Google Nexus 7 (2013)

Unlike many (OK, most) tablet manufacturers when faced with upgrading a flagship product, the minds at Google decided not to launch an entirely new product design for its Nexus 7, dubbed by many as “the best $200 tablet you can buy” upon its release. Instead, a few physical features and specs have been changed in what we’ll call the new Google Nexus 7 yet the name remains.

Since the Google Nexus 7 has its (large) share of devotees, this smaller-sized tablet release is essentially competing against its predecessor – so let’s compare.

In terms of weight, the next-generation Nexus 7 tablet has managed to drop a bit more, going from an already remarkable 0.75 pounds to 0.66 – though unfortunately this may be attributed to the lack of micro SD card slot. And Google keeps things under that magic $200 threshold despite over a year advancing between the two releases.

Unfortunately, that year hasn’t seen any increase in resolution to the Nexus 7 tablet either, with density set at the old standard 1280 x 800 pixels: Google is apparently satisfied to stay atop the competing Amazon Fire tablet in this regard, but certainly the next Nexus will improve here. Audio performance is decent as in the former edition.

Naturally, the big software company supplied the new Nexus 7 with the most up-to-date OS available upon release, namely Android 4.3 and just as naturally the full suite of Google apps is readily available out of the box. The biggest upgrade comes in Google’s chipping up to the 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor, a CPU bolstered by the extra Adreno 320 graphics processor.

The Nexus 7 may be a 7” tablet, but there’s nothing little about this one but the price. Google solidifies its position in this class with a tablet that should prove hard to beat through 2013.