PowerBomb
Android Enthusiast
For the most part I love my N7, but something has been bothering me. For being a 7" screen device, why does the device itself have to balloon up to a hair over 9"? Especially considering what it lacks. No 3g/4g components inside, no rear camera/flash, no front speaker/mic since it's not a phone, no need for a sim card, no sd card slot, no HDMI out, etc. I'm not complaining that these features are missing as I knew that going in, but why is there so much extra real estate outside of the screen on a device that doesn't have to house all of these components inside, when phone sized devices DO have all this hardware crammed inside, and have small bezels? AND the thing only has 10 hours of battery life so there isn't even a huge battery in there either. I was about to say that of course the N7 is thinner than phones so maybe that's why the internals had to spread out but I'm not sure that's true. I'm used to holding a Bionic with an extended battery but I'm sure the Razr comes close to how thin the N7 is if not better.
I have fairly large hands but you cannot truly operate the N7 with one hand. You can hold it that way, sure. But it's not like a phone where you can have a full grip on the back and your thumb on the same hand can still navigate the screen.
Now I do realize when it comes to electronics, as components get smaller, price goes up. So maybe they couldn't bring down the form factor and still sell it for $250. I'm not saying I'm downright disappointed or upset with the device, just more of a what-if rant. I think this device would be ten times better, and make up for the features it lacked, if it wasn't much larger than the actual screen. Instead we have almost an inch on the top, inch on the bottom, and a half inch on each side, all that make it harder to hold and use comfortably. It falls into an annoying area where I didn't buy a 10" device because I knew that would be hard to hold, but the Nexus 7 still can't truly be used with one hand either. Chop off the extra inches and you get the full benefit of choosing a 7" over a 10", a device that truly can be pocketed and held easily.
Looking at the internals, it doesn't seem totally impossible to have put everything a little closer together.
I have fairly large hands but you cannot truly operate the N7 with one hand. You can hold it that way, sure. But it's not like a phone where you can have a full grip on the back and your thumb on the same hand can still navigate the screen.
Now I do realize when it comes to electronics, as components get smaller, price goes up. So maybe they couldn't bring down the form factor and still sell it for $250. I'm not saying I'm downright disappointed or upset with the device, just more of a what-if rant. I think this device would be ten times better, and make up for the features it lacked, if it wasn't much larger than the actual screen. Instead we have almost an inch on the top, inch on the bottom, and a half inch on each side, all that make it harder to hold and use comfortably. It falls into an annoying area where I didn't buy a 10" device because I knew that would be hard to hold, but the Nexus 7 still can't truly be used with one hand either. Chop off the extra inches and you get the full benefit of choosing a 7" over a 10", a device that truly can be pocketed and held easily.
Looking at the internals, it doesn't seem totally impossible to have put everything a little closer together.
