Nexus 7 3G now available to buy in UK

[murraypaul]

Just received the notification from Google that they are now available for purchase from Google Play. They have also launched Play as a music store.
Not clear when/if they will be available in stores.

[Croptop]

They are available in Canada and the USA as well. I ordered one to replace my original iPad.

[murraypaul]

There are reports that the 32GB version uses significantly faster memory that the previous versions:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/...-the-holidays/

After I obtained the final Android 4.2 update for my 8GB Nexus 7, running the Androbench storage benchmark on both tablets confirmed my suspicions: the tablet's memory speeds are improved quite a bit over the entry-level 8GB version, due perhaps to the use of faster NAND or because higher-density devices can increase speeds by performing more read and write operations simultaneously (a process also known as interleaving). Read speeds are up by around 33 percent, while write speeds are about twice as fast as they are on the 8GB version.
[...]
These aren't life-changing gains, but they're definitely there. Google wouldn't officially state that Asus is using faster flash memory in these new tablets, so whether these performance improvements are also present in the 16GB model is uncertain. What we can say for sure is that people buying the high-capacity 32GB version should be getting a slightly faster tablet than early adopters who snagged the 8GB version.

Edit: Turns out that this might not be news, and that that 16GB version was also faster than the 8GB version: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6130/t...ge-performance

[Graham]

My wife and I are plotting to get one of these as a joint Christmas present to ourselves.

We both have 10" tablets, but we're taken by the idea of having a 7" around for when we're travelling, and the 4.2 update makes it feasible to share one (at least until we decide that we want one each!)

Graham

[murraypaul]

The Nexus 7 32GB Wifi+3G is available to order again from Google Play, having been unavailable for several weeks.
Quoting 1-2 weeks lead time.
It seems to be exclusive to Google Play? It certainly doesn't seem to be available at most of the places that the WiFi only version is.

[Graham]

It was back on the 24th showing 3 to 5 days, and I ordered it immediately. It arrived today.

It's my wife and I's Christmas gift to each other. We've both got 10" wifi only Android tablets and want to have a 3G 7" one available for when we're out and about. Now that you can have two Google profiles on the same device this seemed like an ideal time to try this out.

We couldn't resist getting it out the box and setting it up. It came with about half a full charge so this was really quick. But we didn't peel back the protective transparent plastic and it's going back in its box now until Christmas.

Really.

We're tough with ourselves like that.

Graham

Edit: Apologies. I just noticed my post above where I said much the same thing. Just goes to show how excited I am.