Nexus 7 vs iPad 3

Do you have your mind set in joining the bandwagon and getting a tablet PC for yourself? 10 years ago, no one could have imagined that tablet PCs will be this popular. The tablet market has become saturated with many of the popular brands entering the fray.

Just recently, Google finally unveiled their own tablet, the Nexus 7, at the Google I/O Conference in San Francisco, California last June 27, 2012. I'm sure many of you are asking just how will it fare against the reigning, dominant tablet PC today, the Apple iPad 3. Let's find out.

1. Aesthetics

What's the first thing you usually look at when you're considering purchasing any gadget? It's "the looks." At first glance, the Nexus 7 looks like a small tablet with its dimensions at 7.81(L) x 4.72 (W) x 0.41 (H). A silver frame surrounds the front glass while the rear cover has a rubbery, textured coating to it which provides a good and firm grip. The beveled bottom and painted silver trim gives it that thinner, sleeker look. With Asus as its hardware's manufacturer, you can be sure of this product's build quality. It also weighs a modest 340g (11 oz).

As for the iPad 3, there really isn't anything that changed from the 2nd generation, on the outside that is. It is slightly more tapered on the edges which gives it that thinner feel. Its dimensions are 9.50 (L) x 7.31 (W) x 0.37 (H) and weighs 652 g (23.00 oz). As usual, the colors offered are black and white.

2. Display

Screen resolution and display has always been the "bread and butter" of Apple. It doesn't want to lose out on this, ever. For the tablet market, the iPad 3 shows who's the boss with a 9.7 inch display, a resolution of 2048x1536 pixels and a pixel density of 264 ppi. Despite the Nexus 7 sporting a respectable 7 inch HD display, resolution of 1280x800, and pixel density of 216 ppi, it is simply nowhere near the iPad 3's display capabilities. Of course, there are setbacks for the awesome display offered by the iPad 3 such as battery life, added weight, and extra cost.

3. Processor

Now comes the part where the competition for processing power supremacy is heating up. The name of the game is "Quad Core." The Nexus 7 doesn't disappoint with its 1.3 GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor with a 12-core GPU. You'd think that having 4 cores is already plenty enough but Nvidia was kind enough to add an extra core to work on tasks at a low frequency. This feature works best for tasks that run on active standby mode and music/video playback.

On the other hand, the iPad 3 runs on a 1 GHz dual-core A5X chipset. Your initial thoughts would probably be that the Tegra 3 processor should win hands-down but you'd be surprised. Tim Cook, the current CEO of Apple Inc., revealed that the "X" in the "A5X" stands for quad-core graphics. This means that if the Apple A5 was already twice as fast as the Tegra 3, then the A5X is 4 times as fast. Of course, this is only his claim and further tests will need to be carried out but that will be up for discussion some other time. It would have been better to see the A6 chipset though. Note that both tablets come with 1Gb onboard RAM.

4. Storage

When it comes to storage, the Nexus 7 offers a 8GB and 16GB versions while the iPad 3 comes in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. If you're looking for the biggest storage capacity, there's no question that the iPad 3 is the better choice. The downside for both tablets is the lack of expansion slots. It's really a mystery to me as to why most brands prefer not to include the option to expand storage capacity.

5. Battery Life

The Nexus 7 is powered by a 4,325 mAh battery while the iPad 3 boasts of 11,560 mAh battery. Despite the almost triple battery capacity of the latter, this doesn't translate to having a longer battery life. As mentioned earlier, the high retina display of the iPad 3 has some setbacks which includes battery life. Google claims that the Nexus 7's battery can last up to 9 hours ( approx. 8 hours if actively used) and Apple claims around 10 hours.

6. Operating System (OS)

At last, we come to the "heart" of the tablet PCs, the OS. Once again, disappointment besets us as the rumored iOS 6 release for the iPad 3 has been pushed back and we only have the iOS 5. It is an enhancement-filled update which includes some small features, such as the redesigned Camera app and face detection, and some bug fixes.

The highlight, of course, is the latest version of the Android, 4.1 Jelly Bean, the successor to 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (these names really give me a sudden craving for sweets). No, it's not a major overhaul but it is a much-improved version of the Ice Cream Sandwich. Latency is no longer an issue when it comes to navigating around the apps. Browsing on the web is a breeze with the pre-loaded Google Chrome browser. The newest feature is called "Google Now" which is Google's answer to Apple's Siri. It predicts what information you will need like the weather for the day, traffic conditions, and even the arrival times of the trains as you stand on the platform. It gathers useful information based on several things like your current location and calendar events. It uses this information to give you the what you need, when you need it.

I can't wait to see what Apple will come back with in their OS6 release this Fall.

7. Camera

There's not much going on for the Nexus 7 for their camera except that it has a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera for decent enough for video calls. The iPad 3 has a 0.3 megapixel camera for FaceTime and a 5 megapixel rearview camera.

8. Connectivity

Both tablets offer 802.11 b/g/n Wireless Fidelity so this is a non-issue. They both have Bluetooth capability as well. The biggest difference is that the Nexus 7 does not have 3G capability, at least for the moment. This leaves the iPad 3 uncontested for this segment.

9. Price

We finally come to probably the most important factor, at least for most people...the price. The base model of the Nexus 7 (8GB) will retail at $199.00 while the iPad 3's base model goes for $499.00. Sure the gap in pricing is highly evident however, one has to look deeper and see which will give you more value for your money.

In the end, what's the verdict you may ask? At the end of the day, it all comes down to your personal preferences, as usual. If you're after a kick-ass display, go for the iPad 3. If you're looking for a cheaper alternative, then try out the Nexus 7. Another consideration would be that the number of applications available in Google Play is not nearly as many as the apps available in Apple's App Store. Always ask yourself what you need more than what you want.