Nexus 10 Review: Good, Because Pixels And Other Reasons
Over the past couple of years, Android tablets haven't really lived up to their full potential. We've seen multiple "game changers" or "iPad killers" come and go - yet the landscape has remained the same; that is, not very good. Further proving this, the best selling Android tablet of all time isn't an Android tablet at all - it's a Kindle. The Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD have been selling like hotcakes, but that really has nothing to do with Android - it's all about Amazon services. A "true" Android tablet has yet to really make a splash in the market, until the Nexus 7 came along, that is.
When Google first unveiled the 7-inch slate back at I/O 2012, we were all unsure of how the market would react. After the first reviews starting hitting the web, however, it was clear: Google had a winner on its hands. Since then, sales of the N7 have increased every month, with nearly a million units sold in September '12. However, the biggest problem with Android tablets is, and always has been, the lack of apps optimized to run on the larger screen. The Nexus 7 almost made this a non-issue, because phone apps scale up and look quite nice on its 7" display. Still, as Apple kindly pointed out during the iPad Mini announcement, the tablet app ecosystem for Android is light-years behind that of the iPad.
Enter the Nexus 10, which is, in my opinion, a much more drastic move for Google than the Nexus 7. The N7 tested the waters. It let Google know that users really do want good Android tablets. Still, it didn't compete with the iPad - it was put in place to go toe-to-toe with the Kindle Fire/HD. The N10, on the other hand, is Big G's statement to Apple. It says "no, you're not the only one who can build a solid tablet. This market is still open - and we're here to play ball." At the same time, it also rallies developers - which are the most critical aspect of this whole plan. If the devs don't show up to build apps suited for the 10" screen and expand the ecosystem, then it's all in vain. The Nexus 10 is, without a doubt, Google's way of grabbing the bull by the horns. The playground is open, and the game just got real.
The question, though, is not only if the Nexus 10 is really enough to edge out the iPad, but whether it will finally get developers excited about Android tablets.
Specs
- Display: 10.055" 2560x1600 (300 PPI) IPS with Gorilla Glass 2
- CPU: Dual-Core Exynos A15
- RAM: 2GB
- Storage: 16GB/32GB (no microSD card slot)
- Cameras: 5MP rear, 1.9MP front
- Ports: microHDMI, microUSB
- Wireless: Wi-Fi (MIMO), Bluetooth, NFC
- Battery: 9000mAh
- OS: Android 4.2
- Dimensions: 263.9 x 177.6 x 8.9 mm, 603g (1.33lbs)
- Price: $399 (16GB), $499 (32GB)
- Availability: November 13
The Good
- It's a Nexus. This is by far the best thing about this tablet. As a Nexus, you know it's going to be supported by Google longer than most other devices. And if you're the moddin' type, there will be plenty of support from devs in the ROM community, too.
- Amazing build quality. I tried really hard to find a flaw in the build of this tablet. But I couldn't. It's top-notch - everything is super-solid.
- It's fast. Like faaaast. Even during "heavy" multi-tasking sessions, it never skipped a beat. It can easily switch from game to email to Chrome at light speed - no stutters, slowdowns, or hiccups. And the 2GB of RAM keep apps alive longer, so switching between programs is always quick.
- Dat screen. The display is simply amazing. Text is insanely sharp, viewing angles are incredible... really, most everything in general just looks better. Once you've seen this display, you'll see pixels in places you didn't notice them before on other devices.
- Speakers on the front. I have little doubt that Google built this tablet with not only reading in mind, but also watching movies / TV shows and listening to music. The speakers on the front of the Nexus 10 sound better than those on most laptops, and they get quite loud.
- Android 4.2. Sure, it's only an incremental update from Android 4.1, but it is faster, smoother, and brings some awesome new features like PhotoSphere, the Swype-esque keyboard, multi-user accounts (tablets only), quick settings, and more.
