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PSX Emulator For Android

So.. I was looking through youtube videos and realized the palm pre and iphone 3gs can run about full speed on the PS emulator, and they have a 600 mhz processor.
As the iphone 3g has 400 mhz and can run the PS emulators pretty poorly but still around 10 fps.
Why is it that android has not have a PSemulator yet?

cause no one made it yet
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Maybe an N64 Emulator for beta testing?...always have had problems with N46 Emulators, would be sweet tho, even if i have to sacrifice framerate....

jndd333 said:
Maybe an N64 Emulator for beta testing?...always have had problems with N46 Emulators, would be sweet tho, even if i have to sacrifice framerate....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes!
conkers bad fur day on my g1

Correct me if I'm wrong but I've heard that the G1 actually has a dual core processor in it but somehow its limited to only running one core, so before we get any sort of PSX/N64 (Heavy Graphic) emulator, shouldn't we try to unlock that second core (We as in the sexy devs.)?
I might be wrong but in my search on the google, there is a dual core in the G1.
If that core does get unlocked, I could already imagine the battery life rofl.

im pretty sure the "second" core is actually the gpu processor on the same die.... im not 100% on this though

PSX Emulator for the HD2 looks absolutley MINT!! I would love this for my HTC Desire android device! Twisted Metal on the go would be quality!
Would probably need a Bluetooth gamepad though

I hate to rain on your all's parade, as I've looked into this for myself, but the short answer is no. The CPU+ram on the G1 just doesn't provide enough power for this Now the second core that you're talking about really isn't another cpu core. As far as I can tell, it's used for 3G data and graphics. And as CrazyEye said, a Google search turns up that the G1 is using a "multicore processor". That may not necessairly mean that the second core is locked, but rather that it's being used for other things (graphics, 3g data, etc...). The HD2 has really great specifications and boasts a lot of power (especially for a cell phone I mean DAAANG), so it handles the PSX pretty well.

Don't Forget! android apps running on Java wich is some slower and so harder on emulators etc etc...

nickeedoo said:
I hate to rain on your all's parade, as I've looked into this for myself, but the short answer is no. The CPU+ram on the G1 just doesn't provide enough power for this Now the second core that you're talking about really isn't another cpu core. As far as I can tell, it's used for 3G data and graphics. And as CrazyEye said, a Google search turns up that the G1 is using a "multicore processor". That may not necessairly mean that the second core is locked, but rather that it's being used for other things (graphics, 3g data, etc...). The HD2 has really great specifications and boasts a lot of power (especially for a cell phone I mean DAAANG), so it handles the PSX pretty well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm surprised to hear this. Considering my old dell x30h (not a phone... but a pda) on its 624Mhz xscale(an armv5 implementation), WM2k3, and positively PIDDLING 64MB Ram could run many PSX games using FpseCE. Ultimately a little frame-skip is obviously necessary, but many games would be playable with said if the buttons on said PDA weren't so absolutely HORRID. Seriously btw, worst d-pad ever.
I can't imagine the 528Mhz Qualcomm chip not being comparable. And certainly 192MB-overhead ram gives FAR more than 64MB-system overhead(which left 32-48MB for programs... depending. And believe me, it was ram that the damn thing ran out of.) Oh yes. And my ol x30h didn't even HAVE graphics acceleration. At all.
Admiteldy, it might require installing as a rooted program or some such...
But... that's just my 2 cents.

fstluxe said:
Don't Forget! android apps running on Java wich is some slower and so harder on emulators etc etc...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True that, but from what has been done with Kwaak 3 (http://code.google.com/p/kwaak3/), it seems like it can be done if the actual emulator library is written in C++ and has its functions wrapped and executed by the java app.
a good place to start would probably be looking at a linux based Psx Emulator
EDIT:
from ZODTTD (Great developer of numerous Emulators for iPhone):
in Dev Talk, ZodTTD News by ZodTTD on April 15th, 2010
" But most impressive of all is the 1300+ signatures received for me to support Android developments of VLC and some higher end emulators. It can be seen and supported here (http://www.petitiononline.com/ZodAndro) I’m working on getting a new Nexus One (as my previous one is on loan to a friend) so I can start developing on it."
I guess this means good things lie in our future. (well maybe not us G1 users)

going to bump this so people sign the petition above ^^

fstluxe said:
Don't Forget! android apps running on Java wich is some slower and so harder on emulators etc etc...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and no. Now there's native support in Android, i think its C+++ though. Still, a little closer to the hardware will help greatly with everything especially the dynarec. With a highly optimized* froyo ROM on the HTC Dream it would help even more with that Just-In-Time compiler, its probable.
*hardware acceleration, no memory leaks, minimum background tasks, maximum RAM and ROM availability
Erniemac said:
going to bump this so people sign the petition above ^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That petitions been signed. Zodttd has started working on psx4android.
Here's my experienced insight:
If you:
1) install the ROM stated above,
2) overclocked the device to 700MHz (stable yet faster) and
3) ran a fairly optimized emulator
you can achieve 30fps with sound for demanding titles like Tekken 3 or Gran Turismo 2. This is a fairly playable state, just consider some static in the sound and areas with many 3D objects will be visibly slow (10%) than other areas (human eye cannot detect differences past 40/45 fps).
However,
1) That ROM won't be made (hardware acceleration is tricky) or will take a few months.
2) Device OC (to make things smoother like 30fps) is no problem but isn't enough alone.
3) Zod's port won't be efficient (it never is, it will just be a dirty port like his previous work, sorry he sucks at optimizations, need more experienced and dedicated developers like in the GP32X scene).
To be frank, the G1 is a pretty good device especially unlocked ones for around AU$200.
However, it was so close but is short of greatness^. I mean PSX emulation would've been a great addition.
For greatness, HTC only needed to add:
1) more RAM (severely limited) at least 288MB like big brother Touch Pro,
2) a flashlight with the camera is very desired,
3) sometimes it lacks a little bit ROM so 512MB would've helped with those App problems.
Other things could've been added to sweeten the pot like, battery with more charge (1400mAh), front facing camera (Skype anyone?) and a stylus slot with a C-tylus.
^Many ARM11 devices out there dirtcheap, this one could've been pushed harder to make psx emulation playable even with 4M polygons/sec, which would've make it the best dirtcheap device.
PS If you want N64+Quake 3 you'd need a Cortex A8 pushed hard, and no I aint pulling numbers out of my @ss I did the research!

