Asus Google Nexus 7 (2013) review: The magnificent seven

A basic retail package

Like its predecessor, the 2013 ASUS Nexus 7 comes in a small retail box. Inside it, you will find nothing but a charger, a USB cable and a couple of leaflets.

The retail package

The Nexus 7 is now a popular name in the tablet realm, so there are plenty of aftermarket accessories available for the slate. They range from cases, stands, sleeves and everything in between, so you are more than covered.

Design and build quality

Nexus-branded devices have always possessed somewhat understated aesthetics and the new ASUS Nexus 7 is no exception.

The new Nexus 7 is anything but flashy

The only design "flare" located on the tablet is the large Nexus sign, which is placed in landscape fashion. It contrasts with the matte back of the tablet, thus adding a small but attractive bit of character to it.

Build quality is phenomenal. The 2013 ASUS Nexus 7 has got a simple but effective construction and is built to take some use and abuse. The back of the slate is made of sturdy, soft-feel polycarbonate, while its front is entirely covered by a single piece of Corning's Gorilla Glass.

The overall feel of the new Nexus 7 is really reassuring. The slate almost feels like a unibody - not an item which has been put together from separate parts.

The second generation ASUS Nexus 7 has slimmed down significantly in comparison to its predecessor. The newcomer's measures are 200 x 114 x 8.7 mm, while its weight tips the scale at the highly reasonable 290 grams.

Save for the length increase by a millimeter, each of the 2013 Nexus 7's measures represent a drastic improvement over last year's model. The slate is as slim as 7-inchers come these days.

Display

Unlike the display on the last year's model, the 2013 ASUS Nexus 7 has a high-quality 7" IPS screen with awe-inspiring pixel density. To put it simply, this one looks gorgeous.

The screen of the new Nexus 7 is amazing

The display's resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels is the highest available on a compact tablet at the moment. The resulting pixel density of 323ppi eclipses the Retina display equipped Apple iPad's 264ppi, and completely wipes the floor with the 162ppi of the 7.9" iPad Mini or even the 216ppi of the Amazon Kindle Fire HD. Google's own Nexus 10 is the only tablet that's close to what the Nexus 7 offers, with a pixel density of 299ppi.

Taking a closer look at the screen

More importantly, being a high-quality IPS unit, the display of the 2013 Nexus 7 sports great color reproduction, coupled with impressive contrast and ridiculously wide viewing angles. Combined, all these qualities make gobbling up multimedia content, web browsing, even the simple task of writing an email on the slate a pleasurable experience.

Controls

Above the display, you will find the 1.2MP front-facing camera, as well as the ambient light. The tablet's notification light is located below the screen.

The view above and below the display

There's nothing on the left side of the Nexus 7. The volume rocker, the power/lock key, as well as a small pinhole for the built-in microphone are located on the right.

A look at both sides of the 2013 Nexus 7

The 3.5mm audio jack sits lonely at the top. The USB port shares the same fate on the bottom of the tablet.

The top and bottom of the new Nexus 7

The back of the ASUS Nexus 7 is home of two major additions to the 2013 model. There is now a 5MP camera there, and also, there is now a pair of stereo speakers - located at both sides, when you hold the tablet in landscape orientation. The large Nexus insignia completes the picture.

The back of the new Nexus 7 is busy

The great build and the compact measures make handling the new ASUS Nexus 7 a pleasure. Our only complaint is about the awkward positioning of the stereo speakers. When you hold up the tablet in landscape orientation, they end up under your hands, so the sound gets muffled a bit.

The other major disadvantage is the lack of a microSD slot to expand the available storage.

Handling the 2013 ASUS Nexus 7

Battery performance

The new Nexus 7 packs a non-removable/non-replaceable 3950mAh battery. It is smaller than the battery, which powered the previous generation of the tablet, but, to make up for it, it has to power up more energy-efficient internals.

We took the slate through our web browser and video playback battery tests. You can see how it fared below.

