Google Nexus 7 2 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 8: specs, price compared

Google’s newly-launched Nexus 7 2 is a tough rival to Apple’s iPad Mini – both the current model and the future one. Well, you might have gone through many comparisons between the small tablet from Apple and the Asus-made second generation Nexus 7. Even though, Nexus 7 2 is a stiff competitor to many midsize Android tablets also. Here we are taking one sample the new Samsung Galaxy Note 8 for a detailed comparison.

Display: The fresh Google Nexus tablet sports a 7-inch display, while the Galaxy Note 8 as its name suggests has a bit larger 8-inch screen. The former one mounts an LED-backlit IPS LCD display that touts a resolution of 1200 x 1920 pixels at 323-ppi.

What you have on Galaxy Note 8, at the same time, is a TFT panel that lacks in both resolution and pixels. It packs only 800 x 1280 pixels at 189-ppi. Moreover, the Google tablet has an advantage of Gorilla Glass for protecting the gadget’s screen from scratches and mild falls.

Processor, Power: It is highly important to know what specs power up a smaller tablet. Always tech makers are competing to provide the best of the processing power inside their mini tablets to attract more customers. Thus, we have a 1.5GHz Krait quad core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, Adreno 320 graphical card and 2GB of RAM onboard the new Nexus 7 tablet.

Of course, so competitive are the innards of the Note 8. It is powered by a 1.6GHz Cortex-A9 Exynos 4412-based processor, 2GB of RAM and Mali-400MP graphics. Talking about built-in memory, both the devices are to turn up in 16GB and 32GB models. As you can guess, the Nexus 7 2 like all other Google hardware misses microSD, while it is there with the Note 8.

Firmware: Arriving in stores in April 2013, the Note 8 has Android 4.1 JB out of the cover. Of course, once available you can update the tablet to the later versions of the software. Meanwhile, the Nexus 7 2 like all other Nexus-branded devices will debut a new Android version, which is Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, a slighter update before a major update of Android 5.0.

Cameras: It is a fact that cameras are mostly of no use on large screen tablets. But, they are as essential on midsize tablets as they are on a phablet or smartphone. Google dropped a rear camera on the first gen Nexus 7, which has only a front facing camera. This time, Google has placed a 5MP 1080p video shooting camera on its new variant of Nexus 7.

The Note 8 also has a 5MP camera apart from a 1.3MP front facing one for video chatting. Different from the Nexus 7 2, the Note’s camera can only record video at 720p. Thus, Nexus 7 2 wins the battle of cameras against the Samsung’s midsize tablet.

Dimensions: Being a 7-inch tablet, Nexus 7 2 will naturally have an edge over the Note 8 in size as well as weight. But, in body thinness, Note 8 is the winner with a body as slim as 8mm. Overall, Nexus 7 2 has 200 x 114 x 8.7mm, while Note 8 has 210.8 x 135.9 x 8 mm. In weight, the former rests at 290 grams, while the latter is heavy at 338 grams.

Connectivity: You can get both the devices in cellular/Wi-Fi combo and Wi-Fi only models. The Nexus 7 2 is 4G LTE-enabled as well. As per your preferences, you can choose a model that matches with your budget also.

Price, Availability: Price range of Galaxy Note 8 starts at $320 and its high-end model is priced at around $400. It has been in many markets across world since April 2013. The Nexus 7 2’s price range starts at $229 and its premium 32GB model is priced at $259. It is yet to make its rally to stores, however.

Android 4.3 Jelly Bean: what you need to know

Google finally unveiled a new version of Android at an event in San Francisco. No, not Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie—just an update to the existing Jelly Bean version, Android 4.3.
Android 4.3 Jelly Bean is not the major jump in Android design and functionality that many users have been waiting for. It does, though, add several features that make Jelly Bean a little more functional for developers, publishers and users.

The newest Jelly Bean flavor has six primary new features:

OpenGL 3 for Embedded Systems: OpenGL will allow Android developers to build highly detailed games and images as standard features in Jelly Bean 4.3. Developers can access them via either the OpenGL ES 3 framework or native application programming interfaces.

Bluetooth Smart: Also known as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), this feature will allow people to connect devices (like a smartwatch, heart rate sensor or anything else that can be connected with Bluetooth) to an Android 4.3 device (like the new Nexus 7) in order to provide sensor information to the device for fitness, proximity, medical monitoring and more.

Notification Access: Apps can now interact with the status bar notifications in Android as they are posted and send them to other devices connected via Bluetooth.

Restricted Profiles: Google has given Android the ability to use multi-profile sign in for Android devices already, but this update allows certain profiles to have restricted usage—for instance, if you want to block your kid’s ability to download paid games or apps from Google Play or restrict their Internet browsing capabilities on an Android tablet or smartphone.

