Googles Nexus 7 tablet discussion, reviews

Various Tech heads seem to agree it's either at a loss or cost.

The CEO of Asus said cost. He'd probably know tbf.

Some sites think so. It seems like a reasonable estimate, or if not then its certainly a very close thing.

Google are desperate to get momentum going with Android tablets, because its widely acknowledged that despite the existence of some nice models, sales have been underwhelming and they really can't afford to have such poor momentum at this stage.

It makes sense for Google to take a loss because their real bread & butter is having people use their services, and although they've done rather well with phones they don't want to surrender the tablet market to others.

And Asus don't have much reason to sell at cost so I presume Google are making it worth their while.

I imagine the lack of SD-card is for 3 reasons - space, cost, and also because Google are desperate to promote their cloud/store.

Oh and they are also more likely to make a tiny bit of profit/less loss on the version with larger storage capacity.

Plenty of sub £100 phones take micro SD...I don't think it's unreasonable to have a moan when it gets left out.

I think this is more to point.

If they used iPad sales as their evidence then yes

It's all about getting you hooked on the cloud. Phones needed storage for taking photos, and music on the go where you might not have wifi - park, bus etc.
In my case (anyways) it's likely that most of the places I would use a tablet I would have wifi - So i could 'speak' to the cloud. If i would want to...that's another matter.
There is still the rather clunky USB on the go for extra storage.

Given it's cheap ish price it's very tempting. I don't really feel I need one that much tho...but that's another story.

No SD initially bothered me when I bought the Galaxy Nexus phone, but to be honest, so long as you have a few gigs of space for immediacy storage (16 is plenty) - having cloud based stuff is the way to go. I was also a bit peeved about the lack of 3Gon the Nexus 7 but on second thoughts, I'm rarely without my phone so when you can just create a wifi hotspot your phone's 3G - it's a non issue.

Depends on what you use your phone for....I quite like having lots of music on me and can't depend on cloud services where I normally am as they just aren't there!

One thing I'd like a tablet for is to keep all the UK maps on, which would eat the 16gb without leaving any left over, although I'm aware this a quite specialist requirement.

Much as I'd love 3g on a tablet, I'm loathed to set up another contract for it when I already get data on my phone.

Nor do I really, but then I don't earn enough to justify an ipad for what I'd use it for and the same applies for second contracts.

I'd love to get rid of my iPod classic and have all my tunes on my phone but my MP3 collection is too big, and it'd probably eat my battery. I do use TuneIn Radio and Spotify apps a lot instead. GiffGaff in London, T-Mobile unlimited data plan in Los Angeles. Both are pretty reliable in the city but useless when you're out in the sticks I agree.

It's just a matter of setting 'wifi hotspot' to active on your phone. It takes two seconds and I do it all the time. Sod getting a separate 3G contract just for a tablet.

Playing music on phones is surprisingly battery friendly compared to most other tasks and I mostly use it the car so have a charger to hand. I can't get the whole lot on there, but a 32gb card gives me a good selection with space for other stuff.

I'm living in the Edale valley and have to drive to get phone reception, so I guess that counts as the sticks.

I'd kind of hoped that my post about using maps was showing people had different uses for tablets to you, but never mind.

I tether all the time and don't pay any extra. Also, having my phone near me and on isn't usually a problem because it nearly always is.

It was the one 5 posts up. I think that a tablet would make a brilliant map viewer and planner.

Slight derail, but I do think if low cost tablets want to succeed then addressing 3g is an issue. I'm sure there are loads of people who haven't bought a 3g tablet as they are an expensive toy, but when the price drops are game, but don't want the recurring monthly costs. I pay for a 1gb a month, why should it matter how I use it? I'm willing to pay a few quid extra, but beyond that, forget it.

My only slight issue with this is battery life, rather then convenience.

Is is a bit more of a drain for sure, but I think it's negligible actually because I think the screen uses far more battery on a phone than a wifi hotspot does so if you're substituting your phone screen for your tablet screen, it's not a major deal.

I don't think its anything like negligible, its quite noticeable. But I've had a number of tablets now and none of them have had 3G and Im fine with that, presently use my Galaxy Nexus as a hotspot.