Also to add:
chewrawka said:
other than that i got quite a few games running decent:
(all uncompressed,and w/tp2 .ini)
gran turismo 2 (pal)- 15-25 fps.(could go a lil faster but gets choppy)
marvel vs. street fighter ex- 30-40 fps ( fun to play,just waiting for bt pad
twisted metal 2- 35-40 fps ( sometimes more, most impressive game espeacailly when alot of action is goin on no real lag).
jet moto 2- 30- 35+fps ( your call between speed and choppy, frame skip works good here) fun game...
crash bandicoot 2- 20-25 fps( game has alot of sprites like rain etc... although the game looks awesome).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a quote for (FpseCE 1.0 for HTC Touch Pro ), just to bring to your attention.
If these figures are obtained for Touch Pro (same device more RAM), and the emulator runs fully native (WinMo 6.1), the G1 is "most likely" to do worse due to obvious disadvantages. I used "most likely" since it will greatly rely on how optimized the emulator is.
I urge PSX devs to optimize the code for the G1, and even if its slow (or not yet playable) at least it would be optimized enough to run on other, more expensive, devices (eg Moto Droid) smoothly or fullspeed.
Remmember, you're only as fast as your slowest compartment. So individually removing the bottlenecks will play key in psx for many devices to come.
Edit: fixing link

Sorry for bombarding this (abandoned) thread.
But I've got some news / update.
The psx4android project is falling through. The developers of Sensoid and Gameboid (both emulators that work fullspeed on G1) have teamed up with Zodtt (iPhone fanboy & emulator developer).
Bad news is compatible with Donut and above (Android 2.0 +) so it won't be functional for the HTC Dream/G1 with that official 1.6. Luckily you have the option of "final build" (umm stable?) of Android 2.1 with the CyanogenMOD 5.0.7. This would mean you have to learn some technical things and go through the risk of bricking your phone, but are well rewarded.
More bad news is that its still early and most likely will be aimed at the Nexus One, which should run fullspeed once major bugs are removed.
And some speculation here but even more bad news is that it won't be free (judging from Zodtt's track-record of having to buy things through Cydia for iPhone Apps).
Heres the link:
http://digitaldisbeliever.net/2010/06/zodttd-is-showing-some-love-to-android/

fstluxe said:
Don't Forget! android apps running on Java wich is some slower and so harder on emulators etc etc...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that is not entirely correct.
The default application framework is dalvik, which is almost Java; but it is alse possibly to develop applications for android in native code, if you need to, take a look at the Android NDK.

brettf said:
from ZODTTD (Great developer of numerous Emulators for iPhone):
in Dev Talk, ZodTTD News by ZodTTD on April 15th, 2010
" But most impressive of all is the 1300+ signatures received for me to support Android developments of VLC and some higher end emulators. It can be seen and supported here (http://www.petitiononline.com/ZodAndro) I’m working on getting a new Nexus One (as my previous one is on loan to a friend) so I can start developing on it."
I guess this means good things lie in our future. (well maybe not us G1 users)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've just sign in - 1932 signs now
keep signing

having an emulator made by ZodTTd would mean a verrrrryyyy poor game compatibility and very few fps.
Just look at what PSX4iphone can do on a 3GS: maybe only 2 games running full speed with sound (in fact, I think wipeout is the only games I've seen running full speed on an iphone. Youtube is full of FF7 videos but you'll never see casting big magic spells or big battles in these videos...And tekken 3 is so slow that it's just a pain...)
So if results are already poor on it's original device that has a not that bad CPU.....

i900frenchaddict said:
having an emulator made by ZodTTd would mean a verrrrryyyy poor game compatibility and very few fps.
Just look at what PSX4iphone can do on a 3GS: maybe only 2 games running full speed with sound (in fact, I think wipeout is the only games I've seen running full speed on an iphone. Youtube is full of FF7 videos but you'll never see casting big magic spells or big battles in these videos...And tekken 3 is so slow that it's just a pain...)
So if results are already poor on it's original device that has a not that bad CPU.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but the Snapdragon of the nexus one and the HTC desire is a lot faster than the Iphone 3gs. And almost every year cpu power(not mhz) is doubled. So within a year you would have a pretty good working emu on a high end android system.

