Nexus 7 in 2018?

[hat]

Been looking at getting a decent tablet. We currently have a Dell Venue 7737, which has been... mostly horrible. Chrome lags horribly on it, even browsing sites without a lot of heavy (flash, videos etc) content. The Nexus 7 was the tablet back to have back in the day, is it still a viable choice today? Does it get bogged down surfing the web? Playing online web based games? General use still good?

 

[Kursah]

My 2012 Nexus 7 (first gen) could barely handle Google browsing a year or two ago. Rolling back to an older version of Android helped.

The 2nd gen 2013's were supposed to be noticeably better but still that's pretty damn old tablet-wise. Not sure how it'd perform but I'd suggest looking for something a little newer unless you found a very good deal.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I have a Nexus 9 and it's a POS. It doesn't have enough RAM, as over half is eaten up by the system, so it's quite sluggish. The build quality is also terrible.
I'd say all the Nexus models are past their prime by now, as you're not going to OS updates any more, so unless you can find a good third party firmware, they might not work with a lot of things coming out.

 

[silentbogo]

The Nexus 7 was the tablet back to have back in the day, is it still a viable choice today?

It is OK, but only if you have no other choice and only if it's temporary.

My 2012 Nexus 7 (first gen) could barely handle Google browsing a year or two ago. Rolling back to an older version of Android helped.

You should try rollin up to Nougat. That's the only cure for Nexus7 2012. Only takes 20-30 minutes for the entire procedure.

 

[hat]

Wouldn't a later version of Android require more resources and therefore perform worse?

 

[silentbogo]

Wouldn't a later version of Android require more resources and therefore perform worse?

Trust me, I've already done it a dozen of times on 2012 version. You still get around 400MB RAM usage at startup, but almost all general usage lag is gone and there is no stuttering in Chrome, youtube etc. And no more crashes due to insufficient RAM. If you opt in for a lighter distro (Carbon for example), you may be able to shrink the RAM usage down a bit more.

Right now I have one of those tablets here on my desk, running AOSP 7.1.2 from an official google branch. It was the last dev. update for N7-2012 after the entire support of this platform ended.

The only problem on Nougat(regardless of distro), is that the front camera only works for Skype, but if you attempt to install camera applet from the play market, and make pictures then you'll get pixelated blobs (basically looks like a digitized photo from early 90s in 256 colors and 320x240 resolution).

 

[TheLostSwede]

Wouldn't a later version of Android require more resources and therefore perform worse?

Actually, no, as Google has reduced the memory usage and made a lot of overall improvements. This is why later versions of Android run quite well on lower-end hardware, whereas older versions can struggle on fairly high-end hardware.

 

[GreiverBlade]

I have a Nexus 9 and it's a POS. It doesn't have enough RAM, as over half is eaten up by the system, so it's quite sluggish. The build quality is also terrible.
I'd say all the Nexus models are past their prime by now, as you're not going to OS updates any more, so unless you can find a good third party firmware, they might not work with a lot of things coming out.

i use a Nvidia Shield Tablet (custom ROM 5.1.1 Zombiepop no need for Marshmallow/Nougat/Oreo they don't bring significant improvement for it) and it's still way more than enough, even with 2gb ram, and never sluggish ... (well the Tegra K1 powered tablet are still amough the top scorer even some years later ) still runs fin, even better than a fully upgraded one with oficial OTA (only downside, some apk aren't compatible luckily not the one i use ) no stutter all games play perfectly fine.

even funnier it's a 1st gen K1 and use a quadcore Cortex A17 and the Nexus 9 used a dualcore custom Denver core, but wasn't better performing, it was more like "on par" ... or rather was sometime a tad slower, well .... 4 x A15 is just as good as 2x 64bit custom core

it's still my daily driver and can still be one for anybody who find a Shield tablet/shield tablet K1 even in second hand

the Nexus 9 should still be good but the Tegra 4 powered Nexus 7 would be a limit (for reading/browsing/audio-video even for some games as long as not 3D)

 

[TheLostSwede]

Except the Shield wasn't made by HTC...
The Nexus 9 is POS that's falling apart. Doesn't matter how good the SoC is if the rest of the hardware is crap.
Android 7 is the only thing that made it slightly better, but not by much.

 

[FYFI13]

Mine works alright. I have flashed custom ROM (7.1.2), then got rid of all bloatware. While it is slower than my phone (LG G6) but i'd say it's very usable.

 

[Ramo1203]

I would not recommand the Nexus 7. I have the 2012 version and it's a POS!
It worked great at first and now it lags horrible even for basic tasks. I tried factory reset but I heard the NAND is total garbage.
The device aged really bad! Try getting something else, more recent instead.

 

[GreiverBlade]

Except the Shield wasn't made by HTC....

no? seriously? well ... your main argument was "only 2gb" which is common to the 2 devices hence my post (tho it might be funny .... but they've been talk'n rumor about HTC being the OEM behind the Nvidia Shield Tablet also )

Android 7 is the only thing that made it slightly better, but not by much.

actually .... 5.1.1 is fine

tho i semi agree the Nexus 9 is a POS compared to the Shield Tablet it was, also, way too expensive compared to it .... even with the initial 350$ price tag from the Shield Tablet where i live, well, once it reached the price tag of 199$~ with the Shield Tablet K1 (which still used the K1 32 instead of the K1 64 which proved that it was a fail), every tablet from 2014 to 2018 are ... in the end ...

The Nexus 9 is POS that's falling apart.

i hope the physical issue with it are not user induced ... my friends N9 is still holding fine on that side (and on the software side .... he's also on a 5.1.1 custom ... )

we are usually playing WoT and WoWs Blitz together and aside a few stutter on his side .... no issues whatsoever (blame the excessive resolution .... for a 8-8,5" 1920x1200 is more than enough ... )

 

[Space Lynx]

Maybe something like this, that is a little more up to date. $149, Android 7.1, 3gb ram, harmon kardon speakers. 1920 x 1200

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834324025&ignorebbr=1

 

[Bot]

Lenovo ZA1N0007US Yoga Tab 3 Plus QHD 10.1 inch Android Tablet (Qualcomm Snapdragon 652, 3GB RAM, 32GB SSD,Android 6.0), Black
i bought this one a little over a year ago. It is getting a little long in the tooth but works great. Had a pretty good experience with it. It is at Android 7.1.1 right now and knowing Lenovo it won't get much past this. On stock ROMs anyway. runs smooth and cool, touch works well and i haven't noticed much more than micro stutter. well worth the extra money