videos could have been downloaded earlier. The commercial, however, makes things look much easier than they are. It also fudges reality a bit. We've found these bogus tricks:
- Bogus Trick 1 Geo Location - it is next to near impossible by pinch and zoom to get to your location with Google Earth without first tapping "My Location." It's easier to find your location in Google maps, but you would have to have a Wi-Fi connection for satellite view.
- Now Google Maps does have an offline feature but only for map view not satellite view. Wi-Fi outdoors could be as far as 300 feet outdoors which in the commercial would be very weak. We tried with a fairly new router801.11n) and didn't get past 60 feet before losing a connection with an Android phone, with router by a window. In theory, a home Wi-Fi network could be 300 feet if the antenna is outside. The reason why our Wi-Fi connection could have failed are interferance from the neighbors, the fence, trees and garage walls.
- Movie Rental or Download of Dr. Seuss - "Dr. Seuss the Lorax" is not available at the Google play store until August 7. To stream it there would have to be a very good Wi-Fi connection. A 90 minute video in HD is 6-10GB in size. Therefore it would fill up an 8GB Nexus 7 very quickly.
- If father and son are camping, don't they want to camp to get out into the great outdoors and not be looking at the little screen?
- A 7 inch screen is kind of small for sharing video, when there's big TV in the house. Most families would just carry the TV outside with a long extension cord.
- They capture a frog. Due to global warming it's really hard to find a frog anywhere, nowadays, nonetheless a backyard. However frogs do like to play Android games (see video).
- The commercial shows two males. Recent studies show a slightly higher Android use by men. 50.9 percent of female mobile subscribers carried smartphones in March 2012, compared to 50.1 percent for men. Previous studies showed women downloaded twice the amount of mobile entertainment content as men. There is now only a slightly lower percentage of females using Android than males. Therefore the Nexus 7 should also be marketed to women.
- Wi-Fi -only tablet would be impossible to use out in the real woods without a Wi-Fi hotspot provided that there is a cell tower for data access nearby.
- The the dinosaur video would have to be short or it would take up too much hard storage space.
What the Camping Commercial Did Get Right:
- The battery of life of the Nexus 7 does allow for nine hours of HD video playback, therefore Dad and boy would have plenty of battery life.
- HD Movies are available in the Google play store at 16:9 resolution however the streaming of such videos would be hard out in the backyard even with an excellent Wi-Fi connection or would require a mobile hotspot.
- The Nexus 7 makes a good e-book reader.
- The Nexus 7 is viewed in the dark at night, may screens are hard to see in daylight. Dad and son would have a bit more trouble during the day.
- Fathers and sons do like to play with their tech toys together.
Nonetheless the Nexus 7 is selling very well in fact selling out through some online venues. It has been seen in Best Buy stores and is available in the Google Play store, you have to pay shipping.
If you do want to take your Nexus 7 camping , the 8 GB of storage may be a problem. Since there is no microSD card option, you may want to opt for the 16 GB model. Walmart has the 16B model in stock for 249.99 with options to of ship to store for free or 97 cent shipping BUY which should include the $25 Play store credit
There have been some quality issues reported with the Nexus 7 and delays in shipping.
Currently, in the Nexus 7 is the only tablet to ship with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, some contend that since the 10" Wi-Fi Xoom tablet will be updated, soon, it is bigger better tablet experience. We have not seen any reports of marriage proposals, yet on the Wi-Fi Xoom.
An interesting take on the advertising. 802.11n routers can go up to 600ft outside which the Nexus 7 does support. Personally, I use my desktop computer to store all of my media and can stream 1080p anywhere on my network with a mere second to buffer so I'm not sure what the issue would be with streaming a lower quality video to a tablet (which provided Google's new fiber lines work out we could do at even more phenomenal rates!). On a more humorous note I'm not sure how catching frogs is relevant to non-technophiles understanding of the device but where I used to live in Ontario I could walk out into the great outdoors in my backyard and suburbia in the front yard so the ad really strikes a fond note for me.
Congratulations on living in a place where there are still frogs and having such great Wi-F distance.
I don't think that was what the author was implying. I know GSM iPhones didn't get the ability to do Mobile Hotspots until iOS 4.3 so it may just be the case that the author mistakenly thought you would need to tether to perform the same task with an iPhone.
Thanks for sticking up for me. I've fixed some parts of the article due to your feedback. I miss frogs, haven't seen any for years.
I have a Nexus 7 16GB. I currently have three feature length films downloaded on the device. They look great. And I still have 7 and a half gigs of available space.
367 minutes total of film time. That's as much as four 90 minutes films.
With a 8GB model, you'd be out of space by now.
Certainly for terms of a device with no data plan a microsd slot is immeasurably increase the usefulness. In this situation you're limited to changing out the apps and content on a device only when you have access to a computer with media already on it or when your device has a stable wifi connection. Camping would be one of those situations where you probably have neither your computer or wifi connection so point made, the advertising is somewhat counter-intuitive.
I think the marketing crew does not realize how busy mothers are and how frequently we are stuck sitting in the car or waiting for the kids to come out of camp and the only way we can check our lives in e-mail is either on a smart phone or a tablet. I don't remember a time when I was able to sit down at a computer for more than 20 min.
I am also responsible for buying the technology for my family. I've tried to keep the iPad away from a two-year old and it was next to impossible. He kept crying and crying until we gave him the iPad. Eventually we we sold the iPad on eBay.
I agree kids have too much technology and should be just out playing in the yard instead of playing on iPhones or even tablets for that matter.
Marketing may get warm and fuzzy about children and technology will what's going to happen in 20 years when the kids can't see and their fingers are all swollen with arthritis from tapping screens and playing games?
I agree that the Nexus 7 is too small. It's okay for viewing a few things, but it like reading a paperback book, its not the same as a full size one.
The average paperback that I'm used to has an 8" diagonal but only a 6.8" reading area (Paperback "A Format"). Granted there are other sizes and it varies by publisher but I have that the screen should be more than adequate for reading your average paperback. The book in the commercial (atleast the copy I had) was an 11" diagonal so it may not work so well on any device but I see they produce the English translation now in the "A Format" as well.
Suppose a Nexus 7 falls in the woods, can anyone hear it? Does it break?
I think it's too easy for people to bash new products, especially if they have no idea how much work it is to create something that is so cutting edge. The reviewer's set a standard that is near impossible to meet with present technology. Even the iPhone has antenna gate. The marketing people however, try to make it to dreamy. A tablet isn't going to repair a relationship between father and son. Nothing is perfect. I wouldn't buy the Nexus 7, because I don't like frogs.