- The hybrid UI. This is the first 10" Android tablet to use the hybrid UI that was first introduced with the Nexus 7, and it's nice. The seamless experience across devices is definitely a huge benefit, and the overall layout just feels more polished than the previous tablet UI.
- MicroUSB charging. Because proprietary chargers suck.
The Bad
- Unsupported applications. I'm not sure whether it's because of Android 4.2, the super-high res display, or both - but I ran into a lot of issues with app support. Some didn't launch at all. Some did, but didn't render correctly. Others launched and looked fine, but didn't work correctly. I'm sure this is only temporary, but it's something you'll have to deal with at the beginning if you plan on buying this tablet early on.
- Some things look like crap. So the beautiful screen? It's a double-edged sword. Like the above mentioned point, most apps aren't made to scale up to this resolution... yet. So, expect to see some artifacts here and there.
- It's too big. OK, I admit it - this one's more subjective than the rest, but I'd be remiss to not mention it. The 10" form factor is just big, clumsy, and uncomfortable. With that said, this particular tablet is more manageable with one hand than most of the other 10-inchers out there, but I still found it to be more cumbersome than I'd like.
- The hybrid UI. Another doubled-edged sword. While I'm a big fan of the hybrid UI (especially on 7" devices), it's a bit weird on larger devices. The experience will likely be different for those who've never owned a 10" Android tablet before, but there's definitely an adjustment period for those who have. As I mentioned in my initial impressions, muscle memory kicks in and you'll be tapping in blank spaces trying to open the app tray or navigate back. Speaking of, the navigation buttons in the center are a bit awkward, as it's a stretch to hit them with your thumb while holding the device by either side.
Build Quality and Design
As I said in my initial impressions posts, the N10 is solid. Like, I feel like I could take it outside and play baseball with it solid. As soon as you pull the tablet from its box (and remove the plastic wrapper, of course), the quality is immediately apparent.
On the front of the device, you'll find a 1.9MP camera, stereo speakers on either side of the display, and a subtle notification light at the bottom very similar to the one on the Galaxy Nexus. The bezel is about 3/4 of an inch thick at its widest point, and it's much more subtle in person than in pictures. I actually really like width of the bezel, as it allows the tablet to easily be held in one hand in both portrait and landscape without covering any of the screen.
Around the edges are all the switches and ports: power and volume along the top, microHDMI on the right, magnetic pogo pins along the bottom, and microUSB and the headphone jack on the left side. Nothing particularly interesting about this arrangement, but I will say that I really like the placement of the microUSB port, as it allows for easy charging without rendering the device totally useless or making it awkward to hold.
The back is the real standout feature of the device's physical design, as it's coated in a very soft rubbery-plastic that feels almost like leather. It definitely adds a feeling of quality, and is absolutely fantastic in the hands. It's not cold and slippery like aluminum, nor does it feel cheap and flimsy like typical plastic. It's slightly grippy, which allows you to hold the unit with less "force," leading to less wrist fatigue. It also makes it easier to hold the device in your hand palette-style without fear of dropping it. At the top of the backside, surrounding the camera, is a thin plastic piece that looks and feels identical to the back of the Nexus 7. This piece is also removable, which reveals two small magnets on either side for accessories, like covers, for example.
The tablet feels pretty well-balanced when holding it, especially in landscape mode. During our live Nexus 4/10 Q&A someone asked if it feels "top-heavy" when holding it in portrait mode. At the time I said "no, it feels pretty balanced." After spending more time using the device in portrait, though, I've had a slight change of heart. It does feel slightly top-heavy (where top = where the camera is); this makes sense, because that's also the thickest part of the tablet (the "bottom" is the thinnest). But, that means if you hold it on the camera side while in portrait mode, it should cause less wrist fatigue over time.
Display
Where hardware is concerned, this is what sets the Nexus 10 apart from all other tablets. Its insanely high 2560x1600 resolution gives it an unprecedented 300 PPI, which is the most of any tablet currently on the market (for those wondering, the retina iPad has a 264 PPI). And it is beautiful.
