Google Nexus 7

[geekmaster]

My 16GB N7 came yesterday too. The crackle movie applet plays some nice streaming movies (sort of like a cable tv channel). Also, the police scanner applet has my local police and fire on it (which was interesting to listen to). The first few attempts at rooting failed, but finally succeeded using the latest one-button rooter on a REAL win7 box (it did not work in a VM for some reason, but even on the REAL win7 box, I had to keep killing adb.exe every time it was "waiting for device ready" (or similar message) for too long. Killing adb.exe with task manager allowed it to continue, and it eventually completed successfully (and all is well rooted).

I still may get the next Kindle Fire (if it has SD card slot). We shall see. Anyway, the N7 fits in a shirt or pants pocket just fine, where the iPad or asus transformer is just too darned big. I like that (but I am nearsighted so the tiny high resolution screen works just fine for me.

[jackastor]

HEy found this app on the store.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...t.hololauncher

It will launch your files and best of all it overrides the portrait mode. and you can use landscape mode.

Works great its free and you can buy the pro version but im thinking it will be great just the way it is for most of us.

Regards

Jack

[taming]

I've used launchers before--used one with my Vox. I have chosen not to use one for the N7. Instead I installed the ultimate rotation control app.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....fameit.rotate

There is a free trial, but I think it is definitely worth paying the $2.59 CAD. It not only lets you have rotation on the home screen, if you want it, but you can get very granular--assigning an orientation app by app as well.

The developer's website has a full description: http://www.fame-it.nl/rotate

[geekmaster]

I was disappointed that my Nexus 7 had no SD card slot, but after rooting my Nexus 7, I installed the free StickMount app from google play. I am using one of these $0.98USD (including shipping) USB Host Mode cables:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/320941691701

With this "root mode" app, my N7 now mounts USB flash memory sticks plugged into the USB port quite nicely. I can even play 1080p videos from the USB stick without a hitch.

[Haesslich]

I prefer Apex Launcher to the stock ICS/JB launchers - the extra configurability is nice, especially since the 1280x800 screen screams for smaller margins and more rows/columns (10x9 is what I use on that resolution).

That being said, I wish the Nexus had an SD slot. Also, how's your standby battery drain, geekmaster?

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

Also, how's your standby battery drain, geekmaster?

I have been playing with it too much to know the standby battery drain. I have needed to recharge it 3 times in 3 days though. The video drain from playing my 1080p vids from my vacation eat battery plenty fast (and the back of the case gets quite warm too, probably from the quadcore getting busy... Lots of wifi use too downloading all those apps for it. I like being able to play HD vids directly off my microSD camera card (in a little microSD USB adapter), using the StickMount app (which requires root).

[Haesslich]

Root is easy - and as far as the video battery drain, are you playing vids in HW accelerated mode, or all software acceleration? Between that and the backlight, itserms to e a bit of a battery hog. That, and I suspect Google Maps is now even more of a battery hog due to Now, as my Galaxy Nexus is draining far faster on JB than on ICS.

Some tablets lose 1-2% a day; XDA has reports of 8-10% in 8 hours.

[taming]

You will want to pay attention to settings for various apps. For example, the Google Current application is a news aggregator. If you set up bunches of sources, then have it continuously syncing over your always on WiFI, and with pictures "on" as the default--wow, your battery will be gone, gone, gone in no time. Been there <blush>.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

Root is easy - and as far as the video battery drain, are you playing vids in HW accelerated mode, or all software acceleration? Between that and the backlight, itserms to e a bit of a battery hog. That, and I suspect Google Maps is now even more of a battery hog due to Now, as my Galaxy Nexus is draining far faster on JB than on ICS.

Some tablets lose 1-2% a day; XDA has reports of 8-10% in 8 hours.

The battery usage stats say that the display (backlight?) consumed 87% of the energy usage. It is on automatic brightness, used inside so it is not very bright. Wifi is on most of the time though. You cannot expect a light-emitting display to have a battery charge that lasts like on an eink device.

[duckfeet]

I appreciate the informative replies. I think part of my problem was I just didn't want to take the time to get used to using android as a full time OS. I had my android phone now for some time--google's first foray into hardware, the nexus one--but had rarely used it as anything other than a phone, or a wifi point. And still... I had gotten used to Google's Chrome OS, as I lucked out, and got given the cr48 when Google gave a bunch of those chromebooks out, and I see that as android devices get bigger, chromeOS and Android seem to be merging...or at least my chromebook's last update seemed to change the Desktop to android similar.

And since I was totally new to non-kindle book readers, I read up here, and tried and have been using Aldiko which after some tweaking, is much much better...but sometimes I get tired of it, and go back to my simple Kindle...but I"m getting spoiled by the N7's backlight.

Anyway, the tablet is working great, and plus I"ve discovered this wonderful site so it's been a good couple days...

[Atilla]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

I was disappointed that my Nexus 7 had no SD card slot, but after rooting my Nexus 7, I installed the free StickMount app from google play. I am using one of these $0.98USD (including shipping) USB Host Mode cables:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/320941691701

With this "root mode" app, my N7 now mounts USB flash memory sticks plugged into the USB port quite nicely. I can even play 1080p videos from the USB stick without a hitch.

Link for the StickMount app please geekmaster.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by Atilla

Link for the StickMount app please geekmaster.

It is a free download in the Google Play store. Just search for "stickmount" on your N7. It needs a rooted N7 to work.

Or Google it. You asked nicely, so I just did it for you, and the top three hits on the first page of my Google search results were these links:

Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ickmount&hl=en

XDA Developers:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1400034

Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/tag/StickMount/

Enjoy!

EDIT: There is a discussion on XDA Forums about making a custom microUSB flash device by cutting apart and soldering together parts of a microUSB plug and a tiny microSD socket, to get a physically very small storage device that plugs into the Nexus 7 microUSB socket:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1764017

[Atilla]

Thank you kindly geekmaster.

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

The battery usage stats say that the display (backlight?) consumed 87% of the energy usage. It is on automatic brightness, used inside so it is not very bright. Wifi is on most of the time though. You cannot expect a light-emitting display to have a battery charge that lasts like on an eink device.

I've got an iPad, and I've used the Acer A100, Kobo Vox, and Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus - I know what the battery lives tend to be like. The Acer A100 was one of the worst offenders, pre-ICS - then again, it's got a battery more suitable for a phone than a tablet. My main concern is background processes; on the Galaxy Nexus I have, for example, Maps has a Keep Awake time of 1-2 hours after 8 hours, with GPS being on for 40 minutes, and WiFi access for about as long as the Keep Awake.

I suspect that's Google Now's fault - and that may be why the XDA Nexus 7 forum has had quite a few threads about battery life. That, and the weird auto-brightness behavior; even at 10%, I find most of these screens adequate for inside use, as long as it's not TOO bright outside (think 500-1500 lux).

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by Haesslich

...
I suspect that's Google Now's fault - and that may be why the XDA Nexus 7 forum has had quite a few threads about battery life. That, and the weird auto-brightness behavior; even at 10%, I find most of these screens adequate for inside use, as long as it's not TOO bright outside (think 500-1500 lux).

I have everything on too (magnetometer, gps, bluetooth, wifi, Near-field comms, etc...). I am sure I could get the battery to last longer if I need to go travelling with it.