*My pal Tim recently bought a Nexus 7, and I asked him to share his thoughts.  You can get more Tim over at his blog First Impression on the Google Nexus 7  I received my new Nexus Tablet a couple of days ago and here are my first impressions.The tablet is light and the size is great! It is easy to hold eitherone-handed or two-handed and the keyboard is easy to use either way, the sound is quite impressive for such a small device too.  There areonly three buttons , a power button, and the two volumecontrol buttons, all located on the right side of the tablet.  They’reeasily accessible without getting in the way while using apps. Theheadphone jack and usb ports are at the bottom which I have alwaysliked. It does feature a front facing camera, which I have yet toactually use.So far all of the apps I have work great! It is super-fast and the screen is beautiful. The device came preloaded with the latest Bourne series book and Transformers: Dark of the Moon which showcases the Nexus’s book reading and movie showing capabilities. Both of which are impressive.  As for an e-reader it is a perfect size and the auto dimming screen seems to allow for perfect reading in any light, including sunlight.   When I opened the device it greeted me with a personal greeting and once synched to my Google account downloaded all of theavailable/compatible apps I had already downloaded to my phone. I thought those were nice touches and made me feel more comfortable from the first time I touched the device. All of the apps run similarly if not identically to the phone counterparts. As for the battery life of the Nexus 7, it is advertised as having “9 hours of HD video playback, 10 hours of web browsing or e-reading and up to 300 hours of stand-by time.” In my experience (so far) I have kept the Wi-Fi on all day and used it intermittently, and the battery lasted for (an estimated) 22 hours. I was pleasantly surprised when picked it up this morning and it still had about 15% battery left after sitting all night. I am impressed with the batteries longevitywhile resting most of the time, but am interested to see how it works with some heavy app usage…There are only two drawbacks so far. A lot of apps that I have on myphone are from the Amazon App Store, which as of now is not compatiblewith the Nexus device. I am sure this is only because the Jelly BeanOS is new. There is no doubt in my mind that my apps that are notcurrently compatible will catch up soon.  The other is the size of thewidgets. The Twitter and Facebook apps are added to the screen in thesame size as on a phone. The problem with this is that when laying outa screen you are often left with small gaps between your widgets,which is just annoying to me and ruins the devices otherwise extremelyappealing look.  Many of the Google widgets, such as Gmail, My PlayLibrary, and calendar, are adjustable, which is the perfect solutionto the issue. I hope that with the increased use of tablets, especially Android powered tablets, both of these issues will be resolved very soon. -Tim Howell  Tim’s blog “The Side Effects of Boredom” covers a variety of topics, from sports and movies to comedy and high nerdity.  
August 9, 2012 VIEW POST
Misguided Geek Friday Tech Update Quick rundown of the Tech news of the day:  - A final version of Windows 8 (dont call it Metro) may have leaked early.  Reportedly an “N” version of the OS has appeared in the wild through a number of Torrent sites.  This comes just days after Microsoft confirmed they had completed the development of the new Windows.   - Samsung has announced that they plan to unveil the new bigger Galaxy Note tablet on August 29th.  If reports are true, this would give them about a 2 week head start on Apple’s rumored announcement of the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini on September 12th.  - Speaking of the iPhone 5, Techcrunch has a screen shot from a “reliable source” showing an iPhone 5,2 showing up in their sever logs.  Adding more fuel to the rampant wild fire that Apple is finalizing its new Phone for mass consumption.  - The Nexus Q, Google’s streaming media sphere has been pulled from their Play store, early pre-orders have been canceled but offer a free “preview device”.  Google has not offer much as far as reasoning, only saying they “postpone(d) the consumer launch of Nexus Q while we work on making it even better,” Thats all for this week, make sure to check back on Monday for another full week of geek fufillment.  Have a great weekend, and stay geeky!
August 3, 2012 VIEW POST
As a follow up to my previous post about brisk early sales of the Nexus 7, apparently the sales for the 16GB version have been much better than previously expected.  In fact they have been so good that Google has pulled the 16GB version from their Play store. According to the Guardian Google expected the 8GB version to be the big seller, but apparently concerns with the fact that they cant upgrade the storage have lead to a run on the larger capacity tablet.  Good for Google, as I have previously, the success of these tablets can only be good for us.