First off, it's an IPS display, so color reproduction is pretty decent. The blacks aren't quite as dark as you'll get from something like SAMOLED, but none of the colors are overly saturated, either. Compared to the Nexus 7, the colors are nearly identical, though blacks tend to be a little lighter on the N10. Also like the N7, the higher the brightness, the more washed out colors become. In this respect, the display is pretty typical.
What isn't typical, however, is the sharpness. Since this tablet has double the resolution of most 10" Android tablets, there is simply no comparison. At all. The jump from 1280x800 to 1920x1200 with the ASUS TF700 and Acer A700 was a pretty big one - the difference between the two was immediately noticeable, and the full HD displays looked fantastic in comparison. The difference here is just as dramatic - once you see the N10's display, you'll see pixels on the TF700/A700's displays where you didn't notice them before. So, if you don't plan on replacing your existing 10" tablet with an N10, I'd advise against even looking at one. It'll ruin how you see your current tablet forever.
The sharpness of this display becomes really apparent during one of the most common tasks on any tablet: reading. Fonts look absolutely incredible on the N10 - every dot of an "i" and every curve in an "s" looks silky smooth, both on the web and in Play Books/Magazines. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: looking at Play Magazines really is comparable to reading a print magazine. It's incredible. Looking at magazines and books on the Nexus 10 actually makes me want to read more, because the experience is so nice.
Software
As you probably already know, the Nexus 10 is the first Android 4.2 tablet. This incremental Jelly Bean update brings a new interface to the 10" screen, though it'll feel very familiar to anyone coming from 4.0 and above - and that's exactly what Google was looking for. Unity. Familiarity. Ease of use. And you know what? They got it. I could hand this tablet to anyone who owns an Android phone and they'd be able to find their way around no problem, regardless of how tech savvy they are. That last bit there is the important part. Take someone with any Android phone and give them an older Android tablet - you'll watch them fumble around for a while trying to figure out what's going on. That's no longer the case.
Of course, there are many, many users who don't agree with Google's decision to unify the user experience by changing the interface. That's understandable - many people just don't like change. Heck, I was skeptical of this interface before I got the Nexus 7. Now I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything - but does that feeling diminish with the Nexus 10?
Sort of.
Notification Area and Quick Settings
Note: you can't actually pull the notification and Quick Settings shades down at the same time.
Let me start with what I like about this interface. First off, I love the notification area. I think it's far more intuitive and useful than the old notification section in the lower right hand corner of other Android tablets - it shows more information in less space, makes the Settings menu more easily accessible, and it's just all around cleaner. Plus, I really like the smaller battery and clock in the upper right corner - they're much more minimal than in the former tablet layout. Then there's the new Quick Settings menu. While this may be a new addition to phones, it takes the place of very similar quick settings-type area on Honeycomb+ tablets. In the old-style notification area, if you tapped the "settings" icon, it opened a section where you could toggle airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Auto-rotation, display brightness, and notifications. At the bottom of this section was the actual link to the Settings menu. It really didn't make much sense.
Now, instead of having one area that houses both the "quick settings" area and notifications, there are two separate areas - one for notifications (on the left) and another for the Quick Settings menu (on the right). These two shades operate independently of one another; accessing one will close the other. Here's the kicker though: Google has made the QS area more useful than the previous version, but not as useful as it could be. How's that you ask? Let's first take a look at the old vs. new side by side:
Left: ICS "quick settings" area; Right: Android 4.2
You should notice here that there are actual toggles for Airplane mode and notifications in the "old style" QS shade. With the new one, though, I expected basically every entry to be a toggle. That's not the case at all, as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth actually take you into their respective entries in the Settings menu. I don't understand this action - 99% of the time when I tap Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, I just want to turn them off, not go into Settings. It just doesn't make sense. There's already a link to Settings in the QS area, Google - we don't need two more. It's redundant, not to mention a complete waste of time. This little peeve aside, though, I really like the separated notification and quick settings shades. I find it far more useful this way, as each area has its own dedicated function instead of one area trying to do multiple things like in previous iterations.
