-
After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.
Upgrade to v2 from v1 worth it?
- Thread starter flyfoam
- Start date
-
- Tags
- nexus 7 (2012)
Obviously, this is simply a matter of opinion. I have the first generation N7, and just bought my girlfriend the 2013 version. There are obviously some improvements in the specifications, but I personally couldn't justify replacing one for the other, given their current cost (even with your potential $150 head start). They both run the same version of Jelly Bean, so in terms of usability, they are pretty much identical. The new tablet will prompt you to update and install patches almost immediately upon boot up. The newest patch addresses the GPS and hopefully the touchscreen issues. I have had no touchscreen issues with the new tablet, either before or after the patches. I have had no issues with the new N7 (after many hours of tinkering) and I don't have any issues with the old N7 either.
Granted, I haven't tried any hard-core gaming on the new version, but the screen resolution and performance improvements observed during general use are not that drastic. I pretty much feel like I'm using the same tablet in either variety. If you really want a rear facing camera, then obviously you don't have that in the old version.
There is one significant improvement with the new hardware that is rarely mentioned. It is capable of utilizing the 5 Ghz 802.11n band. Thus, your internet surfing is MUCH faster if you have a high-end, dual-band router. I think the surfing experience is very much improved over the old version if you have one of these routers. If you don't have this type of router (rare in public hotspots) then you won't benefit from that particular improvement. Of course, if your home internet isn't better than about 15 mBit/sec, you won't benefit from the dual-band capability either.
The physical form factor of the new tablet is just different enough that your old cases and screen protectors won't fit, so be prepared for that additional expense.
I'm a pretty hard-core android guy, and I found bootloader unlocking, rooting and custom recovery installation about the same as with the old version. Wug's toolkit handles the newest N7 with or without the newest 4.3 patches installed. Drivers you may have previously installed for ADB and Fastboot for the old N7 should still work fine for the new version. If you've never done this before, the Wug's supplied drivers install and work just fine, too.
There are some apps that don't yet work with the new N7... like HBOGo. The MxPlayer didn't work, either, but that's already been updated and works now. Hopefully other incompatible apps will be updated soon, as well.
Bottom line in my opinion: Not worth the $$ to upgrade if your old N7 is happily buzzing along, unless you have to have the rear camera or utilize the 5Ghz wifi band. Neall
Granted, I haven't tried any hard-core gaming on the new version, but the screen resolution and performance improvements observed during general use are not that drastic. I pretty much feel like I'm using the same tablet in either variety. If you really want a rear facing camera, then obviously you don't have that in the old version.
There is one significant improvement with the new hardware that is rarely mentioned. It is capable of utilizing the 5 Ghz 802.11n band. Thus, your internet surfing is MUCH faster if you have a high-end, dual-band router. I think the surfing experience is very much improved over the old version if you have one of these routers. If you don't have this type of router (rare in public hotspots) then you won't benefit from that particular improvement. Of course, if your home internet isn't better than about 15 mBit/sec, you won't benefit from the dual-band capability either.
The physical form factor of the new tablet is just different enough that your old cases and screen protectors won't fit, so be prepared for that additional expense.
I'm a pretty hard-core android guy, and I found bootloader unlocking, rooting and custom recovery installation about the same as with the old version. Wug's toolkit handles the newest N7 with or without the newest 4.3 patches installed. Drivers you may have previously installed for ADB and Fastboot for the old N7 should still work fine for the new version. If you've never done this before, the Wug's supplied drivers install and work just fine, too.
There are some apps that don't yet work with the new N7... like HBOGo. The MxPlayer didn't work, either, but that's already been updated and works now. Hopefully other incompatible apps will be updated soon, as well.
Bottom line in my opinion: Not worth the $$ to upgrade if your old N7 is happily buzzing along, unless you have to have the rear camera or utilize the 5Ghz wifi band. Neall
The N7.2 also can be attached to an HDMI input of a TV using a Slimport adapter and also supports Miracast so if you are interested in the ability to mirror the output of the N7 on a TV screen, the 7.2 model has 2 options to do it that where the original model has none.
I wasn't particularly excited by the new N7 but I went ahead and bought a new one anyway and gave my 1st gen to my daughter. I have no regrets but it is not really something you could justify on price alone.
I was interested in the ability to mirror the N7's output on my TV but I also bought the Google Chromecast around the same time. The Chromecast won't allow mirroring the N7's display but the N7 can be used to fireup Netflix and YouTube videos to be displayed on the TV so that works for me. There will be more apps coming down the pike in the near future that will give the N7 even more abilities to utilize the Chromecast. Chromecast will work with either generation of the N7 so it's all good.
BTW, using 5Ghz instead of 2.4Ghz on your router doesn't necessarily mean there will be any performance improvement. On top of that, 5Ghz has a shorter range. If you read up about it you'll see that 2.4Ghz is generally the recommended choice for home networks. I have a dual band router and can connect my N7.2 to either the 2.4 or 5Ghz and see no performance difference between the 2.
I wasn't particularly excited by the new N7 but I went ahead and bought a new one anyway and gave my 1st gen to my daughter. I have no regrets but it is not really something you could justify on price alone.
I was interested in the ability to mirror the N7's output on my TV but I also bought the Google Chromecast around the same time. The Chromecast won't allow mirroring the N7's display but the N7 can be used to fireup Netflix and YouTube videos to be displayed on the TV so that works for me. There will be more apps coming down the pike in the near future that will give the N7 even more abilities to utilize the Chromecast. Chromecast will work with either generation of the N7 so it's all good.
