Google Nexus 7 vs Apple iPad 3 review
The Apple domination of the tablet market will not come to an end soon, but there are plenty of contenders to the throne. HTC, RIM, Acer, Asus and Samsung have all tried to bring up tablets that will be at leas as good as the iPad. Amazon tried this with the Kindle tablet and had some kind of success, mostly due to the fact that the device is available only to the US market. Not to forget the fact that the Amazon Kindle is a somewhat limited device due to the Amazon ecosystem. On the other hand, Apple’s own ecosystem is far from open, but at least it offers a wider range of apps the users can install. Some time ago Google released their own tablet dubbed the Google Nexus 7. It is a 7 inch device that is sold at a low price. The Nexus 7 is currently sold for under £159.
We have tested the Nexus 7 and the Apple iPad 3 and here are our findings regarding the two tablets. We have taken a look at the screens, battery life, operating system, the apps that run on the two devices, the design of these two devices as well as their prices.
Let’s find out if Google’s Android device manages to top the Apple iPad 3.
Performance
it would be logical to consider that since the Nexus is half the price of an iPad 3, the performance of the iPad would have to be better. This isn’t what we have found out.
Asus was the manufacturer contracted by Google to build the Google Nexus 7 for them. Asus has a history of building quality devices (and here we would like to name the Transformer Prime). The Nexus 7 has an NVIDIA Tegra 3 chipset with four cores that run at 1.3GHz. It also has 974 MB of RAM memory. It is a fast tablet and benchmarks and real-world testing come as proof of that.
We made use of the GeekBench app to test the processing and memory of the Google Nexus 7. The tablet had a score of 1,494 which is one of the highest available for now. As a comparison, the Transformer Prime TF201 that also has a Tegra 3 chipset got a score of 1,550. The SunSpider JavaScript benchmark that we applied to the Google Nexus 7 took 1.799 ms to complete. This benchmark tests how fast web pages are loading. Apps that are demanding are handled beautifully by the Google Nexus 7.
The Apple iPad has a 1GHz dual-core A5X CPU. The RAM it has at it’s disposal is just a little bit more than that of the Google Nexus 7: 988 MB. But when tested with the Geekbench benchmark tool, the Apple iPad got a lower score than the Google Nexus 7 – a mere 750. The SunSpider benchmark displayed a score of 1,803 ms which is not a bad time.
Then we tested the two devices manually and gave them sites to load. The Google Nexus 7 loaded the BBC mobile site in three seconds on an ADSL connection. It loaded the same site in full desktop mode in 5 seconds. The iPad loaded the mobile BBC site in 4 seconds and the full site in 5 seconds. Also, when testing the two devices using games, the iPad didn’t do so well with demanding games like Real Racing HD or Infinity Blade II.
The Winner of this round is the Google Nexus 7
The Google Nexus 7 topped the Apple iPad 3 in both benchmarking scores and real-life use. Thanks to the NVIDIA Tegra 3 chipset, the Google Nexus 7 did very well during tests while the Apple iPad juddered just a little with 3D games.
Battery life
Now let’s see how the Google Nexus 7 and iPad 3 do in terms of battery life. The iPad is larger and thicker and so Apple has managed to insert a bigger battery in it. The battery in the iPad 3 is 70% larger than the one you will find in the Apple iPad 2. The capacity has also been boosted from 6,944 mAh to 11,666 mAh. With our test, the iPad 3 went on for 12 hours and 32 minutes. The iPad 2 has a 16 hours lifespan so this left us wondering. However, even with 12 and a half hours of battery life, the battery in the iPad 3 is still one of the best currently available.
The Google Nexus 7 has a 4,325 mAh battery and this provides only 8 hours and 48 minutes of battery life. This is still significant but it is well under the Apple iPad 3.
The winner of this round is the Apple iPad 3.
Display
Thanks to the Retina Display, the iPad 3 has a bright and pleasant screen. The device itself has a 9.7 inch display with a resolution of 1,536 x 2,048 pixels, bigger than most laptops sprout. As for pixel density, the iPad 3 has 246 ppi and this in turn offers crystal clear images.
Brightness on the iPad 3 is excellent. The brightness level in the Apple device is at 426cd/m2 and the contrast ratio is at 906:1. The text appears sharp on the screen and the colors are strong.
The Google Nexus 7 has a 7 inch screen that can go to a resolution of 1280 x 800. The pixel density in the Google Nexus 7 is of 216 ppi. The brightness factor in the Google Nexus 7 is lower than that of the Apple iPad 3, going at 330cd/m2 but the contrast is higher (1,110:1).
The Winner of this round is the Apple iPad 3.
Now we know why the Apple tablet is more expensive. The company devoted a lot of time to research and has assembled components that give you the best of the best. The Google Nexus 7 is still a good tablet but it can’t rival the Apple iPad 3.
Software
Here is the tricky part. The Apple tablet runs iOS while the Google Nexus 7 has Android on it. The two operating systems couldn’t be more different. Android is an Open Source OS while the Apple iOS is a closed-source OS. This means that there is almost no limit to how you can tweak the Android operating system. Also, the OS in itself is free, which weighs on the price. iOS on the other hand, being closed-source, leaves the users at the hand of the company that produces it, in this case Apple. Android also has more customization options but iOS is more intuitive and it seems to please a lot of people.
