Google Nexus 7

[flu!d]

Im getting a bit sick of Google

It seems like they are forcing everyone to be as "vanilla" Android as possible. Well Google, vanilla Android sucks. There are no conveniences that are built in (eg basic picture editing from the gallery like rotations, DLNA, screen mirroring), it looks plain boring and why do they try force Google + down your throat at every turn?? oh, and why the f*** did they take out USB mass storage mode?!

I hated my Samsung Galaxy S4 to start with (preferred my Sony Xperia Arc S) but I have grown to really like it and what Samsung do with their skin. I have noticed that the main moaners about touchwiz are geeks on tech sites, well Samsung's 60% of the Android market share says that touchwiz isnt that bad folks!

Ive not become a Samsung fanboy, but I think Google need a swift kick in the nuts. And that new advert theyre doing about many different types of Android?! hahahaha, not the way they want it to be it isnt!

Rant done

Anyway, my Nexus 2013 has been behaving funny recently, it thinks Im touching the screen and Im not, or it rotates then doesnt rotate back, I have to reboot. Im thinking of getting the Hudl 2 or a Samsung Galaxy Tab S to replace it anyway. I love screen mirroring on my Samsung GS4, works fantastic with my smart TV so may go with the Tab S

I've owned a 2012 nexus 7, a Nexus 10, a nexus 5 and I now own a Nexus 9. I have also owned a Samsung S3 and I have to say vanilla Android smashes Touchwiz so badly it just isn't funny, and I find it very surprising that you find the real Android experience so limiting as I find there is very little that I can't do on my Nexus devices, in fact they're so versatile that they've all but completely replaced my cumbersome Windows based laptop.

I actually installed Cyanogenmod 11 on my N10 and totally recommend it, as soon as its avaliable for the Nexus 9 I'm all over it as IMO its the only thing better than vanilla Android.

 

[Snoozy]

I've been having an annoying (seemingly) common issue with my Nexus 7 where it won't seem to charge or power on at all when it goes completely flat. I can only get it back into life (eventually) by forcing it into the boot menu by holding down power and down buttons together straight after plugging in the charging cable. Very annoying.

This issue isn't however restricted to the Nexus 7. My wife's Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7" tablet also has this issue when it runs its battery completely flat. It just won't turn on and that was a nightmare to bring back to life too. So it seems to be an Android flaw, allowing the batteries to go too flat to let them initialise the hardware.

My wife has just got hold of a free Samsung Galaxy Note 10 (the original one) from her new school (was the old heads before she left and no one wanted it). I've been using it a bit and quite like the larger screen and also the stylus is actually quite useful at times. It also seems faster to use and smoother. Strange because I think other than the screen size it's pretty much identical in spec to her smaller 7" Samsung. Even the screen resolution is the same. Just shows you can't always go by specs alone.

I am seriously tempted to upgrade to either the Samsung Galaxy Tab S or the Nexus 9 in the new year.

Not meaning to be too controversial but I don't know why you guys just don't push the boat out a little further and get a proper IPad 3 or 4 (or Air)

I have Google Android tablets (3) and whilst they are ok, they pale in comparison to the Apple equivalent.

 

[flu!d]

I've been having an annoying (seemingly) common issue with my Nexus 7 where it won't seem to charge or power on at all when it goes completely flat. I can only get it back into life (eventually) by forcing it into the boot menu by holding down power and down buttons together straight after plugging in the charging cable. Very annoying.

This issue isn't however restricted to the Nexus 7. My wife's Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7" tablet also has this issue when it runs its battery completely flat. It just won't turn on and that was a nightmare to bring back to life too. So it seems to be an Android flaw, allowing the batteries to go too flat to let them initialise the hardware.

My wife has just got hold of a free Samsung Galaxy Note 10 (the original one) from her new school (was the old heads before she left and no one wanted it). I've been using it a bit and quite like the larger screen and also the stylus is actually quite useful at times. It also seems faster to use and smoother. Strange because I think other than the screen size it's pretty much identical in spec to her smaller 7" Samsung. Even the screen resolution is the same. Just shows you can't always go by specs alone.

I am seriously tempted to upgrade to either the Samsung Galaxy Tab S or the Nexus 9 in the new year.

Not meaning to be too controversial but I don't know why you guys just don't push the boat out a little further and get a proper IPad 3 or 4 (or Air)

I have Google Android tablets (3) and whilst they are ok, they pale in comparison to the Apple equivalent.

