Today we’ll be taking a look at the 2013 Nexus 7 running the latest version of Android 5.0 Lollipop. But before we jump into that, I want to ask you guys one question and that is: did you guys know Lenovo just launched their new Yoga Tablet 2 Pro computer? It’s the first 13-inch tablet in the market with a built-in projector and it also has a kickstand with four separate modes. The hold, stand, tilt, and hang modes—all of which are used to aid the projector functionality.
Now as you can see here, there’s this crazy weird infomercial for this tablet that shows off how it works. But I’m just amazed that this tablet has a freaking projector built into it. I’m not one to really show off but if I had this tablet, you can bet I’d be wowing everyone I came into contact with since what other tablet that you can think of has a built-in projector? That’s crazy. But if you guys want to watch this full video, you can do so right here or you can take a look at the description bar to see why people are calling this the best entertainment tablet in the world.
Alright, so this is the Nexus 7. It’s Google’s best budget-friendly tablet to ever be released really. It’s a year old but as you can see, it’s running the latest version of stock Android 5.0 Lollipop. But with a few minor changes here and there, it actually makes it look a little bit different than the Nexus 9.
So my Nexus 7 is running the build LRX21P, which is the official Android 5.0 Lollipop ROM released for the Nexus 7. Android 5.0 is, as you can see, clearly running here so yeah, this is the real deal. Side note: what’s your highest score on this Android Lollipop Flappy Bird Easter Egg? Am I the only one that thinks this is extremely hard? I can never seem to get past like 2 or 3 but maybe that’s just me.
But anyway, if we take a look at the lock screen, we’ll see that the notifications now appear on the lock screen where you can swipe them away or open them up with a simple double tap. And really, most of the material design innovations are still here. Like when you unlock the lock screen, the clock gets smaller and sort of fades away.
The major animation difference I actually noticed was it here with the Nexus 7 and that was the App Drawer. So when you click on the all apps icon on the bottom, you don’t see that neat little animation with that white card background that’s sort of morphs out of a little circle. Instead you’ll actually just find the same old looking app drawer, where you can swipe left and right to view more apps. You can either keep swiping to view your widgets, which is something you can’t really do on the Nexus 9, which also runs Android 5.0 Lollipop.
The other little difference I noticed is that when you long press the Nexus 7, you have an option to choose a wallpaper from the wallpapers, the live wallpapers or the photos app. You don’t have any sort of option to add widgets though like you would have on the Nexus 9, which is pretty interesting. I’m not really sure why some of these animations and features aren’t’ present on the Nexus 7’s build. But that’s just something I noticed.
Oh and if you’re expecting Google Now to be present on your home screen while you swipe to the left, well unfortunately that also isn’t present in this version; which is definitely a disappointment. But honestly, those were the major differences I noticed because besides that, it’s going to run as buttery smooth as you’d expect stock Android 5.0 to run. Apps open up from the bottom of the screen in a sort of card-like fashion. The Google Now animation is still present. And the notification tray is still beautiful like always. You can drag your notifications down to view more quick settings or you can cache your screen and change the user to guest mode along with various other settings.
And just overall, I’d say this tablet runs as buttery smooth as the Nexus 9, which is not really what I was expecting. Most of the hiccups and sort of unusual stalls come from the software itself and really not so much on the Nexus 7 hardware which is still plenty powerful to run this new software. The best example would be the multitasking menu which not only looks beautiful in the stacked cards sort of format but it’s incredibly fluid.
Let me know if you would like to see a Nexus 7 vs Nexus 9 comparison video because I’m genuinely surprised at just how smooth the build is on the Nexus 7. Maybe you guys are too, let me know if that’s something you’d be interested in. but yeah guys, there you have it. This is the Nexus 7 running Android 5.0 Lollipop. If you don’t have this update yet for your tablets, keep your eyes peeled because you should see it soon.