New to the Quick Settings area is the "user" link. On phones, this icon actually serves little purpose, as it just shows your email and G+ information. On tablets, however, this is where you'll be able to jump from one user account to the next. Unfortunately this feature isn't yet available on my review unit, but Google expects to send out an OTA before sales begin on November 13th that will activate it. Once that happens, expect a full write-up specifically about this unique new feature.
Navigation Bar and App Tray
Now let's take a look at the bottom part of the main interface: the app tray and navigation bar. Like the notification and Quick Settings shades, this area is a whole new beast on a 10" tablet. Again, though, it's all too familiar for those with ICS/JB phones or the Nexus 7.
Because of this change in button placement, you'll probably have to reevaluate how you use a 10" tablet. I'm sure most people hold a 10" device in landscape mode with their hands flanking either side - you can still do that with the N10, but be ready to stretch when you want to navigate back, go home, hit the multitasking button, or launch the app tray. What's even more bizarre here is that you'll likely use your left hand to go back and your right to hit the multitask button. Home and the app tray are in the center, so you can use either hand to tap those. This creates a disconnected feeling compared to older Android tablets, Where it was possible to navigate with just the left thumb and the app tray was always opened with the right.
As a result, I've adjusted how I hold the tablet. Instead of putting the sides into the palms of my hands, I actually hold it with my fingers. This allows me to stretch and use my thumbs in the center of the screen when I want, or my index fingers on either hand at the top of the display if I choose.
To me, this is actually more ergonomic than the old layout. Allow me to explain. Holding a 10" tablet with my palms wrapped around the edges actually caused me to adjust my hands when I needed to reach the center of the screen for whatever reason. Holding it the way I described above, I can now reach everywhere on the screen without having to adjust my hand position. However, the grippy-ness of the back of the device helps me keep a solid hold on it with just my fingers; I tried the above-mentioned hand position on the TF700 and continuously thought I was going to drop it. It's clear that Google really took to time to think about things like this when designing the Nexus 10.
New / Improved Apps: Daydreams, Clock, and Keyboard
Aside from these changes, the rest of the user experience on the homescreen is a familiar one: widgets are in the app tray, long-press to change wallpaper, etc. That doesn't mean Google was finished changing things, though - there are small differences here and there throughout Android 4.2, starting with a new feature called Daydreams.
For all intents and purposes, Daydreams is a screensaver. When the N10 is docked or on a charger, you can set Daydreams to go into action, displaying the clock, photos (in "frame" or "table" layouts), info from Currents, or colors, which is basically just a bunch of... colors. Honestly, it's a pretty useless feature, but I'm sure some users will find pleasure in watching their tablet do things when they're not using it to do things.
Google also decided to revamp a couple of oft-used apps, namely the clock and keyboard. We'll start with the former, as it got an entirely new face, as well as a handful of new features.
On previous versions of Android, the clock app was probably the simplest of all stock offerings. Launching it brought up a large clock laid over the existing wallpaper, with a link to alarms. Simple, but lacking in so many areas. The new clock brings a new interface and more features - basically, it's a new app altogether. When you launch the app, it displays the time and date on a dark gray background. It's very clean and minimal. On the bottom - directly above the navigation bar - are three options: alarms, world clocks, and an overflow menu. Inside of this menu you'll find options for night mode, settings, and help. Within Settings are options for the style of clock (digital or analog), a toggle to show the local time, and several alarm tweaks, including when to silence, length of snooze, and volume.
Back on the main clock screen, a quick swipe to the right reveals something that Android has long needed as a stock feature: a timer. This works exactly as it should - enter a time to countdown and hit start. Done. Simple and effective. On the other side of the main clock interface is a stopwatch feature, which also includes lap functions and sharing capabilities. Ron went into great detail about the clock app in his Nexus 4 review, so if you want to know more about it, check that out.
