Nexus 10: The Game Changer

Speaking of phones, the Samsung Galaxy Note was a game changer for me. I have stopped using any tablets since I bought the Note I a year ago. As a matter of fact the game changer was the Note's display - 5 inch high resolution amoled, the biggest that fits in a jeans pocket and the densest an eye can handle. Today I am using the Note II and I do not think of any other phone form factor. The Note simply defines a smartphone today.

The decision to stop using tablets after adopting the Note was not deliberate. But just after a couple of weeks with the Note I realized my original iPad 1 was discharged and collected a lot of dust. Meaning nobody touched it for a while. Later I truly admired the iPad 3 when it came out. The retina display is fantastic. But I found the 3 too heavy and too difficult to hold one handed to become the house "sofa" computer (or media / reader). Also, for a sofa tablet, support for multiple user accounts is vital (each family member wants their social/email context when using it). Unfortunately the iOS does not support multiple user accounts.

So here comes the Nexus 10. The latest Google tablet made by Samsung. I was hesitating for a while before buying it, but I decided to give it a try. And after several days with the Nexus 10 I have to say it is an absolute game changer. A tablet - redefined.

First thing I noticed after unboxing was how light it was. Much lighter than the iPad 3. Which probably is not that much in absolute terms, but the Nexus is much easier to hold. It is thinner and has rubberized back. The iPad you ave to hold firmly with quite significant grasp, because the aluminum case is slippery. The rubber coated Nexus almost sticks to hands. Or holds to your lap when lying on a sofa, so you do not have to apply any force at all to hold it.

Then there is the display. Four times the resolution most other Android tablets: 2560x1600. This is more than the 27 inch Apple Cinema display! At 300ppi you do not see any pixels at all. Web pages and Kindle books render phenomenally. The truth is Kindle books are easier to read on the Nexus than on the Kindle. Even when compared to the large format Kindle DX. The Nexus weighs the same as the big Kindle but fonts render way better due to the ultra high resolution. Plus it is faster and more universal.

And what is even more impressive is how fast and smooth this thing is. It is "only" a dual core machine, but the dual 1,7 GHz Cortex-A15 cores bundled with multi core graphics accelerators make it behave smoother than my Lenovo X220 i5-based business workhorse laptop. Android 4.2 on the Nexus 10 proves ARM can beat Intel performance - wise. Plus the Nexus is rated at 9 hours of video playback on a battery, while the X220 has hard time reaching that score doing nothing.

The overall speed and smoothness can probably be attributed to the 4.2 release of the Android OS too. The 4.2 is the result of many UI/UX improvements known at Google as "Project Butter". Yes it really feels smooth as butter indeed! Render scripts now run on GPUs, meaning 15x improvement in speed. CPU clock is boosted on every screen touch touch to eliminate any feel of lag.

Then there are multiple user accounts introduced in the 4.2. You can have up to 8. Each with own set of applications / applications data, home screens, wallpapers. To me this was the missing link in adopting Android as a multiuser OS for home computing, Now the link is not missing anymore.

I have often been asked for a recommendation for a "family" tablet. With all my warm feelings towards Android, my recommendation has been the iPad. Until yesterday. Now if you ask me which tablet should you buy for the family, the answer is: the Nexus 10. The final reason is the multi user support.

On top of the 4.2 OS there are many other improvements, one with potential breakthrough use cases is the Photo Sphere mode in the Camera application. With mobile sensors and processing power now on par with traditional digital cameras, applications like the Photo Sphere may elevate consumer photography to an entirely new level.

So is the Nexus 10 absolutely perfect? Well... there are still some things I might see added, like SD card slot, wireless charging, and something as simple as a table kickstand, which, I think, should be integrated int the device.

So the bottom line is, if you have been considering a tablet, look no further. The Nexus 10 is far ahead of anything else currently on the market. The perfect hardware bundled with the latest release of Android is the game changer. And at $399 it costs less than some of it competitors.