Terracide said:
Yes but the Snapdragon of the nexus one and the HTC desire is a lot faster than the Iphone 3gs. And almost every year cpu power(not mhz) is doubled. So within a year you would have a pretty good working emu on a high end android system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He is right that Zod won't be able to polish it as much as he does with the ones for the iPhone.
However, Zod did tell me that his N64 emulator is much more efficient than his PSX, so there is alot of room for improvement on the psx4android.
The biggest problem of course is hardware acceleration. The layers of VirtualMachine in Androids' coding allows for media to run in several standards to allow compatability at the expense of performance. And there are other factors too. For instance, the Motorola Milestone` has roughly equivalent graphics grunt as the Acer Liquid E`. However, PSX emulation should be very disappointing on the Motorola Milestone whereas it should be perfect (full speed + sound) for the Snapdragon devices.
Why? The emulators rely primarily on the CPU for drawing the graphics, where the potential of the GPU is left unused. The Motorola has a weaker CPU and decent GPU, in contrast the Snapdragon has a powerful CPU but disgraceful GPU. So the performance [of emulator] is biased towards the Snapdragon devices and that's not a good thing.
Here's why:
The CPU could do the graphics just fine it will only mean it would have to be pushed hard (more wear n tear), there won't be much processing power left (goodbye multitasking), the CPU would waste more battery than the GPU* (an important point when it comes to portability) and the emulator would run much slower^.
The future is looking at devices that have SoC's with powerful CPU's and GPU's where different cores can be shutdown. And on top of this it's looking for software that allows for cross-compatability across different processors (SoC's/x86/MIPS) within a certain level of performance loss. I see the greatest potential in MeeGo (a light and secure Linux) with cross-compatability (when based on Qt) on devices like OMAP44xx's (>1Ghz Dual Cortex 9 CPU) with modern graphics (SGX543MP8 ~ ATi HD3470). The technology is there but the market will have to mature before you can get one, ie people spending.
*usually the case when the CPU stays on idle and GPU is used but not always.
^Next gen GPU's are alot more powerful and better at drawing graphics (obviously) and can be switched off by the SoC when unused like Tegra/OMAP series.

Real Racing 2 game to android market

Hi guys,
In case you don't already know this superb racing game with unmatched graphics and gameplay you really must check it out.
http://youtu.be/TOfG1zJbKbQ
The game features licensed cars and 15 player multyplayer mode.
Please help drawing the developer's attention to port this game in android market and leave your thoughts here: getsatisfaction.com/firemint/topics/will_real_racing_2_get_in_the_android_store

Sorry but i think this ain't gonna happen. This is a real console quality game, they spent a lot of money to develop it and optimize it to make it work perfectly for the a5 soc: porting it to Android will lead to insane costs in order to make it suitable for a hundred different pieces of hardware.
Nowadays Apple's app store sells 85% of all the mobile apps in the world, a serious game developer with working brain cells will never spend millions just in order to get to that additional 15% of the market that we represent. Also i'm pretty sure that even the most powerful hardware we have now on this platform would be unable to run this game properly: the gpu in the a5 soc is twice as powerful as the mali-400 in the GS2...

vnvman said:
Apple's app store sells 85% of all the mobile apps in the world
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just wow, wasn't aware of this fact
vnvman said:
the gpu in the a5 soc is twice as powerful as the mali-400 in the GS2...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm just stunned, in every video comparasson of 4s and sgs2 the iphone gets bashed... come to think of it nobody mentioned in any comparassion (and i watch a lot) about the gpu/chipset diferrences... i guess it's never gonna be a fair "trail" between them and everybody is more or less a "fanboy" of either two..
L.E. after your post did some research and found this http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111026235448AArPNUy , it explains everything.
Thanks and ppl might as well leave this topic to "die"...

Well actually when i say that the gpu of the iPhone is faster i mean it really is faster, even on paper: it's not a matter of software. I read it here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4686/samsung-galaxy-s-2-international-review-the-best-redefined/17
When i got this phone i knew that the iPhone4s (or even the iPhone4) would have been better for games, but all in all despite the fact that mobile games can be fun at times mobile gaming in general kinda sucks in my opinion: sure you can have the best graphics in the world and whatnot, but the only games you can really play on a small touchscreen panel without going nuts are puzzle games (which look great on the huge Samoled+ of this phone), and those ones run on pretty much every piece of junk. At the end of the day those are the games you play the most when you're on the go, while instead those haeavy 3d games are mostly useless because of their complexity (not to mention the amount of battery they drain), so you end up playing them when you are at home on the coach. This sounds pointless to me because if i'm at home i'd rather like to play Battlefield 3 on my gaming rig: now this makes sense, don't you think?

Real Racing 2 was released yesterday...just saying...

What the.. EA? The original maker is Firemint?
Either way, here's the link. Only compatible with my Desire HD, and not the Galaxy Note? What the...
https://market.android.com/details?...yLDEsImNvbS5lYS5nYW1lLnJlYWxyYWNpbmcyX3JvdyJd
Article:
http://phandroid.com/2011/12/22/rea...the-android-market-leaves-part-1-in-the-dust/

LordManhattan said:
Only compatible with my Desire HD, and not the Galaxy Note? What the...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could test this version for your Note: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.ea.game.realracing2_na (not sure if it's compatible though).

Thanks, but it's a no go Just have to wait i guess.

[Q] Is it worth upgrading my I9000?

Now I got all of your attention with a vague subject header
4 months ago, I bought a samsung galaxy i9000 because, prior to that I was on an E72, so anyway wow, world of difference, but on my I9000, I can play pretty much all the high end games, for now at least, i'm not a serious gamer, so to me, amazing graphics as it is..
At the time I bought the I9000 because I wanted to be plan free, but now my contract on the E72 ran out and now I can upgrade... should I buy a Galaxy S2?
Given that Dual Core ARM processor support for apps is fairly limited, I can't really imagine most tasks requiring more than 1gig of CPU power, I can watch divx, play games, GPS, it's pretty much all perfect, except with the odd couple of hangs the I9000 gets every now and then I love my galaxy so much lol...
So can anyone give me 3 realistic reasons to upgrade?, be as technical as you wish, I know the hardware it supports, I just need to validate my need to buy a new phone yes, games will load faster, but still.. they work just fine if you wait an extra 10 seconds for the game to load?..
Reasons for upgrading? please?
.....