While the new clock app is useful, I have one major complaint: it looks like crap on this big screen. It's beyond clear that it was designed specifically for phones, and it just scales up for the N10's display. This actually really bothers me. As I stated in the intro, I think Google built this tablet to get developers excited and interested in the 10" form factor; however, the fact that they can't even code their own clock application to display appropriately on the larger screen is troublesome. This is not the way to get anyone excited about a platform, as many will likely follow that lead and continue to build apps that will just scale up and look awful. If that's how things are going to continue to be done, then the entire decision to make a 10" Nexus is a bust. Plain and simple. No one don't needs or wants giant phone apps blown up on an even bigger screen - they want apps that make good use of the increased real estate. The fact that the iPad has 275,000 iPad-optimized apps should be a testament to that.
That aside, Google also revamped the keyboard in Android 4.2 to include gesture typing, similar to Swype. I want to get this out of the way right now: I don't like Swype on my phone. Can't stand it, actually. However, this swiping action to type on the N10's big display is fantastic. Normally, Thumb Keyboard or SwiftKey are among the first apps that I install on a new tablet, mostly because typing on the full-size keyboard is cumbersome and annoying at best. The new gesture-based keyboard changes that, however, as gliding your finger across the keyboard is both faster and more comfortable. Again, I'm not sure that I'll really appreciate this on a phone, as that keyboard is easy enough to use with two thumbs. On the larger screen, though, I love it.
I found the prediction to be pretty spot-on; maybe not as much as SwiftKey, but I didn't find myself backspacing very often at all. Ultimately, the best thing about this keyboard is that it's exactly like the stock keyboard, but with the addition of gesture typing. This means that, if you hate swiping, you don't have to. It's purely optional and works exactly like the existing keyboard does if you choose not to use it. I dig that.
There are also some other subtle changes throughout, like a new animation when switching through apps with the multitasking button. Previously, the MT button simply opened the list of currently running apps; now, however, you get a nice little zoom out animation - one that matches the zoom in when you select an app from the MT list now. Sure, it's little, but those are the sort of things that add polish to an OS.
Performance
Form factor, build quality, OS tweaks, and an amazing display are all great, but their value is also moot if the performance isn't there. This is, by far, the thing that can most easily make or break a device - when interacting with any digital device, we all want the fastest response time, best performance, and least amount of lag possible. Devices like tablets are meant to enhance our lives, and if they perform like crap, they become more of a frustration than a pleasure. Fortunately, the Nexus 10 is nothing short of buttery smooth and lightning fast.
From the minute the Nexus 10 landed in my hands to the time this review was published, there wasn't a single time it even hinted at slowing down. No lag. No stuttering. No waiting. No crashes. Just pure, eye-melting speed and responsiveness. Even Google Now - an app that has been notoriously slow since its release - launches pretty much instantly.
Swiping through homescreens is crazy fast and fluid, it launches apps instantly, and load times are drastically shorter than on other tablets. Thanks to the 2GB of RAM instead of the typical 1GB, it multitasks like a boss, too. Launching programs that haven't been opened in hours is pretty amazing - they pop up as if they were never closed (mostly because they haven't been). It's fantastic.
Gaming is also a beast on this tablet (so long as the game runs in the first place, but that's another story altogether). I've experienced pretty long load times on games like Asphalt 7 in the past, but that simply doesn't happen on the Nexus 10.
The performance is amazing, everything is fast and fluid. I honestly don't know how many other ways I can say it.
If you like benchmarks, I've run some of those, too. As always, these should be taken with a grain of salt. But if you like numbers, these are for you.
AnTuTu
AnTuTu has actually become my all around "go-to" benchmark. It tests the CPU, memory, graphics, and I/O performance. If I could only install and run one tool to give me an overview of device performance, this would be the one. With that said, these tests are far from a die-all-end-all.