DRM for Media Companies: Android 4.3 adds a new Digital Rights Management (DRM) feature that enables media application developers to integrate DRM into their content streaming protocols. Apps can also access a built-in VP8 encoder for high-quality video capture. Google partnered with Netflix as an initial partner for the new DRM features, which will be available in the updated Nexus 7.

Improved Profiling Tools: New tags and on-screen GPU profiling to help developers increase speed and performance in their apps.
Google also is making Android smoother and faster in Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with reduced touch latency, CPU input boost (which means tighter integration with a device’s primary processor), hardware accelerated 2D rendering and improved syncing and buffering.

Google also added a way to create transparent overlays in apps and widgets to make for better looking Android apps. Optical bounds improvements in Android 4.3 work with widgets so that they fit better on the screen and look better with effects such as shadows and glows.

Android 4.3 also has some improved location and sensor capabilities, such as the ability to do “hardware geofencing” that’s designed to optimize power efficiency by moving location computations to hardware rather than performing them in Android software. Google also is increasing location accuracy by allowing for Wi-Fi scanning (where an app determines location by scanning nearby Wi-Fi signals) without the user actually turning on Wi-Fi. That will help save battery life significantly for many users while increasing the specificity of location.

Google will roll over-the-air updates to most Nexus devices starting today including the Nexus 4, Nexus 10, original Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi and 3G versions) and Galaxy Nexus smartphone.

Seven top 4G LTE-enabled smartphones

The 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the fastest way of connecting you with web on your mobile via cellular network. Though world is about to grow from 4G LTE to 4G LTE-A – Advanced -, it is the peak time of regular LTE. And so, here we list seven stunning smartphones under all platforms with the high-speed net connectivity option. Check out our list below after the break.

Samsung Galaxy S4: The new version of Samsung’s widely popular Galaxy S4 series is one of the best Android phones to date. If you buy this, you get a FullHD large 5-inch Super AMOLED display, a high performance quad core processor and 13MP camera. Samsung has recently launched a 4G LTE-A version of the handset in South Korea, aiming at the SK Telecom. It is expected that this high-speed 4G LTE variant may soon go global, and especially it will soon hit Verizon that is working for LTE-A for this fall.

HTC One: It is yet another superb Android phone we have out in stores at the moment. This 4G LTE machine is ideal for premium phone users since it brings together a wide range of quality features including a 4.7-inch high-resolution FullHD display, quad core CPU, a breathtaking design, 4MP Ultrapixel rear camera and a matchless Sense 5-based user interface. HTC One is indeed one of the chief rivals to Samsung Galaxy S4 and other top-end phones in market across the world.

Sony Xperia Z: Sony’s new-gen Android smartphone doesn’t also fall short of features and innovations. Again it is a 5-inch phablet with an incredible FullHD display, advanced innards and a 13.1MP rear camera. But, beyond everything, Xperia Z is known for its water-and-dust resistant nature, which is certainly the biggest selling point of the gadget. The Z is also a wonderful alternative to both the Galaxy S4 and HTC One.

Huawei Ascend P1: This is a one of the cheapest Android phones you can find in stores with the high speed cellular connectivity. This device is up with a 4.3-inch display that touts a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels and is backed by an 8MP camera and a lot of other incredible features. Different from the above mentioned handsets, which are priced around $650, the P1 is a midrange phone and it matches well with everyone’s budget.

BlackBerry Z10: It is the flagship model of BlackBerry’s latest BlackBerry 10 OS, the most recent update to the software from the Canadian firm. If you buy BlackBerry Z10, you will get, apart from the new BlackBerry OS, a superb phone with a cool 4.2-inch display, feature-packed web browser, 4G connectivity and a lot more. It also has a QWERTY-touchscreen combo version the BlackBerry Q10 for business users. It is also 4G LTE one.

Nokia Lumia 920: Do you want a Windows Phone 8 device with 4G LTE? Then, Nokia’s flagship for the platform, the Lumia 920 is the best pick. It is up with a 4.5-inch 760 x 1280 display, an 8.7MP PureView rear camera, a huge 32GB of internal memory, and more. It is indeed one of the best handsets in the world. And with Windows Phone 8, it is the only champion with two new upgrades recently, Lumia 925 and Lumia 928.

Apple iPhone 5: Another great mobile platform is Apple iOS, whose latest 4G LTE enabled phone is iPhone 5. But it has now almost lost its sheen as the time for its successor likely the iPhone 5S is much near. It is a 4-inch amazing iPhone phone ever with a superb collection of feature like a totally revamped design, new display, a quality iSight 8MP camera and more. However, in a few months, the market expects for another nice iPhone variant, which is expected to offer better features.