See I'm the opposite. I have a Nexus 9 and an iPad 4 here and I quite simply find the iPad 4 very controlled and therefore limiting. The hardware is nice, but iOS is downright awful. With the advent of Android 5.0 I can't see myself swapping my Nexus 9 for even an iPad air 2 any time soon, especially considering both tablets trade blows in the performance stakes.

 

[Harrison]

Same here. Apple make nice tablet hardware, but iOS is horrible and feels so dated now, and so restrictive and controlled.. not to mention it's reliance on one of the most horrible pieces of software ever, iTunes. Finally there is the price.. push the boat out a little futher? Don't you mean re-mortgage the house? Very over priced.

 

[protek]

Lollipop 5.0.2 for Nexus 7 2012 came available some days ago. It's definitely an improvement over the 5.0 in responsiveness. It's still not spanking fast but at least it's usable.

 

[CraigsBar]

Lollipop 5.0.2 for Nexus 7 2012 came available some days ago. It's definitely an improvement over the 5.0 in responsiveness. It's still not spanking fast but at least it's usable.

Oh I wish Google would hurry up and release lollipop for those of us with n7 3g and n7 LTE tablets. It's just not fair lol.

 

[Harrison]

I've been using Lollipop on my Nexus 4 for since the end of last year and I love it. The slow boot time and slow speeds of Chrome mentioned by some Nexus 7 owners here are not present on the Nexus 4 phone, so it must be some slower hardware issue with the older device. On the Nexus 4 is boots up really quickly and is really responsive. I wasn't sure I would like it after reading reviews, but once I got my hands on it its really nice to use. And once you get used to the differences compared to 4.4 it is much faster to use. Definitely my favourite mobile OS to date, and makes iOS look very dated and old fashioned now. I highly recommend anyone able to, to upgrade their Android devices to vanilla 5 as it is worth it.

I've not updated my Nexus 7 (2012) yet though because it isn't working properly at all. I can only get it to show signs of life if I connect it to one of my Samsung chargers, then after a few hours it will power on and boot up (takes ages to finish booting). It will then run OK for a bit, but if I leave it and come back a couple of hours later is is off and won't power on again. I'm guessing the battery has had it. I might replace the battery if they are not too expensive.. but I now have a Samsung Galaxy TabPro 10.1 which is so much faster, much nicer screen and I like to a lot more, so not really any need for the Nexus 7 any more.

I do however still prefer vanilla Android over Samsung's Touchwiz customisation. Little things bug me, like why change how you bring up the list of recent apps, and why do Samsung have the recent app and back buttons back to front compared to every other maker? But on my TabPro it is still very nice to use.

 

[Tajmaster]

<snip>

I do however still prefer vanilla Android over Samsung's Touchwiz customisation. Little things bug me, like why move how you bring up the list of recent apps, and why do Samsung have recent app and back buttons back to front compared to every other maker? But on my TabPro it is still very nice to use.

On the larger phones at least, its because most people are right handed and their thumb is close to the back button. Not sure about the tablets and smaller phones, maybe for consistency?

 

[Amiga Forever]

Is new Google tablets suppose be out anytime?

 

[Xanxi]

I've been using Lollipop on my Nexus 4 for since the end of last year and I love it. The slow boot time and slow speeds of Chrome mentioned by some Nexus 7 owners here are not present on the Nexus 4 phone, so it must be some slower hardware issue with the older device. On the Nexus 4 is boots up really quickly and is really responsive. I wasn't sure I would like it after reading reviews, but once I got my hands on it its really nice to use. And once you get used to the differences compared to 4.4 it is much faster to use. Definitely my favourite mobile OS to date, and makes iOS look very dated and old fashioned now. I highly recommend anyone able to, to upgrade their Android devices to vanilla 5 as it is worth it.

I've not updated my Nexus 7 (2012) yet though because it isn't working properly at all. I can only get it to show signs of life if I connect it to one of my Samsung chargers, then after a few hours it will power on and boot up (takes ages to finish booting). It will then run OK for a bit, but if I leave it and come back a couple of hours later is is off and won't power on again. I'm guessing the battery has had it. I might replace the battery if they are not too expensive.. but I now have a Samsung Galaxy TabPro 10.1 which is so much faster, much nicer screen and I like to a lot more, so not really any need for the Nexus 7 any more.