1gb ram, you can run more stuff, active development, ics
Sent using TCP/IP

ok let's reword it a little, what could i /do/ that i can't do now albeit a little laggier and slower, that includes the ICS port for the i9000

I own a GTI-9000 myself, and my wife owns a GTI-9100. I have played around with her phone quite a bit and the nicest thing about it is the speed. Everything is snappier, loads faster, and seems to just perform better all around. Not to mention you get a bigger screen. 4" to 4.5" is a decent enough difference, especially for HD gaming.
Couple that if you get the Galaxy Nexus you get factory ICS. No need to root or do anything fancy to get it to work. Plus everything works 100% with full support.
Honestly if I could upgrade I would. I like my wife's phone more than mine. Basically if you really like your GTI-9000, there's no reason a better version of it wouldn't be of value to you. That's how I feel about it.

Aside from stock ics, camera and better cpu I don't think there's anything else worth noting (except you got a new look ) But for some games you just can't play it with I9000 like Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD (I was crying when its price drop to 10c to celebrate 10 billion downloads on the android market T^T) There's more but I think if you browse the market with your phone you will not find it cuz it only show the ones you can play. As for stock ICS, I think Samsung ROM won't beat the CM team's ROM anyway :X

thanks for the replies...
you know what, I was curious about what you said about Asphalt 6 (still sounds like a rude word to me lol) anyway, I actually installed it and ran it, it's actually quite smooth on my I9000, but I usually idle around 100-129meg free using a combination of killing event application triggers (eg keeping keeping certain apps from launching on power save features on a rooted device), and advanced task manager..
Anyway, Asphalt 6 is actually smoothish occasionally, it drops a fps and you can see it jerk, but it only lasts for a split second... i also tried 'Fast 5' try that on the galaxy 2, on my I9000, i'd have to say the game is playable at a pinch, the framerate is simply not cutting it...
So, then, I have to upgrade my entire phone for 1 single game then lol

look, I'll give you guys an example...
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^^ my phone, Samsung Galaxy I9000 (16gb version, 4 months old, came with 2.3 now on 2.3.3, now my 3D graphics score is 1106.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4a-sphr07c
above is the new galaxy nexus, which has a dual core, it has a faster cpu, by rights, it should really own a phone as old as the i9000 fair to say..
but, if you break, it down you'll see that the nexus's GPU power only gives it's a slight boost, 3D 1226 on the galaxy nexus, and on a humble I9000 GS, we have 1106..
Now what gives the impression of a superior score, is of course, double/triple the memory and significant IO/read/writes.., when it comes to Asphalt 6 on the I9000 vs I91000, there's really not much difference on that game...
but when it comes to I9000 and the I91000 for say Fast 5 and next generation games which use the dual cores properly and efficiently, then we will see leaps and bounds between single cores and dual/quad..
But we're all playing the catch up game, and the catch up game really is the I91000 so most games and most programs will run perfectly on the i9000 i should suspect albiet it may take 2x as long to load up, 2x long to run, and only 80% as smooth as the I91000...
Or maybe I just have a freaky ARM processor and everyone elses I9000 is significantly slower GPU than the one i have... no idea.... i might go investigate that now... (after investigation, it's average i9000).... so there you go

You are operating under the assumption that benchmark scores actually mean anything significant.

The Galaxy S and Galaxy Nexus use the same GPU though.

S2 rocks
you should upgrade to s2 because :-
1. better camera with LED flash
2. bigger display with AMOLED+ display
3. 1GB ram to make it lagfree
4. high GPU for heavy games
5. DUAL core proc...1.2 which can be overclock to 1.5 if you want
6. vast list of custom rom to finish the word lag from your phone
i think they are enough for you...i still have many points!!
hit thanks if i was helpful to you.

update, we ordered the upgrade.. $29AUD a month with a $4 data plan (we already have 2 phones 2 plans, we don't need to make that many phone calls so the cheapest plan works out just fine for us, since calling each other 24/7 is free)
That works out to about $33 USD a month at the current exchange rate.. $0 upfront for the phone, but... the catch is it will be on a 12month plan, but since this phone will keep up with the competition concerning applications support dual core, I think this phone will be a worthy competitor for playing games on even 3 years off.. maybe near the bottom of the list of the benchmarks, but will be one hell of a player of the high range cheaper phones.... playing even the latest of games i'm sure...

i will buy me every version of galaxy s!
y? because im a fan of them
but for real there is no reason for me to change to s2...

