Google Nexus 7 Review

Where do I start? Another tablet. I got the call from Gamestop yesterday that my tablet was waiting to be picked up. I did my homework on this one. Did I really need another tablet? Well I guess I did. After having this thing in hand for a whole day here are my initial impressions and overview.

Hardware: Let us start with this thing was designed by none other than ASUS! They make some of the best Tablets on the market. The hardware is superb; it is a paltry 12 ounces. It has an Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. 7" display. A powerful quad core processor. Up to 9 hours of HD video viewing. 10 hours of web browsing. 1280-by-800 high resolution display protected by Corning scratch resistant glass. Over 1 million pixels.  Very light in the hand. As light as holding a magazine. It is lighter than the Kindle Fire (which is it's direct competition). There is no rear facing camera, but there is a front facing camera for video chat. Reading books on this thing is awesome. From using the Kindle Book Store App to Google Play magazines to Comic Books the screen just pops! The colors are just right and truly lifelike.

Software: The Nexus 7 is the first tablet to take advantage of the 4.1 update called Jellybean. The major change from the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update is something called Project Butter. Project Butter fixes one of Android's biggest problems: it doesn't track your finger that well. Does it work? Yes it does. It also adds Google Now. Think Siri but better. You can now set alarms. Check and track airplane flights. Public transit schedules. Game scores. It really works. Just hold down the home button to get into that one.

Price: There is an 8 gig model for $199 and a 16 gig model for $249. Gamestop is only carrying the 16 gig model. It must be a hit. The first shipment sold out in one day everywhere.

The Verdict: For the price you are getting a whole lot of bang for your buck. Books: No problem. Games: Bring em. Movies: 1080p HD. Music: Sounds great. Battery: 4,325mAh. If you can afford it, get one. Better yet order two from the Google Play Store. The Gamestop version comes with the Transformers: Dark Side Of The Moon movie plus $25 to be used in the Google Play Store. Highly recommended.

Toshiba Thrive mini review

I managed to purchase the Toshiba Thrive before it hits the streets. I have to say that I love it. I looked at the overpriced Motorola Xoom first. It is nice, but missing some of the features that the Thrive has. First of all it has a full HDMI port. A full USB port. A mini USB port. A full SD card slot which is upgradeable to 128 gigs of memory. It has flash support with the latest version of Honeycomb out of the box. I took a look over at the Samsung Tab user reviews & Samsung is missing many of these key features. The battery can be changed out. It has a great speaker system with included equalizers and SRS sound. I put in my Google user name & passwor & to my surprise it immediately downloaded most of my apps that I have on my phone. I bought the 16 gig version which at this point is more than enough storage space for me. I will upgrade in the future. Oh. It has the Nvidia Tegra 2 chip powering this beast! The battery life is rated at approximately 8 hours! I wish the cameras had a flash feature though. Not a deal breaker by a long shot.You can purchase multiple back plates from Silver Sky to Lavender Bliss for $19.99 a piece.You can also purchase several docking stations and portfolio cases. Toshiba also sells a Bluetooth Wireless keyboard for those who need one.The Honeycomb app store is not as big as the Froyo app store, but it is growing daily as more companies put tablets out. There is an 8 gig model, a 16 gig model, & a 32 gig model. The screen is 10.1 inches which is great for reading books and watching movies & videos. It also has Skype for those who have loved ones overseas.