CFBench
This is one of the newer benchmarks to hit the scene, but coming from a respected developer like Chainfire, it's always a good one to keep on hand. It specializes in multi-core benching.
GeekBench
Geekbench has recently worked its way into my arsenal of benchmark tools, and I've come to like it quite a bit. It's designed to specifically test the CPU and memory, so it's all about raw performance. One thing I really like is that you can upload the results and share the results with the world. See, look here!
GLBench
This one is all about GPU performance. It has a variety of tests to put the GPU through the ringer, but I stuck with the Egypt 2.5 Offscreen series.
Vellamo
Browser benchmarks. And lots of them.
AndroBench
One of the biggest issues that has plagued owners ASUS' Transformer series is the poor I/O performance. AndroBench tests exactly that, so you'll know if the N10 suffers the same problems (hint: it doesn't).
So, here's the thing with most of these benchmarks: they don't tell the whole story. In fact, they don't tell most of it. The bulk of them are pretty weak, and if you judge this tablet entirely on the numbers you see above, then you're selling it short. Very, very short. The performance is there, no question about it. The benchmarks may not show that, so you'll just have to take my word for it - I promise I wouldn't lie to you.
Battery Life
One of the first things that I, and many others, thought after hearing about the crazy display of the N10 is, what is that going to do to battery life?! I'm happy to report that it doesn't negatively impact battery life at all, really. Since there isn't really a benchmark to dictate what qualifies as "light use," "medium use," or "heavy use," it's hard for me to objectively quantify how good the battery life really is. I can say this much, though: I have used many, many Android tablets. When a device can't sit idly on my desk for 12 hours without dying, that qualifies as awful battery life. When it goes overnight and only loses 5-9%, I call that "not bad." When I can use it for several hours of web browsing, gaming, emailing, and the like, and still have battery to spare, then I'm pretty happy with that, too. So, here's my average day with the Nexus 10 during the review process (all of these numbers are estimates):
- Web browsing/social networking/Working in Evernote: 2 hours
- Gaming: 1 hour
- Benchmarks, messing with things, picking through menus, etc: 2 hours
- Streaming music: 3+ hours (in the background)
And at the end of the day, I would still have roughly 30-ish percent left. That's about as clearly as I can paint the picture of battery life - I think that, in order to be objective about battery life, you have to be pretty subjective. Yeah, I just blew your mind.
To sum up battery life in a sentence: if you kill the N10's battery in a day, you're probably using it too damn much. Go outside or something. Without the tablet, of course.
Camera
At this point, everyone who has read one of my past tablet reviews knows how I feel about rear cameras on larger devices: I find them pointless. And they're usually crappy, so I wish manufacturers wouldn't even add them at all. But they do.
Then there's the N10's camera. Turns out that tablet cameras don't actually have to suck! I guess some manufacturers just put awful cameras on them on purpose, though I'm not sure what that purpose is. This camera is actually pretty good.
Let's take a closer look at the software, though, because it's new. Newer than the 4.1 camera, anyway. And it has new features.
Interface
Instead of cutting off part of the screen for the camera controls like in previous versions of Android, the 4.2 camera utilizes the full screen. If you want to change settings, just tap anywhere on the display and drag to the option you want to tweak - it's just like using the lock screen. You can also access this options menu by tapping the flash icon up in the top right, at which point it will "sticky" in the center of the screen (first screenshot below).
In the bottom right corner is where you can change the mode: camera, video, panorama, and the all-new Photo Sphere. Since this is really the big new feature for the camera app, let's skip the fluff and focus on that.
First off, Photo Sphere is cool. Really cool. In fact, David thinks it's going to change pictures on the internet forever. And it easily could. PS takes a page from the book of panorama and it expands on that, allowing you to effectively capture a 360 degree image of your surroundings. Of course, there's a bit of a learning curve.