BTW, using 5Ghz instead of 2.4Ghz on your router doesn't necessarily mean there will be any performance improvement. On top of that, 5Ghz has a shorter range. If you read up about it you'll see that 2.4Ghz is generally the recommended choice for home networks. I have a dual band router and can connect my N7.2 to either the 2.4 or 5Ghz and see no performance difference between the 2.
Here is my defense of 5 Ghz: The 5 Ghz band for 802.11n CAN be significantly faster than the 2.4 GHz band. By using channel combining on the 5 GHz band, you can achieve a bandwidth of 40 MHz, as opposed to 20 Mhz on the 2.4 GHz band. If your dual-band router supports channel combining (most do), your new N7 will in fact honor this setup and perform at the higher bandwith and throughput. It's part of the 802.11n standard.
In addition, the 5 GHz band is MUCH less crowded, further improving throughput and reducing interference. Not only is the 2.4 GHz band crowded with tons of wifi, bluetooth is on this frequency as well, and it interferes with wifi. As do many cordless phones, and much of the wireless home theatre wireless speaker links (ie: Sony S-Air system). The list goes on and on.
I personally have found that many articles suggest going to the 5 Ghz band at home, when possible, and there is already a push to migrate to the new AC standard (though there is a dearth of AC mobile devices so far).
In my own personal home experiments, using my 50 mBit/sec Comcast connection and a (used to be) high-end dual band Linksys wifi router (WRT610n), I'm getting almost triple the throughput on my 5 Ghz band using the new N7 as I do using the 2.4 GHz band (at closer ranges), all other things being equal.
Does 5 GHz attenuate (drop off) more quickly at distances than 2.4 GHz? Yes, after all, everything in life involves tradeoffs. Yet, with a high quality MIMO dual band router and proper placement, the attenuation can be reduced. I have 2500 sq. ft. of living space and reach all corners pretty well at 5 GHz. Your mileage may vary. Neall
Me personally, I was having so many issues with my old Nexus 7 16gb, I was having issues with the internal keyboard not working, Google Play store wasn't working, I had to reset to factory version to get it to work again. By that point I decided to sell it and get the new one. The new one seems so much faster, I have a lot more space (got the 32gb Nexus 7 2013), the screen is the nicest I've seen yet on a tablet. The sound is excellent using headphones of the surround sound speakers after being so subpar on the Nexus 7 2012. The Nexus 7 2013 is just an incredible tablet, you'll be hard pressed to find a better 7" tablet (Nexus 7 2013 has won every comparison I've seen). And I'd put it up against anything Apple has to offer.
flyfoam
Member
I picked up the 2nd edition three days ago. The screen is a really nice improvement. I had / have the touch screen issue. It's somewhat weird because the 2nd day I had the N7 the touch screen was so bad I was ready to return it. Then the problem just went away. So for now I like it.
TheAmazingDave
Android Expert
I'm considering doing the same, if only because the new N7 has a few features that I wished came on the first gen.
Screen resolution, HDMI output, and more processing POWAH!!!
If I can get $150+ for my 32GB, I'd definitely do it.
Screen resolution, HDMI output, and more processing POWAH!!!
If I can get $150+ for my 32GB, I'd definitely do it.
trophynuts
Extreme Android User
great points. Also i believe microwave ovens and possibly other appliances will cause interference with the 2.4ghz range as well. I'm often in hotels for work travel and i almost have my self talked into buying a small travel router for the 5ghz range. i would hard line to the router and then operate all my devices on my own 5ghz range. In a fairly large hotel with a microwave oven in every room the 2.4ghz range is slammed and often sucks.
In my experience with hotel wifi systems, it isn't the wifi that sucks, it's the whole system that sucks. I doubt hooking up a 5ghz router will improve things.
When I travel and the hotel internet sucks, I simply fire up the wifi hotspot on my 4G phone and use it instead. I've never encountered issues with that (unless there is a weak or no cell signal) due to microwave ovens and such.
colchiro
Extreme Android User
I can see you're not happy about it either.
This is a great router for $30 and anyone can install it. I'm in IT and used to go the Cisco router, but I'm a convert now.
Netgear N150 Easy Smart Wireless Router - Walmart.com
If you really want to spend more, there's the N300, but I don't see the point. NETGEAR N300 Wireless Router, High Speed Internet Router, Push 'n' Connect Router, Energy Efficient Router
Demache
Android Expert
I can see you're not happy about it either.
This is a great router for $30 and anyone can install it. I'm in IT and used to go the Cisco router, but I'm a convert now.
Netgear N150 Easy Smart Wireless Router - Walmart.com
If you really want to spend more, there's the N300, but I don't see the point. NETGEAR N300 Wireless Router, High Speed Internet Router, Push 'n' Connect Router, Energy Efficient Router
I use DD-WRT on my router and wireless bridge. Mainly because of that flexibility and configuration abilities that it offers, so I'll probably get something a little more on the expensive side. Both the Linksys and Buffalo use the same Broadcom chipset, which has been knock on wood for 6 years.
As of now, most of my speed problems aren't because of Wireless G (except for moving files within the network, that's a nightmare), its a 10 year old modem with 25+ year old mess of coax cable that I'm lucky to get 5 Mb/s of the 30 Mb/s we pay for. I know exactly what's wrong (we need to replace the cable from the cable TV drop to the modem). And on top of that, its my parent's connection, so I can do absolutely nothing as they are so deathly apathetic about it. Then they get mad at me that I'm watching Netflix at potato quality and their Facebook or Craigslist just crawls. Fortunately I'm in university so I don't have to deal with it constantly, but when I do, its infuriating.
Generally I consider a connection to unacceptable when it takes a couple minutes to login to school related websites. Its faster to tether to my Galaxy Nexus.
/off-topic rant