Galaxy Nexus 7: Finally Some Competition for the iPad?

It seems that every time a new tablet is brought to the market, the blogosphere goes just a little bit crazy with predictions as to whether it will become the infamous “iPad killer.”  The recent release of the Galaxy Nexus 7 is no exception, but the fact of the matter is that the two tablets aren’t even punching in the same weight class.

Firstly, there’s the price point.  Coming in at just $200, the Galaxy Nexus 7 seems to be squaring off not against the iPad, but against the upstart tablets produced by Barnes & Noble and Amazon.  Given that the iPad’s starting cost is $500, one might think – incorrectly – that the lower price point might indicate lesser functionality, but for the most part the Nexus 7 delivers an awful lot of hardware for that considerably more approachable price tag.  The new tablet is sleekly designed, surprisingly powerful, and while it doesn’t boast the latest iPad’s retina display, its graphic display is sufficiently sophisticated that you may not even be able to tell the difference.

The Nexus 7 lacks a rear-facing camera, but Google is betting the success of its latest tablet on the idea that the forward-facing camera – the one everybody uses for video chat – is what most users want the integrated camera for in the first place.  Additionally, the Nexus 7 doesn’t suffer from the performance issues like the slow responsiveness, broken animations, and stuttering screens that seem to plague the Nook and the Kindle Fire.  It helps that the Nexus 7 is making full use of the recent release of the Android Jelly Bean OS, which incorporates Project Butter and thus creates a seamless, trouble-free experience for the user.

So will the Nexus 7 prove to be the elusive iPad killer?  Probably not, but it’s by far the best Android tablet that’s ever been made available, and at least in the future will provide Android users with a viable alternative to the competition.  Indeed, there’s even some conjecture in the blogosphere that Apple might be sufficiently worried about the Nexus 7 to roll out the iPad mini, which some are already billing as a “Nexus 7 Killer.”