Google Nexus 10 review
rating
/5
For
- Powerful processor
- High-res screen
- Android 4.2
Against
- No 3G/4G option
- No expandable storage
- Muted colours for media
The Google Nexus 10 was an entirely expected model late last year, taking on the iPad in the 10-inch segment and joining the Google Nexus 7
on the virtual Play Store shelves. With a stunning screen, fun rubber
body and a lower price, is this the tablet you should be craving?
It wasn't going to be an easy fight for Google; the iPad has always been in a league of its own and had a serious head start, but Google wasn't entering the fray unprepared.
At £319 for the 16GB model the Google
Nexus 10 is £80 cheaper than the equivalent iPad 4. In fact even the
32GB model, with its price tag of £389 comes in at slightly under a 16GB
iPad 4 and a whole £90 cheaper than a 32GB one.
Don't
think that just because it's relatively cheap it's not a premium,
powerhouse device though. With a retina-searing 10.05-inch 2560 x 1600
Super PLS display, it's even higher resolution than the latest iPad,
with 300 pixels per inch against the iPad 4's 264ppi.
That
makes it the highest resolution tablet in existence. With a display
that beautiful it's reassuring to know that it uses Corning Gorilla
Glass 2 to keep it in pristine condition.
It's
no slouch under the hood either. With a dual-core 1.7GHz Samsung Exynos
processor and 2GB of RAM, it should just about be able to keep up with
the latest Android devices, though it's starting to look a bit long in
the tooth compared to the likes of the quad-core Sony Xperia Tablet Z.
It comes with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
out of the box, and being a pure Google tablet it will be one of the
first devices to get the next version of Android too, keeping it up to
date and future-proofed for as long as possible. In fact it's already
seen a minor update to Android 4.2.2, which doesn't do a whole lot
visibly, since it's mostly just bug fixes and stability enhancements.
It's
a similar tactic to the one used for the Google Nexus 7 - produce
top-end hardware at the lowest price possible to get people buying. It's
even learned a few lessons from the Nexus 7, since this time Google
isn't bothering with a cripplingly small 8GB model and is making a 32GB
version available from day one.
But
opting for a dual-core processor rather than a quad-core one was a
little surprising, and while it's a lot less money than the latest iPad,
the Google Nexus 10 could hardly be called cheap. So perhaps in this
case it's high-end hardware at a not unreasonable price, which somehow
doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
Early
sales of the Google Nexus 10 were extremely promising. Despite the
slightly higher price tag compared to some other Android tablets on the
market, the Nexus 10 has sold out on Google's Play Store on multiple
occasions, with buyers clearly entranced by the super high resolution
screen and larger dimensions.
It
remained a top seller over the Christmas period, and stock started to
slowly creep back online at the beginning of the year. Both the 16GB and
32GB versions now seem to be in stock most of the time as demand has
slowed down, but it's remained a solid seller.
Right
now the Google Nexus 10 is Wi-Fi only. We had expected a 3G (or even
4G) version to turn up, since a 3G version of the Nexus 7 was made
available a while after launch, but we're still waiting.
So
we're beginning to think that any 3G or 4G will have to wait for the
next Nexus (the Nexus 11? the Nexus 10 2?). That's a shame and quite a
big omission, though it probably won't be too long until its successor
arrives.
