How are we supposed to talk about the various table models? First Apple comes out with the third version of the iPad, which isn’t called the iPad 3, but rather the “New iPad”. Now Google updates the Nexus 7, and calls the new product the “all-new Nexus 7” – note the demure lower case. Well, I called the “New iPad” the iPad 3, and I’m gonna call the “all-new Nexus 7” the Nexus 7ii. Maybe it should be the Nexus 7.2, or the Nexus 7 Rel 2, or something else; I’m open to ideas. But in this post it’s the Nexus 7ii.
I ordered the 32 GB version from Best Buy, because I was too slow on the trigger to get it from Google. As I was completing my order, I noticed that Amazon was offering it. I could have abandoned the Best Buy order and gotten it from Amazon, but I thought I’d try Best Buy. Not a good move.
I ordered the tabled on Friday morning (7/26). There was a box that I could check to get the device by Monday for an extra $15. I checked it, even though I could have gotten a Monday delivery from Amazon for $3.99 more. When I didn’t have a tracking number by Monday, I emailed customer service. Without ever apologizing, they said that it would ship on Monday or Tuesday. It shipped Tuesday. I got it today.
The smallish Google box came inside a significantly larger Best Buy box, with no padding. In spite of that, the unit appeared undamaged. I opened it up. Utilitarian packaging, nothing like Apple, but then again you don’t feel guilty when you pile it into the recycling bin. Tablet, wrapped in a single piece of easily-removable plastic – nothing like Apple’s profusion of something barely thicker than Saran Wrap, USB wart, USB cable, minimal instructions.
When I stripped the plastic off, it felt smaller and lighter than my old Nexus 7. I lined the two up. It’s a god quarter of an inch narrower, a bit taller, and somewhat thinner. The width reduction is key for me. I always thought that one of the great virtues of the old Nexus 7 is that it would fit in an inside sport coat pocket. The iPad Mini doesn’t come close. Still, the old Nexus 7 was kind of a tight fit. You didn’t always manage to holster your tablet every time you tried. The Nexus 7ii slides in with room to spare.
I powered it up. About half a full charge on the battery. It asked for the Wi-Fi code and I gave it. Then it performed a “mandatory” software upgrade, which was accompanied with very little in the way of progress indicators. After it came back up, I reentered the Wi-Fi credentials and my Google account information. Then I was in, but I was looking at an unfamiliar set of screens.
It had been a long time since I’d gazed upon out-of-the-box Android. I fumbled around and found the Settings control, and made sure that I was set up to backup to (and presumably restore from) Google. But there didn’t seem to be any restoring going on. I brought up Google Play and tried to install the Kindle app. That was when I noticed that it was downloading all the apps from my old Nexus 7. I made sure that the USB charger was plugged in and went away.
After an hour, it didn’t seem to have made any progress.
Stay tuned.
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