I originally purchased the Nexus 7 during launch, jumping on the slightly cheaper 8GB model. Since release, the 8GB model has been discontinued, and it's spot taken by the 16GB model, and a 32GB model was introduced. I believe in the time I've owned it, I've formulated a pretty fair assessment.
Background
With the release of the Nexus 7, a new era of cheaper tablets was ushered in. There were always cheaper tablets available, but this was truly the first really good, cheap tablet. I couldn't help myself. The Transformer I had was pretty much sitting and gathering dust. Although the features of the Transformer were awesome, Tegra 2 was aging, and the unit was a bit heavy and awkward. Overall, the Transformer felt like a pretty beta product. I knew for a long while I wanted to replace it, but I didn't have any good options out there. Sure, there were lots of 7" tablets, like the Playbook, and the Galaxy Tab Plus, but I just knew I needed to wait for something better. And it really did come along.
The Hardware: Overview And Opinions
The Nexus 7 is an awesome little tablet. Though construction is mainly plastic, it still feels like it's worth every penny paid. The front of the tablet is consumed by a wonderful 1280x800 7" IPS display, which compared to other tablets of the same screen size on the market is a decent bump in resolution. A lot of people found the bezel surrounding the screen to be a bit much, but I find it's great for holding the unit, as you don't need to worry about accidentally touching the screen or obscuring something on the display. Above the 7" display is a basic 1.3mp shooter, used for Google+ hangouts. Like all current Nexus devices, there are no hardware buttons on the front face, instead being replaced by on screen buttons. Like the Galaxy Nexus, when the screen is off, it's basically a black glossy slate. Surprisingly, there's no notification light on the unit, which I don't really like. Heading down to the bottom of the device, you'll find the standard MicroUSB port, along with the 3.5mm headphone jack. On the left side of the device are the 4 pogo pins for the optional dock and a mic, the top has another mic, and the right side has the power and volume buttons. The back of the unit is a nice soft touch rubber like material, with the Nexus and Asus logos adorning it. Near the bottom, there are some decent stereo speakers, which are surprisingly full and loud for a tablet.
For a $200 tablet, it's specifications are pretty good. Powering the device is a very quick 1.3GHz quad core Tegra 3, with a generous 1GB of RAM. It also has 8GB of on board storage, with 5.92GB usable after the operating system. Like other Nexus devices, there is no expandable memory, so I'm stuck with the 8GB unless I want to replace the unit. Connectivity includes the standard suite of Bluetooth 3.0, NFC, and 802.11 /b/g/n wifi @ 2.4GHz. Rounding out the unit is a 4325mah non-removable battery.
Build quality is really good, like most other Nexus devices. Despite the unit being mostly plastic, it still feels like it's a quality product. This isn't to say there weren't issues. Most units have a slight glass lift on the left side, which, although unnoticeable on casual inspection, may cause those who are picky with their devices to be a bit disappointed. My unit does not display a lot of glass lift, with the glass being mostly flush with the edge. The overall size of the tablet is great too, being a very nice companion device. I can comfortably hold it in one had for reading, unlike the Transformer. This is thanks to the weight, and the nice grippy back. It doesn't feel awkward.
The screen is very nice and bright, but can also drop down to a nice low level for reading in the dark. The IPS display has awesome color reproduction, and good black levels. The viewing angles are great. My unit has no dead pixels, which I'm very thankful for. I have the same opinion on the on screen buttons, thinking it really is the way to go vs hardware. Capacitive buttons can die or seem to lose effectiveness over time, which I found happened with my Desire Z. No notification LED is a bit of a drag, but it's not a deal breaker having to turn on the screen to check notifications. In most cases, if my phone is flashing, I know my tablet has the same notification.
For what it's used for, the camera is pretty good. It's clear enough for Hangouts on Google+, and that's all it really needs to be used for. I find a rear facing camera on a tablet is pretty useless, so I was pleased to see there wasn't one on the Nexus 7. The thought of pulling a tablet out in public to take pictures makes me cringe. You have phones, or point and shoot cameras for a reason.
