Technology has really moved forward over the years. The first 7 inch android tablet I used was slow, had a resistive screen that worked best with a stylus, and only ran Doughnut (Android 1.6). It was sluggish and couldn't do much, but I was able to read some comics and books on the device. Mostly it was just awesome to have something large with a touchscreen.

The second 7 inch tablet was better and I did use it much longer. The screen was still resistive and the OS was still sluggish, only running Eclair (Android 2.1), but I used it for quite awhile since it was so much better than the first tablet.

Both of those tablets were cheap imports. They didn't cost much and they had little support if something went wrong. Fun to experiment with because they didn't cost an arm and a leg, but difficult to fix if a problem arose.

A few years pass and enter the Google Nexus 7. It's a 7 inch tablet with a capacitive screen, which means no more poking with a stylus. Plus since it's officially from Google, the latest Android OS is available. That means the device is running a newer version of software than my cell phone.

There was a really good combination of coupons that made the nexus reasonably priced, so we picked one up today. After coming one with that was initially broken and had to be returned, I was able to finally settle in and play around with the device. So far it's been fun to poke around with. Plus since I have an Android phone, the Nexus did a nice job pulling applications I already use on my phone onto the tablet.

I really do like the smaller form factor. 7 inches seems perfect to me. Plus being smaller means the device feels more portable, at least to me. That means taking it around and watching movies on lunch or using it if I ever get stuck downtown for some reason, which happens occasionally.

Plus it has NFC so I look forward to getting some additional cards programmed to do cool things with around the house.

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