My thoughts on the 16gb Google nexus 7 tablet after a few days using it – the short version: I love it. Buy one.

PROS:

• Fast.
• 3d performance is amazingly good.
• High build quality and it feels great in your hands.
• Great battery life.
• Gorgeous screen.
• Jellybean is a pleasure and evolutionary in all the right places.  I’ve not used ICS on a device I own so I admit some ignorance on when these improvements came to be.
  • The email client is VASTLY improved.
  • The calendar is SO much better than it was in gingerbread.
  • Mobile chrome kicks ass.
  • App switching, notifications, home screen shortcut features, the list goes on for improvements since gingerbread.
  • Jellybean netflix client (and many other apps) have pretty great feature improvements compared to their gingerbread counterparts.
• It is trivial to open the device and do basic consumer-level repairs. You can replace the battery! I would imagine we’ll see aftermarket extended batteries soon.
• Comfortable form factor.
• Price – $250 with a $25 google play credit.

CONS:

• No sdcard slot.
• No flash support. I know, flash sucks, but some sites that render perfectly in mobile chrome lack features (games, video) because there’s no flash.
• The built-in video player loses time sync sometimes, so it “forgets” where it is in a video it’s playing. I’m sure this’ll get resolved in a forthcoming update.
• Lack of rear facing camera makes it slightly less “social.”
• Not unlocked by default (but trivial to unlock manually).
• I don’t like that the power button and volume rockers are on the same side, it’s easy to mistake them and turn off the device accidentally. This will go away as the device controls work their way into muscle memory.
• No video out.
• It takes a long time to charge, but it does have a pretty large battery.

RANDOM:

• The GPS is very accurate and quick, but it’s not incredibly useful given the device is wifi-only. I’ve been wifi tethering it to my phone (thanks cyanogenmod!) and it makes a lot more sense to have an always-on connection.
• This could be because I’m used to having screen protectors on my devices, but the touchscreen seems to be more sensitive and to have better “swipe-feel” after putting a skinomi screen protector on it.
• The device is a portal to google’s services and would be far less useful without a google account.

CONCLUSION:

Honestly, I love it. 95 out of 100 – the cons are far outweighed by the pros especially in light of the price. I think this device will have a long, happy life in my tech arsenal.