Why the Nexus 7 succeeded where others failed

May 10th, 2013

Peter Nolan

I’ve been using this photo for Nexus 7 blogs for about a year now, because, like the tablet, despite its age, it’s still the best.

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

While it’s clear to me that the Nexus 7 is the most popular pure Android tablet yet, some of the more skeptical of you out there may require more than more than my (however informed) word before you too believe it so. According to data compiled by Handset Detective and a bit of clever maths by analyst, Ben Evans, it’s pretty clear that the Nexus 7 is the most popular pure Android tablet yet. Especially in the U.S., but other markets have also been strong supporters.

I’d even say that the
Nexus 7 deserves a decidedly corpulent chunk of credit for giving the overall Android tablet market a boost. Yes, Amazon found success with the first version of the Kindle Fire, but the lack of expected
tablet features (no camera, no volume button) and an intentionally closed-off OS left those looking to do something more than watch movies, TV shows, or read books, unsatisfied.

So why has the Nexus 7 found so much success where other pure
Android tablets (remember the $400, 7-inch Springboard? Neither do most) seemingly haven’t? Short answer: it’s nearly a perfect combination of power, design, and features at a relatively low price and as such is the first tablet to really get the whole high-quality/low price tablet thing right. The long answer (which you can find below) is a bit more complicated (and more time-consuming to write) than that. Let’s dive in.

It’s fast (enough)

The Nexus 7 houses the Tegra 3 system-on-chip, which includes a quad-core CPU (with a fifth low-power core) and a 12-core GPU which made it fast enough to smoothly run the latest Android games while rendering 1,024,000 pixels (1,280×800 resolution). It’s a fast chip, but even at the tablet’s launch, it wasn’t the fastest. Apps load fast, but not super-fast. Just fast enough not to try the patience of most users.

So while it may not win any benchmark contests, it also won’t leave you staring impatiently at your screen for long periods of time, twiddling your thumbs while you wait for a large app to load.

No, it’s not console quality, but the Nexus 7’s performance is nothing to shake a phased plasma rifle at.

(Credit:
Eric Franklin/CNET)

Lesson learned: The Nexus 7 was never the most powerful tablet — the third generation iPad had it beat at launch, as did the Transformer Prime –, but it didn’t have to be. It simply utilized high-quality components (in this case: a powerful CPU/GPU combo, fast RAM, and an optimized OS) resulting in apps that opened quickly, games that ran smoothly, and Webpages that downloaded in due haste. If a tablet can manage that, most users will walk away with a positive impression and will likely tell their friends when the time comes.

Its screen is densely packed

With pixels that is. Screen quality is one of those things difficult to appreciate before experiencing an actual quality screen. And by “quality screen”, I simply refer to one that delivers sharp images and wide viewing angles — meaning that from no matter which angle you view the screen, you can still clearly see its contents. The Nexus 7 features a 1,280×800 resolution, equalling 216 pixels-per-inch (ppi). The In-Plane Switching (IPS) panel delivers the wide viewing angles.

The Nexus 7 makes for one of the best reading experiences you can have this side of a dedicated e-reader.

(Credit:
Eric Franklin/CNET)

Recently some 7-inch tablets (like the HP Slate 7 and Asus Memo Pad ME172V) have cropped up looking to get a piece of the Nexus 7’s success. But while these upstarts feature lower prices, they make the mistake of not taking screen quality as seriously, with the thought that a cheaper screen will cut down on costs, making a more appealing overall package. At least from a price perspective.

However the vast majority of your interactions with a tablet are conducted through its screen. So you’ll look at it. A lot. And while human adaptability comes into play, allowing you to get used to a low-res screen, as more apps are released that take advantage of high resolutions you may eventually start pining for something sharper.