In order to get a sphere that looks just right, you'll have to spend some time getting used to it. Images have to lined up pretty dead-on. And it doesn't work worth a crap indoors. I'm not really sure why you'd need a sphere of your house, so that really shouldn't be much of an issue; it's pretty clear that the intended use case for PS is capturing the world outdoors, anyway.
Once you get used to creating spheres, this is a really neat feature. It really captures all of your surroundings and allows other people to be pulled into the image. One of the best things about these created spheres is that G+ already has native support for them. Create a sphere, upload it to G+, and everyone in your circles will be able to watch it. Like a video. It's awesome.
Conclusion
So here we are, at the end of the review. There's a good chance that you skipped the bulk of it and jumped to the bottom for the final words. If you actually read through the entire thing - good for you! If you didn't, however, and then you ask a stupid question in the comments that has already been answered in the review, I will ignore you. Forever. So, just go read the whole thing. You'll be glad you did, because then you'll know basically everything about the Nexus 10 that I do after having used it for the past week. You'll be an expert without even picking one up. You're welcome.
But I digress. The Nexus 10 is a great tablet, no doubt. It has at least doubled the height of the bar for 10" Android tablets across the board. It will undoubtedly be the benchmark from which all other Android tablets are judged. The screen is amazing. Performance is fast, fluid, and stable. The build quality is top-notch. If you like 10-inch tablets, then you'll probably love the Nexus 10.
But then there's the question of apps. If you plan on buying the N10 right out of the gate on launch day, expect issues with app compatibility. Be ready for ridiculous blown-up phone apps that may or may not make you gag. Possibly even vomit in some circumstances. Don't say I didn't warn you.
On the other hand, this could be the device to finally make developers open their eyes and say "you know what, people really do want tablet-optimized apps! Let's make some!" And then the world will be good, people will stop complaining, and Apple will have one less thing to hold over our heads. That, of course, is the ideal situation. It's hard to say whether or not it will actually turn out that way. Here's to hoping.
That's not the only question you have to take into consideration with this tablet, either. There's another big one: what are you going to use it for? Reading? Surfing the web on the couch? Email, social networking, or gaming? Hate to be the one to break it to you, but the Nexus 7 is more than capable of tackling those particular tasks not only as well as the Nexus 10, but ever better in some cases. Why? Because those are all relaxed activities that you'll likely be doing in your down time. Thus, you want to be as comfortable as possible when doing them. And the fact is, the N7 is just easier to hold, and more comfortable in one hand. Because of the smaller form factor, gaming is also much better on the Nexus 7, too - reaching the center of the screen isn't much of a stretch there. On the N10, though, expect a thumb workout.
But maybe you like the 10-inch form factor. Maybe 7-inches is just too small for you. Or maybe you want a tablet to use for work - documents, spreadsheet, or other text entry. For that, the Nexus 10 is pretty perfect. Ultimately, here's an ideal scenario: Nexus 7 for gaming, casual reading, and social networking. Nexus 10 for "serious" web browsing and getting work done. But there's a chance you're not going to want to spend $600+ on a pair of tablets that will do the same thing you can already use your computer for. Then you have to make a decision.
For me, the choice is clear: I'd buy the Nexus 7. If I need to work from my tablet, I can. It's not ideal, but it's not broken, either. In my opinion, the benefits of the Nexus 7 simply outweigh those of the Nexus 10. That's not to say the N7 is better at everything than the N10, because it's not. I'd rather watch movies on the Nexus 10. If I'm going to spend an ample amount of time editing documents, I'd rather do that on the Nexus 10, too.
At the end of it all, though, there's no denying that Google has a winning tablet here. If it can get the developer support it deserves, then it will change the game forever, which would be amazing. Still, right now, that's a big gamble to make.
Note: This review is just the beginning of our Nexus 10 coverage. Expect a full write-up after Multi-User support is added, as well as a head-to-head comparison with ASUS' high-res tablet, the TF700 (Infinity).
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