Superfluous Nexus 7 Review

Google Nexus 7
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Android phones first hit the scene in 2008 with the G1. Compared to the venerable Windows Mobile and Blackberry platforms, and the new iPhone, Android was primitive to say the least. Slowly, and steadily, Android has grown to a full-fledged operating system. In February, 2011, not even a year and a half ago, the first true Android tablet was released. It was the Motorola Xoom and was the first device to see the Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" operating system. Probably the best we can say about the original Xoom was that... it did the minimum that was expected of it. It had good specs- a dual core CPU, a gig of RAM, and a 720p screen. But, it was twitchy, laggy, and personally, I found it annoying. It was also thick, heavy, and amazingly, cost MORE than the Apple iPad. It was a recipe for disaster.
Let's fast forward to 2012. Honeycomb is gone. It was replaced with a streamlined OS called Ice Cream Sandwich. Suddenly, older tablets started screaming the way we all wanted. But, that's still not 2012. Today, we have Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean". Using the Ice Cream Sandwich underpinnings, everything has been further refined and optimized. Google had "Project Butter" specifically deal with making the OS as smooth and lag-free as possible. And they succeeded. Introduced first on the Google Nexus 7, our first look at Jelly Bean is impressive. It's as smooth as was promised and finally can go toe-to-toe with iOS... and come out ahead in many areas.
Google has had their own branded phones for years with varying degrees of success, and now they have their own tablet, the Nexus 7. Anything else you hear about this tablet falls secondary to this fact: This tablet was meant to beat the Amazon Kindle Fire. The Fire was the first true commercial success for any Android tablet. The problem was, it's barely recognizable as one. Most Google apps are gone or buried, there's no access to the Google Play app market, and the whole device is geared to get you to spend money at Amazon. Google makes no money on a platform like that, so enter the Nexus 7.
The Nexus 7 is thinner, lighter, and has a better screen. The Fire has no camera, has a weaker processor, and what's essentially a modified phone operating system. The Nexus beats it in about every measurable category.
Specifications:
DIMENSIONS
98.5 x 120 x 10.45 mm
340g
SCREEN
IPS LCD
1280x800 resolution
Multitouch
Corning scratch-resistant Glass
PROCESSOR
Quad Core Tegra 3- 4 cores @ 1.3Ghz, 1 low consumption core @ 500Mhz
NVidia GeForce 12-core GPU
MEMORY
1gb RAM
16gb internal (13.5gb useable)
CAMERA
1.2mp front-facing camera
PORTS
Headset
Micro USB
Battery
4325mAh
MISCELLANEOUS
Bluetooth 4.0
Stereo Speakers
GPS
WiFi 802.11 b, g, n, a
Accelerometer
The Nexus 7 is comfortable to hold and is light enough for extended reading in bed. The edges are rounded and the back has a rubber-like coating that makes for an easy grip. Remember- this is an Android e-reader first and all else secondary. The LCD screen is bright and has a good pixel density. Since e-reading is a primary function, I'll talk about that first. Like most Android devices, you get Play Books from Google. But, you can also get the Kindle and Nook apps as well, so you're not limited to one format. There's even other programs out there like Aldiko that are good for reading generic .pdf books, too. Turning the brightness down to about 75% gives a comfortable reading experience and the text is crisp in all the readers I've tried.
OK, here's some downsides. It's designed to compete with the Fire and doesn't really try to go that far beyond it. You have a choice of 8gb or 16gb. That's not much storage in todays world. I suppose they're really trying to push cloud storage, but you're not always near a wifi hotspot. Worse, there's no micro-SDXC slot to expand your storage. Also lacking is the HDMI port that Android users have come to expect. It's really great to plug your phone or tablet into a TV at a hotel and watch your own media. Not happening on the Nexus 7. For some inexplicable reason, Google forces the tablet into portrait display mode at all times unless some app calls for a landscape view. Yes, even video and picture viewing. The camera? Front facing, and no app to take a picture. It's usable by most video calling programs- Google, Skype, etc, but you can't snap a picture. Not a big deal, but it is odd. Lastly, when really putting the Tegra 3 throug it's paces, the back does get very warm. Not hot, but warm enough for you to tell it's getting a workout.
But the plusses... there are a lot. The device, manufactured for Google by Asus, feels very solid. No creaks or snaps, no flexing, it just feels solid. Integrated into the design is a smart cover feature- a magnet sensor that will shut off the screen when a "smart case" (that contains a small magnet at a strategic location) closes and turns it back on when the case opens. The video player is awkward in Portrait, so I don't use it. MX Player is fantastic and offers hardware and software acceleration. It plays all formats thrown at it. Anyway, video is crisp and without lag or stutter. Battery life is great. You'll average about 9+ hours and that should take you through a full days use and then some. The speakers are loud enough to hear without straining and the sound is decent for what it is. It sounds great through headphones. Gone is the old reliable Android Browser. Chrome is now the preferred web app. It's fast and integrates with your desktop settings, saved bookmarks, etc. Then, there's the wifi... I have NEVER seen reception this powerful on any device. I can go anywhere inside and stay connected... that's expected. What's more, I'm seeing strong signals I've never seen before. It's a little piece of terrific. And when tethered to my phone, gets the same great 4g speeds.
Jelly Bean- It's very much a matured OS. Beyond the silky-smoothness, there's some great new features... some came with Ice Cream Sandwich, some with Jelly Bean. Face unlock has been refined. Originally, you could trick it by putting a picture in front of the camera. Now, there's the option for it to withold unlocking until it tells that you blinked! Google's Voice Search has advanced a great deal. Google's had voice input and search since 2009, and it's never been bad, but with all the press and ad revenue Apple's Siri has received, Google knew they had to step up their game. Google's voice search now answers in a very human, non-computerized voice. And the answers are literally twice as fast as Siri's. When it doesn't have an exact answer, like when there's a range of answers, it doesn't ask you if you want to search... it just gives you the results. Navigator has been updated with the same natural voice, too. And speaking of that, Google Maps now allows you to cache a pretty large area for offline mapping. Being it's a wifi-only device, this is extra handy.
There's all sorts of throw-ins when you buy a Nexus 7. The biggest is $25 credit at the Google Play app market. In case you needed inspiration to gouge out your eyes and ears, they threw in a complimentary/punitive copy of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. I guess if you're traveling with kids and they act up, you could force them to watch it instead of something good. They also threw in 20 complete songs in a variety of styles. Some recognizeable, some new and kinda neat, and some quickly eraseable rap songs.
Benchmarks are great. The powerhouse CPU/GPU combination takes everything you throw at it in stride.
So, what am I going to do with this thing? I have no idea. It's fun, it's a great size, but it's not for someone who wants a complete tablet experience. The lack of storage alone sees to that. At best, it will be a secondary device, but unlike a full-on tablet, you're going to rely on a smart phone more when you carry the Nexus 7 around. I'll take it to work and see how it is for wiring diagrams and flowcharts, so stay tuned. I'm either going to give it to my folks or make it an extended loan. Mom's somewhat Android-savvy, having had 2 Android slider smart phones. Dad's completely technophobic, so I want to see how he likes things like the NFL and ESPN apps. Regardless, they're going on a cruise along with a flight to Europe and back, so this will certainly help matters.
So, it's a nice tablet in a great package. Not unlike the Apple ecosystem, if you're OK with the limitations of the environment, you'll have a great experience. If you want a fully expandable complete tablet experience, you might want to look at a Samsung Galaxy mini tablet instead. The Nexus 7 is priced at $199.99 for the 8gb version and $249.99 for the 16gb model. It's available at https://play.google.com/ and at retailers like GameStop, Sams Club, Staples, Office Max, and others. Availability is very limited now, but within a couple weeks everyone should be stocked up.