Both operating systems have encryption and both of them can be handled remotely (Apple is using MDM software while Android is using GDP -Google Device Policy).
Apple’s iPad 3 comes with Apple’s iOS 5.1. Users familiar with pas versions of iOS should feel at home with this new version. It brings apps such as Newsstand, iTunes, iBooks and the App Store. The latest version also brings iCloud to the punch and native integrated Twitter.
The downside of iOS is that users have to use iTunes if they want to transfer any files onto the device. This is a love or hate relationship and it is known that iTunes doesn’t run especially well on PCs. There is limited plug-and-play functionality as you can only transfer images, music, videos and some other files using iTunes.
The Google Nexus 7 runs Android 4.1 dubbed Jelly Bean. Widgets can be moved and resized on the screen and the OS also brings Google Chrome. Google Now will show you info about restaurants and weather sources, will show you attractions and transport information. There is no 3G functionality which kind of limits the tablet.
The best part in using Android is the fact that the OS is free and therefore more flexible. You have no restrictions when it comes to transferring files. The Google Nexus 7 is plug-and-play and you don’t need a special app like iTunes to move files to your device.
The Winner of this round is the Google Nexus 7
The Apple iPad 3 has a nice range of apps thanks to the App Store but Android 4.1 is triumphant. It runs smooth and offers a wider functionality than the Apple device.
Apps
There are currently 650.000 apps on the Apple App Store. Out of these, about 140,000 were designed to run on the iPad. There is a tight sense of security on the iOS and a closed-source ecosystem present. Apple checks every app thoroughly before submitting it to the public so you know that everything you download from there is clean and uninfected.
There are a lot of productivity apps available on the iPad. Some will do word processing, some will allow remote desktops to be show. The iPad also has access to a lot of magazines, newspapers and comics. All major titles are available for download for this tablet.
The Google Play Store has around 600,000 apps in it so the Google Nexus 7 has a place from where to choose. The quality of these apps however remains questionable. There are a lot of applications that are not useful at all and there is not so much you can do with 50 different titles that turn your tablet into a flashlight. Also, not all of these apps are designed for the tablet space. Google itself had to make a statement regarding the quality of these apps. Furthermore, the apps are not checked by Google before they are released to the public through the Play Store, so this means there is a high risk some apps will be delivered already infected. Google had some troubles with malware apps in the past but the good part is that these get vetted pretty fast by the users. One user downloading an infected app will usually report strange behavior and the app will get taken down. You can however keep the threat level to a minimum by installing some antivirus software that will scan each app after it is installed.
One downside when using a Google Nexus 7 is that users from the UK cannot use the Google Music Service at this time and newspaper titles are kind of limited as for now.
The Winner of this round is the Apple iPad 3.
If we were to be talking about smartphones, then this battle would have been over pretty quickly, since Android would have been named king in no time. However, when talking about tablets, the gap is wider and the Apple devices have the upper hand.
One factor that should encourage further development of apps in the Google Play Store would be the fact that there are a lot of other Android tablets out there and users are hungry for games and apps.
Design
There are not so many ways in which you can design a tablet and that is why almost all tablets look similar, no matter who makes them. One thing that differentiates the Google Nexus 7 is the fact that the device has absolutely no physical buttons on the front panel.
The Google Nexus 7 is lighter due to the size of it, weighing only 340 grams. The Apple iPad 3 on the other hand weighs 652 grams. You can hold the Google Nexus 7 with only one hand and your hand will not get tired. You can ever wear it inside your jacket pocket. The iPad on the other hand is heavier and will have to fit inside your bag or backpack. The Apple iPad is also one millimeter thinner than the Google Nexus 7.
The Apple iPad has the same metal back as the other iPads in the series whereas the Google Nexus 7 has a matte back that is pleasant to the touch. The Google Nexus 7 also has an USB socket.
This round is a draw between the Google Nexus 7 and the Apple iPad 3
The Apple tablet is a lot heavier than the Google Nexus 7 but you can’t argue about its quality. The Google Nexus 7 on the other hand is portable and can be held with only one hand. It is a lot easier to type on the Google Nexus 7 and the Google Nexus 7 also costs less. Which brings us to our next chapter:
Price
Right now the iPad is the most expensive tablet on the market. You will have to pay 399 pounds for the 16GB Wi-Fi model while the 3G version of 64G GB costs around 659 pounds.
The Google Nexus 7 on the other hand is much, much cheaper. There is no 3G model yet but the 8 GB WiFi model costs 159 pounds and the 16 GB WiFi model costs 199 pounds.
The Winner of this round is the Google Nexus 7
Both devices have a good value for money. The Apple iPad 3 is a premium object while the Google Nexus 7 offers almost the same stuff for a cheaper price. That would make a decision factor here would be the availability of software on the two devices. The Google Nexus 7 can enjoy fewer apps and games while the Apple iPad 3 has a wide range of games and apps.
Conclusion
There were seven categories in all and each tablet won three of those with one round a draw. If you want apps then we would recommend the Apple iPad 3. If price is what matters most to you then you should go with the Google Nexus 7.