The processor and GPU are very pleasing. Seeing something as powerful as Tegra 3 in such a cheap device is awesome. Multitasking is a breeze thanks to the 1GB of RAM and the quad core, and I haven't really experienced any slow downs or stutters. The only game I've had issues playing would the GTA Vice City, and even then, turning down the settings makes it playable. The 8GB of internal storage is enough for me. Like I said earlier, I really do use a lot of cloud services, so I don't need to have on device storage. The main thing taking up space on it right now is games. That is really the only bad thing about 8GB. With newer games coming out that are larger and larger, you almost need to uninstall those that aren't being used at the time. All of my books, magazines, video, and audio are streamed, so for those purposes, 8GB is fine. Connectivity works well, playing with Android Beam between my Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7 is fun, being able to send web pages to and from devices is simple. With more people getting Nexus devices, or even more Android phones implementing it, I could see it as an easy way to share data. Part of me wishes I waited for the 4G version. Maybe that'll come in the future. I could see it being a lot more useful having data anywhere.
Software: Overview And Opinions
My Nexus 7 is currently running Android 4.2.2, the latest version of Jelly Bean. Jelly Bean was introduced on the Nexus 7, and brought some neat features to the table, the main ones being Project Butter and Google Now. It's definitely a unified operating system now, with design being very similar between my phone and tablet. Like Ice Cream Sandwich, everything is nice and clean, with the Holo theme being implemented everywhere. Project Butter works well on both my phone and tablet too, offering a big boost in responsiveness. This is achieved through VSync timing, triple buffering, and matching touch inputs with the VSync. It also offers nice boosts in processor speed when it detects a touch, making the entire interface fly.
Google Now is pretty awesome, and something I use daily. It has been steadily improving since release, and will keep getting better. It's pretty location aware, so if you're walking past a bus stop it'll give you departure times, it can update you on your favorite sports teams, show you the weather, give you movie times, etc. Very handy tool for quick information at a glance. It also includes an awesome voice search that works really well, and talks to you for a lot of inquiries. This is similar to Siri on the iPhone, but considerably faster. (Seriously, I've tried it vs a friend's 4S. It's speedy).
Notifications have also improved with 4.2. They're expandable and actionable. One can share directly from the notification bar. There's also a quick toggle option too, which is a nice addition to the notification bar. On my phone, swiping down with 2 fingers shows it, or there's a little icon that flips over from standard notifications to the quick panel. With the tablet, swiping on the left side of the notification bar gives you standard notifications, swiping on the right gives you quick toggles.
Battery life is pretty good. I generally use the tablet in the kitchen when I'm cooking or baking to display recipes, or I'll read magazines at work, or browse/watch videos in bed or in the living room. Google rates the device at about 9 hours of continuous video playback, however, I haven't been able to test that. I'm assuming it could do that pretty easily, but for day to day use, it generally gets about 3-4 hours of screen on, with days of idle time in between. I'm pleased with the results, considering it's completely stock, and if I were to use it for a full day, I'd probably see about 7 hours+ screen on time.
Google Support and RMA
It was my unfortunate experience that my first device quickly bricked after about a month of use. I hadn't done anything to it, I didn't even unlock it, but one day it just completely locked up. After soft booting the unit, it got stuck on the Nexus loading screen. Anything I tried resulted in the same problem, even a complete flash of the stock OS. Quickly re-locking the bootloader, I contacted Google, and was assisted by a great rep named Andrew. It was quickly determined that nothing we could do over the phone would solve the problem, so he arranged an advanced device replacement. They shipped me a new unit, and provided me with shipping labels for the old one. Everything was handled in about a week from contacting Google, so I have no real complaints. Service was great, warranty support was awesome, and the new device has been working flawlessly since receiving it.
Conclusion
The Nexus 7 is Google's first foray into the tablet market with a Nexus device, and they did well. The Nexus 7 is priced to move, and has the specifications of a tablet twice it's price. It was really a smart move by Google to push it out, as it's a great way to push their services into more hands, and at a price consumers can't resist. Pushing it at that price point shows that quality devices can be had for cheaper, pressuring more companies to produce cheaper, high quality products. It's realistically a win for both Google and the consumers. As for me, the Nexus 7 has solidified my opinion on the Nexus series of devices, and I don't think I could buy anything but a Nexus from now on. This is really a full featured tablet, and would be an awesome compliment to anyone's day to day life.