Of course, resolution won’t be as important to everyone, but I’m willing to bet that those that are tech savvy enough to even know what a Nexus 7 is, will also appreciate its screen clarity. With the advent of HDTV, Blu-ray, and computer monitors and laptop screens that feature a minimum resolution of 1,280×720, we’re quickly getting to a point where jagged images stand out to us. Even if rough text on a tablet screen doesn’t necessarily bother us, we’re today much more likely to notice it than just a few years ago.

The Nexus 7’s screen was demonstrably better than most other 7-inch tablets at the time of release and that was enough to be impressive at launch. It’s certainly not as impressive now, but again, like it’s performance: it was good enough to deliver smooth text and images, which is all most user want from their screens.

It rolls with the latest version of Android, always

The Nexus 7 shipped with Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and was continually updated whenever a new version of the OS was released. 4.1 marked a vast improvement over the previous version of the OS, with smoother performance, more accurate typing, a Siri-like voice assistant, and Google Now. Compared to Android 4.0, the home screen felt much more focused with an iOS-like look, while retaining the customizations Android has always been known for.

Android 4.2’s settings shortcut menu is one of those small, but effective additions.

(Credit:
Eric Franklin/CNET)

One of the biggest Nexus 7 selling points was that for awhile it was the only place you could access these exclusive features on Android. And this trend has continued as Google tablets (including the Nexus 10) still serve as ginueu pigs for the latest version of Android, sometimes featuring new features and performance improvements for months before another tablet catches up. That’s powerful, useful support you don’t get on any other Android tablet.

It’s extremely comfy

Google and Asus got the Nexus 7’s design right. Not perfect (I still feel the bezel is too narrow), but right. It’s a no-frills, light, and (thanks to that glorious leather backside) comfortable. There are no jagged edges, no useful ports and nothing that could make using it more complicated than it needed to be.

Ahhh, So comfy.

(Credit:
Eric Franklin/CNET)

There’s just not much else to say and that’s what works. It’s not that including ports are a bad idea, it’s just that the Nexus 7’s designer’s knew what was important to include and what was not in order to make it a hit. And rather than stuffing the tablet with too many physical bells and whistles, it went for an overall aesthetic and practical elegance that few tablets have come close to topping since.

Priced to move

And move it has, if the numbers above are to be believed. Yep, the single most important reason that the Nexus 7 succeeded was because of the price, but that price doesn’t work unless the rest of its components are sound.

It’s $200 for what was at the time the most powerful 7-inch tablet available, but there were a number of other factors. Chief among them was that the market was primed and ready. Before the Nexus 7, I found it difficult to strongly recommend a 7-inch tablet. They weren’t bad, just not exceptional. A year after the Nexus 7’s release however and there’s no hesitation when I’m asked what the best small tablet is.

Other 7-inchers included more physical features, but at the end of the day, it didn’t matter that the Nexus 7 didnt have a back camera, that it had no microSD or HDMI ports, or that you couldn’t use the front camera for anything other than video chat. The bottom line was that you were getting a Tegra 3 tablet with a high-res screen and an kick-ass version of Android you couldn’t find on any other tablet. For $200.

Success in a nutshell and the next Nexus

Of the five reasons I’ve given above, I’ve isolated price as the main reason for the Nexus 7’s success. However, and I want to make this point crystal clear: slapping a low price on just any old thing and expecting consumers to gobble it up, will only lead to disappointment. There are plenty of cheap, but terrible tablets that can attest to this.

Consumers are becoming more savvy by the day and there needs to be a minimum level of quality met. The Nexus 7 raised the bar and even a year later, plenty of tablets have been released that have failed to reach it. Next week, we could see the bar raised to even more dizzying heights.

Rumors point to Google I/O (May 15-17) as the stage where the next version of the Nexus 7 will debut. While noone outside of Google knows or are allowed to say anything about its next 7-inch tablet, it’s highly likely the company won’t deviate too far from what made its first generation tablet a success: release a powerful, capable, tablet with a powerful capable OS for a relatively low price.

If it can do that — and by “do that”, I mean “do that” by 2013 standards — we should all be in for a treat.

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