Web browsing

• HTC One
  9:58
• Apple iPhone 5
  9:56
• Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)
  9:12
• Apple iPad mini
  9:05
• Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100
  8:48
• ASUS Nexus 7 (2013)
  9:03
• Nokia Lumia 810
  8:20
• Asus Padfone 2
  8:20
• Huawei Ascend Mate
  8:17
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
  8:17
• Nokia Lumia 610
  8:01
• HTC One X+
  7:56
• Sony Xperia E dual
  7:42
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini
  7:38
• Nokia Lumia 720
  7:37
• Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
  7:35
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
  7:24
• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  7:23
• HTC Radar
  7:17
• Nokia Lumia 520
  7:15
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos
  7:09
• Samsung Galaxy Express
  7:09
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  7:07
• Motorola RAZR i
  7:06
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
  6:58
• Apple iPhone 4S
  6:56
• HTC One V
  6:49
• LG Optimus G Pro
  6:40
• Samsung I9105 Galaxy S II Plus
  6:40
• Sony Xperia L
  6:40
• HTC Droid DNA
  6:40
• Samsung Galaxy Premier
  6:40
• Motorola Atrix HD
  6:40
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  6:40
• Sony Xperia Z
  6:37
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  6:35
• BlackBerry Z10
  6:27
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III (JB)
  6:27
• HTC Butterfly
  6:24
• Sony Xperia SP
  6:18
• Samsung i937 Focus S
  6:15
• Nokia Lumia 510
  6:13
• Sony Xperia ZL
  6:04
• HTC Windows Phone 8X
  6:01
• Sony Xperia ion LTE
  5:56
• Samsung Galaxy Fame
  5:55
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  5:53
• Pantech Burst
  5:51
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G
  5:45
• HTC Desire V
  5:44
• HTC Evo 4G LTE
  5:41
• Nokia Lumia 920
  5:40
• Samsung Wave 3 S8600
  5:34
• Oppo Find 5
  5:33
• Sony Xperia T
  5:33
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  5:33
• Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
  5:28
• Samsung Galaxy Note LTE
  5:24
• Samsung Galaxy S Duos
  5:23
• HTC Sensation XL
  5:20
• Meizu MX 4-core
  5:19
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  5:17
• Sony Xperia acro S
  5:16
• HTC Rezound
  5:16
• HTC Desire X
  5:16
• LG Optimus G
  5:15
• HTC Rhyme
  5:08
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
  5:07
• HTC One X (AT&T)
  5:03
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
  4:50
• LG Optimus Vu
  4:49
• HTC Vivid
  4:46
• Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos
  4:45
• Meizu MX
  4:35
• Google Nexus 4
  4:34
• Nokia N9
  4:33
• Acer CloudMobile S500
  4:32
• Nokia Lumia 820
  4:24
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  4:24
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V
  4:20
• HTC One X
  4:18
• Nokia 808 PureView
  4:14
• LG Optimus 3D Max P720
  4:10
• Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T
  4:10
• Nokia Lumia 800
  4:07
• HTC Titan II (LTE)
  4:05
• HTC One S
  4:03
• BlackBerry Bold 9790
  4:02
• LG Nitro HD
  4:00
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  3:59
• Sony Xperia P
  3:59
• Nokia Lumia 710
  3:51
• Nokia Lumia 620
  3:50
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  3:47
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  3:35
• Huawei Ascend P1
  3:23
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  3:01

With the stock video player being quite limited (it wouldn’t open an MP4 file transferred over the USB port, we conducted the video playback test using MX Player Pro from the Google Play Store.

Video playback

• Motorola RAZR MAXX (ICS)
  16:35
• Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX
  14:17
• Apple iPad mini
  12:51
• Samsung Galaxy Premier
  12:51
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
  12:30
• Huawei Ascend Mate
  12:18
• Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
  11:29
• Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100
  11:27
• BlackBerry Q10
  11:15
• Apple iPhone 5
  10:12
• HTC One
  10:02
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  10:01
• Samsung Galaxy Express
  10:00
• Samsung I9105 Galaxy S II Plus
  10:00
• Nokia 808 PureView
  9:53
• Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
  9:42
• Samsung Rugby Smart I847
  9:34
• HTC One S
  9:28
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III (JB)
  9:27
• Apple iPhone 4S
  9:24
• HTC Evo 4G LTE
  9:07
• BlackBerry Z10
  8:44
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  8:42
• LG Optimus G Pro
  8:40
• Nokia N9
  8:40
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
  8:34
• HTC Butterfly
  8:28
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  8:25
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos
  8:11
• HTC One X+
  8:11
• Motorola RAZR i
  8:11
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  8:00
• Samsung i937 Focus S
  7:55
• Samsung Wave 3 S8600
  7:52
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini
  7:46
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V
  7:45
• Asus Padfone 2
  7:38
• Huawei Ascend P1
  7:38
• Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G
  7:33
• HTC Droid DNA
  7:30
• Samsung Galaxy Note LTE
  7:30
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  7:30
• Sony Xperia SP
  7:27
• Nokia Lumia 610
  7:23
• LG Optimus G
  7:16
• Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
  7:03
• ASUS Nexus 7 (2013)
  6:57
• Meizu MX 4-core
  6:33
• Nokia Lumia 620
  6:32
• HTC Windows Phone 8X
  6:27
• Sony Xperia E dual
  6:27
• Nokia Lumia 810
  6:27
• HTC Desire V
  6:26
• HTC One X (AT&T)
  6:26
• Nokia Lumia 820
  6:25
• Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos
  6:25
• Nokia Lumia 510
  6:23
• LG Optimus Vu
  6:23
• Samsung I9103 Galaxy R
  6:21
• Nokia Lumia 920
  6:19
• HTC Sensation XL
  6:12
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  6:06
• Samsung Captivate Glide
  6:04
• Sony Xperia ion LTE
  6:03
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  6:02
• Sony Xperia T
  6:01
• Motorola Atrix HD
  6:01
• HTC Vivid
  6:00
• HTC Radar
  5:54
• Nokia Lumia 800
  5:52
• Nokia Lumia 520
  5:50
• HTC Titan II
  5:50
• BlackBerry Bold 9790
  5:47
• HTC One X
  5:45
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro
  5:44
• Sony Xperia Z
  5:39
• Sony Xperia acro S
  5:38
• HTC Desire X
  5:38
• Pantech Burst
  5:38
• Sony Xperia ZL
  5:28
• Meizu MX
  5:27
• HTC Rhyme
  5:23
• HTC One V
  5:20
• Acer CloudMobile S500
  5:18
• Oppo Find 5
  5:18
• Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T
  5:18
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
  5:09
• HTC Rezound
  5:03
• Samsung Galaxy Fame
  5:02
• Google Nexus 4
  4:55
• Sony Xperia L
  4:44
• Samsung Galaxy S Duos
  4:30
• Sony Xperia P
  4:30
• LG Nitro HD
  4:17
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  4:14
• LG Optimus 3D Max P720
  3:28
• Nokia Lumia 710
  3:27

Following next is a look at the freshly updated OS of the new generation Nexus 7.