:good: Archer likes this!

Great review! I'm excited to get my hands on mine this week. I bought it primarily for reading as my retina iPad is a little too big for comfortable reading. I also got it for the development community that will certainly filling in the small holes that Google and ASUS surely left due to either cost or other reasons. Still, after a year with the Xoom and TPrime I have to say this is the first Android tablet I've actually been excited about. I grabbed the 8GB version as I won't be playing much games (I will use the iPad for that, plus I just don't play many games and I have my trusty 360 and new Vita for those purposes). It will be more of a simple web browser, twitter, small amounts of Google+, and more importantly, like I mentioned above, an eReader. I'm sure I will miss the storage space, but then again I didn't even use 6GBs on my Xoom or Prime especially since all my 40GB of music lives in the Google Music cloud. This will be my go to device for bringing to work and I can leave my very expensive and kind of irraplaceable retina iPad safely at home.
Thanks for the review!

Is that Babou???
Good review, thanks for being honest and not completely sided on it like some reviews have been.

"For some inexplicable reason, Google forces the tablet into portrait display mode at all times unless some app calls for a landscape view. Yes, even video and picture viewing."
Not true at all. If you're having problems rotating it, disable screen rotation lock from the notification menu. Just about everything will rotate at that point (not the stock launcher).

firehazard said:
"For some inexplicable reason, Google forces the tablet into portrait display mode at all times unless some app calls for a landscape view. Yes, even video and picture viewing."
Not true at all. If you're having problems rotating it, disable screen rotation lock from the notification menu. Just about everything will rotate at that point (not the stock launcher).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haaaa... that's terrific. Thanks.

:good: Wee baby Seamus likes this!

could you please run androbench and post the results here? want to know if this device suffers from IO problems like all other Asus tablets!

Good job with your review, I found it balanced and informative. It would be nice if you made a followup about general UI performance at some point. I know it's supposed to be rather speedy, but I have found mixed verdicts on the forums. It would also be nice if someone made a review from a dev's standpoint (maybe I will ), but overall excellent work!
---------- Post added at 04:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:28 PM ----------
Tempie007 said:
could you please run androbench and post the results here? want to know if this device suffers from IO problems like all other Asus tablets!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based on the quadrant benchmark, it seems to suffer from some amount of I/O deficiency, which I have learned the hard way can be quite a headache. Nothing a custom rom wouldn't fix, but still worrying.

No one else bothered by the really low I/o score
nvm didn't refresh the thread lol

hanthesolo said:
Good job with your review, I found it balanced and informative. It would be nice if you made a followup about general UI performance at some point. I know it's supposed to be rather speedy, but I have found mixed verdicts on the forums. It would also be nice if someone made a review from a dev's standpoint (maybe I will ), but overall excellent work!
---------- Post added at 04:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:28 PM ----------
Based on the quadrant benchmark, it seems to suffer from some amount of I/O deficiency, which I have learned the hard way can be quite a headache. Nothing a custom rom wouldn't fix, but still worrying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the I/O is slow then there's only so much a rom can do. It's a hardware problem.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app

Yeah, of course I know that! I have had a lot if experience speeding up low-io devices, so I meant that it wouldn't be too hard for someone to patch things up to increase usability in a custom rom, assuming the I/O is not TOO shoddy.

Thanks for the positive feedback! I'll run some more tests, and give some impressions after a couple days use. After the first overnight leaving the battery at 25%, the battery meter seems to have calibrated and battery life has been great. For the first time in my Android experience, you can load a media-rich page (like the last one) and flick-scroll top to bottom and back with no lag, pause while loading times, or anything. It's very home PC-esque.
More to come.
And to all the other Archer fans here... DUH, and/or HELLO!!!

OK, well... no more to come, for awhile at least. I gave the N7 to my parents. It was a leap of faith that they'd be up for the concept of an Android tablet, especially since they're in their 70s... but Mom has a basic Android slider phone, has a Nook reader along with a PC and a really crappy netbook. So, after spending a couple hours with them, setting up their accounts, giving them a tour of the device, and walking them trough the different Google features... they're excited. Dad, who's terrified of computers, was even playing Angry Birds. They loved the new Jelly Bean voice search. So, I'll give some updates on how a pair of seniors are dealing with some cutting edge technology.
Me, I'm looking forward to what Google has next... I'd love a 10" full-featured tab with expandable memory, 1080p screen, and all the great tech the N7 has.