July 23, 2012 VIEW POST
Sales are looking good for the Nexus 7 thus far if early reports are to be beleived.  The first pre-orders went out a few days ago, and already most retail outlets have sold out of their first shipments.  According to this Chicago Tribune article, Gamestop, Staples, and Sams Club already report either being sold out, or list the tablet as out of stock. People who were able to get their hands on the well reviewed, apparently high in demand gadget, are finding that Google, did not invested the same amount of time and effort as Apple has in the past regrading the unboxing experience, as evident  in the delightful video below:
July 18, 2012 VIEW POST
Misguided Geek Friday Tech Update Quick rundown of the Tech news of the day:  - The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the rumored Amazon Phone is already in the testing phase and may be avalible late this year or early next.  The report goes on to state that the screen will be between 4 and 5 inches.  - iPad mini prototype designs have leaked over at Gottabemobile.  The engineering sample shows an iPad that is only slightly thinner than the current version, but is about two thirds the size of the standard iPad.  The new, demure iPad also features the smaller dock port present in the iPhone leaks we have already seen.  - To battle Amazon, many states, including my home of North Carolina, have made recent rulings which will force Amazon customers to pay state sales tax.  In response Amazon has indicated that it will charge sales tax, but it will also begin setting up local distribution centers in ever state, with the goal of single day, or same day shipping.  Say goodbye to your local retailer.  - Contrary to previous reports that Google would be losing money with its Nexus tablet just to compete with Apple, a recent tear down of the device shows that component and construction cost were cheaper than previously thought, and that Google stands to break even on the 8GB model and make a decent profit on the 16GB.  On this topic the first Nexus 7 Tablet is shipping out today. Thats all for this week, have a great weekend and stay Geeky!
July 13, 2012 VIEW POST
Misguided Geek Friday Tech Update Quick rundown of the Tech news of the day: -The Blogosphere has gone crazy today with news that Apple maybe releasing a new iPad Mini tablet, which makes it sound even more like a female sanitary device than the original iPad.  No confirmation or denial from Apple, but I tend to believe where there is smoke, there is fire.  Reports even go so far as to predict a $299 price point, and a quarter 4 release - With Apple now targeting the Amazon Fire, Amazon is now targeting the iPhone with its announcement that it will begin development on an Amazon Phone. Amazon has even enlisted Foxconn, the same company that makes all Apple’s iDevices to begin development of its Android powered phone.   - With the new Google and Microsoft tablets everyone has been waiting for a response from Amazon, this may come in the form of no fewer than THREE new Kindle Fire 2 tablets.  CNET reports rumors of a new 7” tablets, with camera, sans camera, and featuring 4G, and a new 8.9’ tablet with high quality display.   - Finally, in the competition for ugliest accessory, Olympus throws its hat in the ring, introducing its Google Glass competitor MEG 4.0.  Olympus’s headset promises to be more of a heads up display. overlaying augmented reality data on its glasses, and providing updates via connection with a tablet or presumably phone. Enjoy your weekend faithful readers, Ill be back up on Monday!
July 6, 2012 VIEW POST
June 28, 2012 VIEW POST
Missed the Google keynote?  Gizmodo has a great rundown of all the new fun stuff announced!  Highlights inlcude the Nexus 7 tablet, new Android OS Jelly Bean, the Nexus Q, update to the Google Play marketplace, and Google Glass.  Click the link for the full rundown. Gizmodo
June 27, 2012 VIEW POST
First shot of the just announced Nexus 7 tablet?  This just went up on Gizmodo with the below specs: built by Asus, the Nexus holds a 1.3Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, NFC, and 1 GB of RAM with two different storage variants: 8 GB and 16 GB. That’s a damn good level of muscle behind a 7-inch, 1280x800 screen….$200 for the 8 GB model and $250 for 16 GB Giz must have gotten an exclusive, the Google Keynote hasnt even started yet? EDIT:  Looks like Google sent out a release prior to the keynote. EDIT:  Everything is confirmed, all just announced during the keynote! EDIT:  From Cnet’s Coverage of the Google keynote “Google is taking orders for the Nexus 7 starting today, will start shipping mid-July” Gizmodo
June 27, 2012 VIEW POST