I do however still prefer vanilla Android over Samsung's Touchwiz customisation. Little things bug me, like why move how you bring up the list of recent apps, and why do Samsung have the back and buttons back to front compared to every other maker? But on my TabPro it is still very nice to use.

I have read this with interest. I have a nexus 4 but i have blocked all updates after 4.3 because i am fed up by new bugs after each upgrades. Besides i am conviced that each new update contributes to the so-called planned obsolescence. I have seen my previous android phones become unusable after two upgrades or more.

Do you confirm that i would be pleased with lolipop on my nexus 4? What about the battery?

 

[Harrison]

Nexus 4 with Android 5 compared to 4.4 is much faster to boot up, much more responsive to use, and the battery life is much better with wifi on and instant alerts and app updates on all the time (about 2 days).

Even 4.4 was much better than 4.3. I remember upgrading from 4.3 to 4.4 on my Nexus 7 and it made a big difference to performance, speed of the OS, and boot time. But the boot tome of Android 5 makes 4.4 look really slow. Well worth the upgrade, and the Nexus 4 doesn't suffer from any of the issues Nexus 7 owners have had, probably because of faster quad core and ram.

In use 5 isn't that different to 4.4. The back, recent app and home icons have changed to more simplistic ones, but still obvious. The pull down notifications have changed. You now see all pull down notifications from the locked screen and and can double tap them to unlock and open them. Pulling down from the top reveals notifications as before, but pull down again to reveal loads of handy quick setting toggles (such as data on/off) and some very useful things like flashlight). The recent apps has changed from a top down list and is now a carousel style. I didn't like it at first but probably prefer it now.

 

[NinjaRabbit]

I must concur. I use a Nexus 5, and Android 5 is very, very nice. I'd been skeptical about the upgrade after the couple before it had been just a little wonky, but it really does deliver on its promises. It's even made the previously not-very-good Hangouts considerably better to use for SMS.

On the Nexus 5, the recent apps list is the same as before, though, and not a carousel.

In fact, aside from some of the new iconography being a bit non-obvious at first, I've only encountered one issue with it, and that's if you're using the torch and the phone drops into sleep while you're doing so - you won't be able to use that feature again without rebooting the phone. But considering some of the major usability problems of some previous Android versions, this seems to be an incredibly minor non-issue.

 

[Xanxi]

Should i wipe the phone to default before upgrading to android 5 (in order to avoid fragmentation of davlik cache or this kind of things)?

 

[Harrison]

When you upgrade to 5 it will ask if you want to install with default setup, or keep your current setup. If you select keep current setup it will install but won't have any of the default widgets setup on your home screens, whereas if you select default setup it will keep your installed apps, but the home screens etc will all be as if it were a new setup.

 

[Xanxi]

Ok, i'm going to charge the battery to the max now, and do the upgrade.

 

[Xanxi]

I've upgraded all the way to 4.4.4 via OTA but no version 5 update is coming so far.

 

[Xanxi]

The 5.0.1 update has finally been installed on my nexus 4.
Indeed the speed is good, but i am a bit confused with this OS. What is the reason of changing the way to do basic operations such as going offline or cut the sound to vibrate? What are those awful calc and clock apps in replacement of the simple yet efficient similar apps in Android 4?
Not to mention that it has become quite dangerous to call someone while driving, because of several operations needed to find your contact, compared to the previous app.
I'm disappointed.

 

[Harrison]

Dangerous to call whilst driving? That's illegal here in the UK.

Yes, Lollipop does do things a bit differently, and it's a bit confusing to begin with, but after a few days it all falls into place and make sense. I mostly prefer it to 4.4 now.

 

[protek]

Whole bunch of the system software like Chrome, Youtube, Play and Mail were updated a few days after the Lollipop 5.0.2. That seemed to improve the overall stability and responsiveness, especially in the browser.

 

[Harrison]

Is that on the Nexus 7?

On the Nexus 4 I've not had any stability issues at all to date.

My wife's Samsung Galaxy S5 has now received it's update to 5 and seems to be working fine. With the Touchwiz UI Samsung users do sadly lose out on most of the new features because they are altered back to work as they did anyway on 4.4. The things that remain include the carousel style recent app screen, the camera and phone quick access from the locked screen, and the new style pull notifications.