The war was launched tablets and Christmas 2012 could be the scene of clashes between the ruthless largest manufacturers. Will there many survivors there in January? Is that Santa Claus is a Apple fanboy or an Android addict? These questions, we will answer later. For now, let us on one of the stars of this holiday season, the Nexus 7 Asus and Google. On paper, it has all the necessary qualities: perfect format for mobile use, enticing features, Android Jelly Bean 4.2 and, most importantly, an attractive price: 199 € for the 16GB version, € 249 for 32GB and € 299 for the 32GB with 3G +. At first glance, therefore, it is the 7-inch tablet at the moment. After spending a week in the shelling, this reputation is usurped it? This is what we will try to find out. Note that this is the 16GB version is tested here.

An object well finished, but some gaps on the connection

With almost 20 cm high, 12 cm wide and 1.5 cm thick, with a weight of 340 grams, the Nexus 7 fits perfectly in one hand and immediately finds its place in any bag. By comparison, the Kindle Fire from Amazon (its direct competitor) weighs 400 grams. Only the iPad mini can boast of being lighter, with only 308 grams on the scale. Useless to argue any longer: in terms of weight and size, the Nexus 7 is faultless. The back of the tablet has a plastic coating dive pleasant to touch, makes (some) think leather. It also allows you to avoid the risk of slipping when the catch a little abruptly. Rounded shapes remind them about the Dell Vostro 1400 and finish seemed very satisfactory. The only downside to the location of buttons and volume switch on the side, which seemed a little high and forcing the coup to slightly reposition his hand to reach them. A slight lack of ergonomics that we end up being quickly accommodate.

               
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In terms of connectivity, Asus and Google seems he decided to optimize maximum manufacturing costs and, where fans will be delighted simplicity, all the fans of hack will be disappointed. The Nexus 7 is in the simplicity and proposes, all in all, a mini-USB Host and 3.5 mm jack. And that's all. On this point, the tablet is behind the Kindle Fire HD, which itself has micro-HDMI port to send only content on the TV. Lack obvious here, as the Nexus 7 could be a perfect mobile media player. The radius of regret, we can also mention the lack of micro-SD port which would have increased the storage capacity of the device at low cost. Damage.

A beautiful screen messy, autonomy satisfactory

With a size of 7 inches and displays a definition 1280 x 800 IPS capacitive screen of the Nexus 7 won largely at first glance. The colors are true and hot enough, while the contrast is very good. This Pavilion DV2000 slab is clearly part of the top of the basket in the category of 7-inch tablets. In use, however, two things we regret, unfortunately common on this type of equipment: fingerprints coming soon and highlights important when there is a little light. The maximum level of brightness, meanwhile, could be a bit higher. Anyway, the screen of the Nexus 7 is one of the strengths of the unit.

 
THE mini-USB port of the Nexus 7, and its screen which clearly fingerprints

Autonomy is another important aspect of a tablet format. We had high hopes, and overall we are not disappointed. In video playback, the Nexus 7 is for a little more than 5:20 (on 720p) with Wi-Fi turned on in the background. Daily, if you use the camera so diligent and varied (games, Internet video playback, listening to music ...) you can have between 8 and 9 hours of battery life. Basically, a true addict Nexus 7 will reload at the end of the day to enjoy a decent hope. A typical use, it will be connected to a power outlet every two or three days. A very respectable average.

Performance at the rendezvous

Despite its small size and price, Nexus 7 enjoys an Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core, 1GB of RAM, the presence of an NFC chip and a 1.3 megapixel front sensor. This is certainly a Tegra 3 version T30L "only" 1.2 GHz, but our benchmarks have shown that rivaled the machine power, especially regarding the Inspiron 6000 battery performance of the CPU and the graphics, as you can see in the screenshots below.

 
SunSpider Benchmark AnTuTu 0.9.1 and 3.0.2 show excellent results

In practice, it is difficult to take the Nexus 7 in default. The Tegra 3 displays an almost total fluidity on 3D games more greedy (as long as they are optimized for the Nvidia chip) and video playback in 720p and 1080p is without any addict, a time hardware decoding enabled (though, oddly, the 1080p playback with VLC does not work well but goes perfectly with another soft). Ago when the memory is saturated few jerks open applications that are felt and the transition from one job to another may make a second. But overall, the performance of the Nexus 7 seem excellent and can take full advantage of Jelly Bean.

 
Whether in a game (here Dead Trigger) or in a video in 1080, the Nexus 7 provides.

Jelly Bean, a resounding success

Upon first use, the Nexus 7 shows its desire to become a reader of essential content. The widget library appears on the first window and some free books available can be started immediately. Generally, Jelly Bean 4.1 (after 4.2.1 update) has an interface fully in line with the tablet and we can only rejoice. Google has streamlined certain aspects to make the whole more intuitive and easy to access, but retains its basic OS "free" to the delight of hackers. Primarily designed to be used in portrait mode, Jelly Bean has some welcome news, as the replacement of the Android browser with Chrome, Dell Inspiron 1525 managing multitasking more visual, fluid and fun, and of course, the arrival of Google Now. And intelligent personal assistant, Google Now wants both a calendar, a reminder, a directory, a weather service ... Anyway, it's a little confusing at first glance, but in practice, Now optimize your journeys restaurants advise you when you are in the same geographical area, reminds you of your appointment when you arrive at work, and if you are friendly with him, you just tuck the evening by telling you a story ... In short, his omniscience can fear, it is true, but the performance is commendable. More generally, Jelly Bean seems to be a sort of culmination for Google, which has managed to excel on both the usability and simplicity of the range of possibilities.

So should it crack?

To recap: a 7-inch screen perfect for use in portrait mode, dimensions that just falls into the hand, a nice OS to use and very powerful, incredible performance for this price range ... The Nexus 7 hits hard and

HP Pavilion DV4  arises dream as a tablet to view content, and play. For those who want to do more (photo, writing, production of all kinds), you should know that the format is not very specific ideal. The lack of backbone prevents camera simply take snapshots and keyboard rather limited, can not type text in an optimal way (even if the automatic correction proves effective). This is obviously clean all shelves of this size, but we must be aware of. As it stands, the Nexus 7 is both an excellent reading light, a very good media player and a portable game console powerful.

Difficult to find fault with the Nexus 7. If we can blame him for some faults of taste, as the absence of micro-SD port or screen a little too messy, these complaints are that these defects chipotages and tiny compared to the qualities of the tablet from Asus and Google. It's simple, for this price, it will be difficult to find more efficient and complete with global access to the Play Store. A great success, which confirms the interest of major manufacturers for tablets powerful and affordable.

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