Nice review!
Another nice (and glowing) review is http://gdgt.com/asus/nexus/7/reviews/r22/

The Kindle Fire OS is as much a tablet version as JB for the Nexus 7. Both are essentially phone OS.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

ijeff said:
The Kindle Fire OS is as much a tablet version as JB for the Nexus 7. Both are essentially phone OS.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't disagree more Much of the evolution of Jelly Bean came from Honeycomb, which was without question, a tablet OS. The Kindle Fire IS a phone OS. It's based upon Gingerbread. That was NEVER intended for tablets. Now, Android devices have a single upgrade path, and it's ICS/JB... but I simply can't see where you could refer to JB as a phone OS.

Tempie007 said:
could you please run androbench and post the results here? want to know if this device suffers from IO problems like all other Asus tablets!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, now that I have a Nexus 7 again... here you go:

Some follow-up notes after using the Nexus 7 (well, the 2nd Nexus 7) for a week.
1) The GPS locks pretty quickly, and although ridiculously huge, works great with Navigator and having internet tethered from my phone.
2) No glitches or defects in my current one or the one I gave my parents. Feeling pretty lucky all around with these gadgets.
3) The tablet fits quite well in the pocket of most cargo slacks.
4) Google's voice search is a blast to show to iPeople when they get all uppity over their beloved Siri. Snicker.
5) Early concerns over the lack of Flash are mostly eased. Many of the sites I use at work that formerly required Flash seem adapted to HTML5. And, they all work well with Chrome. I guess we can say Chrome is now a grown-up browser.
6) Grab the free game Dark Meadow: The Pact from the Play Store market. It really shows off the abilities of the Tegra 3. You're Welcome.
7) This tablet is taking more and more time away from my old (well, in technology terms anyway...) Acer A500 tablet. I never thought I would get so much use out of a 7" tablet. It's a pleasant surprise. I really appreciate how thin and light it is.

My thoughts as a newbie tablet owner.

The Nexus 7 was my very first tablet and in spite of Apple's obnoxious claims it is a great device and I certainly don't understand what advantages a thin aluminum back has over plastic. While I truly admire the openness of the stock android experience, I was completely underwhelmed by the display's washed out color and overall sharpness/clarity. I gave the device an honest try and rooted it as well as tried a few ROMs. While I was completely happy with the amount of development and amazing ROMs that are available I just couldn't get over the color issue. So I returned it and exchanged it for the new Kindle fire HD.
Immediately I could tell the difference... the display, unbelievably, was perfectly calibrated based on a slew of websites that I used to calibrate my monitors at home. I realize that I lost the openness of android and the ability to flash custom ROMs, but I have happy with what the device is capable of out of the box. I mainly got the device to watch movies and play games while I'm on the road which is a lot and it does that very well. To make up for the loss of openness I saved $50 and put it towards the 3rd party 2-year warranty which was actually cheaper than the N7's due to the Kindle being considered an E-Reader which was pretty convenient.

Interesting you say this, because I only experience washed out colours after video playback. I think this is due to a software issue on nVidias end and am hoping it gets fixed with 4.2. I'm happy you like your Kindle but seriously, why post this in a N7 forum? You're just going to get a load of hate as to how the N7 is better. I for one agree with those haters. I. Buy an android over a iOS device because it is open and customisable, the Kindle is neither customisable or open.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Other way for me.. picked up the KFHD and couldn't cope with it's half gimped android system that I went to the N7 and been happy since. Don't get me wrong, the KFHD has awesome hardware and better color calibration, I could notice the difference, especially since I had both in hand but since I returned it, I haven't missed anything from the KFHD.
The locked Amazon ecosystem was a real turn off for me, but if it works for you, great. Everyone has different needs and wants.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Believe me I did my research on the issue. I wanted to keep the device and it wasn't an easy decision. But for what it's worth, the specs of the Kindle are better, the color quality is certainly better, and the Kindle UI isn't all that bad. I was able to root it and put Google Play on it so really all I lost was complete customization even though I can use a different launcher.
I posted it here as a reference to anyone else looking to get the device... Again, the N7 is great and would have preferred to keep it, but it just didn't work for me and honestly I expected more from Asus/nVidia because an issue such as this is hard not to notice and should have been fixed before release.

tkoreaper said:
the specs of the Kindle are better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you're gonna get hammered on this one... :silly:
Kindle is heavier... only has dual core 1.2.... half the battery life... no NFC... no true android OS... missing out on tegra gaming
Not argueing with your opinion of "liking" the kindle ... but it doesn't have better specs
Only thing they snuck in there was the nice dual band dual antenna wifi setup... that's a better spec
And the washed out color thing is just opinion... I don't even see it... but I'm not that picky about that I guess...
I messed around with the KFHD the other day and there's no way I would give up the nexus 7 specs for marginally better color rendering... nope

b00mb00mchuck said:
you're gonna get hammered on this one... :silly:
Kindle is heavier... only has dual core 1.2.... half the battery life... no NFC... no true android OS... missing out on tegra gaming
Not argueing with your opinion of "liking" the kindle ... but it doesn't have better specs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No GPS, no fast updates,... no GAPPs
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

b00mb00mchuck said:
you're gonna get hammered on this one... :silly:
Kindle is heavier... only has dual core 1.2.... half the battery life... no NFC... no true android OS... missing out on tegra gaming
Not argueing with your opinion of "liking" the kindle ... but it doesn't have better specs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is heavier yes, but the processor is at the very least the same if not better based on several sources, Amazon claims to have 1 more hour over the N7 (Though that could change with different ROM's and Kernels), sound is better, and the wireless is better. NFC/GPS is about the only thing (hardware-wise) that the N7 has over it.
Most of the Gapps can be installed and I have heard of several users getting pretty accurate locations using wireless and google maps.

