CODE EXCEPTIONS

First – a note on the hardware. Despite the price, it feels like a solid, well-made, quality product. Both the screen and casing feel and look good.The software – pretty simple, robust and performant. I suspected it might be a poor cousin to the iPad’s iOS but in UI and responsiveness terms it’s at least the equal of iOS.

We all know that Android 4.2 aka Jelly Bean brings -this device is quite noticeably heavier than an Amazon Kindle – and that is one area where the specification of the iPad mini looks to be a winner.Google speech search is great fun to use and pretty accurate. The GPS on this device made travel abroad fun, especially with location features on.Unit size and weight is just right, easy one handed use for long periods. Web pages display well on this device, often loading the mobile/smart phone site, but easily switched to the full sites. Movies look great. Fantastic range of game apps.

According to the Guardian :

The Guardian understands that Google’s planners had thought that buyers on the Google Play store, more than from physical or online retailers, would be more committed to the company’s “cloud” concept, and so would have more of their content stored online, rather than wanting to keep it on the device.

The Nexus 7  appears to have been a huge hit, although Google has not yet released any figures for sales. Its principal competitors for sales in physical stores such as Currys and PC World in the UK are Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle Touch. A spokesperson for Dixons Retail, which sells all three, said sales of the Nexus 7 have been “extremely brisk” but declined to say where it ranked against the other two.

In the UK, Tesco is understood to have turned down a number of orders made online for the 16GB version after overwhelming demand. It is not selling the 8GB version.Google has seen huge demand for the Nexus 7 since announcing it on 27 June and offering online ordering directly from the Google Play online store, followed a few days later by the announcement that a number of physical retailers would be selling it.