tkoreaper said:
It is heavier yes, but the processor is at the very least the same if not better based on several sources, Amazon claims to have 1 more hour over the N7 (Though that could change with different ROM's and Kernels), sound is better, and the wireless is better. NFC/GPS is about the only thing (hardware-wise) that the N7 has over it.
Most of the Gapps can be installed and I have heard of several users getting pretty accurate locations using wireless and google maps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have the Kindle Fire 7 HD or 8.9HD?
The processor in the 7 sucks compared to Tegra 3,with the larger Fire have a comparable one.
And for what it's worth, all colors issues seemed solved with the new 4.1.2 update. Though have fun with your Kindle.

Nospin said:
Do you have the Kindle Fire 7 HD or 8.9HD?
The processor in the 7 sucks compared to Tegra 3,with the larger Fire have a comparable one.
And for what it's worth, all colors issues seemed solved with the new 4.1.2 update. Though have fun with your Kindle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 7 is the only one that's out. The 8.9 comes out next month. I'm no expert, but if you google the comparisons and look at the CPU discussions you'll find that what I said is true. The Fire's CPU is on par or better... not worse. I also had 4.1.2 on the Nexus I had.

tkoreaper said:
It is heavier yes, but the processor is at the very least the same if not better based on several sources, Amazon claims to have 1 more hour over the N7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're thinking that 1.2GHz dual core OMAP is as good as 1.3GHz quad core TEGRA 3... you're reading the wrong reviews... look at a non biased site like CNET... they do their own testing and show half the battery life playing video
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I googled like you said but I keep seeing the same stories

tkoreaper said:
The 7 is the only one that's out. The 8.9 comes out next month. I'm no expert, but if you google the comparisons and look at the CPU discussions you'll find that what I said is true. The Fire's CPU is on par or better... not worse. I also had 4.1.2 on the Nexus I had.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THe Kindle HD 7 uses the OMAP4460 SoC, which is the same one found on the Galaxy Nexus. It's an cortex A9 dual core with a GPU that is also found in the original Samsung Galaxy and Nexus S, but overclocked. Tegra with is a cortex A9 quad core with a more advanced GPU. The OMAP4470 found in the 8.9" Kindle is another story. It does have a better GPU than the older OMAP 4460 but how it compares to the Tegra 3 GPU I am not sure.
Also, according to Displaymate, the Nexus 7 LCD panel is actually pretty decent. It is just hindered by bad software calibration which can be corrected with an update.

NexusDro said:
THe Kindle HD 7 uses the OMAP4460 SoC, which is the same one found on the Galaxy Nexus. It's an cortex A9 dual core with a GPU that is also found in the original Samsung Galaxy and Nexus S, but overclocked. Tegra with is a cortex A9 quad core with a more advanced GPU. The OMAP4470 found in the 8.9" Kindle is another story. It does have a better GPU than the older OMAP 4460 but how it compares to the Tegra 3 GPU I am not sure.
Also, according to Displaymate, the Nexus 7 LCD panel is actually pretty decent. It is just hindered by bad software calibration which can be corrected with an update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you 100% that the 4460 is behind the Tegra in raw specs. But having both of them my Galaxy Nexus out performs my N7 in daily use, it'll run circles. Both are running the same nightly on CM10. I think it has more to do with a slow EMMC, but that may be why the OP feels the 4460 is better.
I do wish Asus built better products though
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

In all fairness I may just take this Kindle back on Monday and pick up the 32GB Nexus if they have it and hope that it doesn't have the same issues since it's newer. The ads on the KF are a bit obtrusive and annoying to say the least.

tkoreaper said:
In all fairness I may just take this Kindle back on Monday and pick up the 32GB Nexus if they have it and hope that it doesn't have the same issues since it's newer. The ads on the KF are a bit obtrusive and annoying to say the least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't let people change your mind, Like I said in my first post. This is what you get for posting the fact you have a KFHD in the N7 forum, people will rip you for it. If you like your KF keep it.

CJHolderUK said:
Don't let people change your mind, Like I said in my first post. This is what you get for posting the fact you have a KFHD in the N7 forum, people will rip you for it. If you like your KF keep it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1

Don't succumb to peer pressure, keep what you want and works for you.
Like mentioned above, you're in the N7 section, people here will favor that device.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

tkoreaper said:
In all fairness I may just take this Kindle back on Monday and pick up the 32GB Nexus if they have it and hope that it doesn't have the same issues since it's newer. The ads on the KF are a bit obtrusive and annoying to say the least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The fact that you paid good money for it and they splash ads on it is the dealbreaker for me. If they subsidized it maybe I could understand.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app

tkoreaper said:
In all fairness I may just take this Kindle back on Monday and pick up the 32GB Nexus if they have it and hope that it doesn't have the same issues since it's newer. The ads on the KF are a bit obtrusive and annoying to say the least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a 32gb Nexus from Office Depot and the screen is exactly the same as the 16gb I had.
The Nexus is a better unit hardware wise but its whatever you like. The screen is something you spend a lot of time looking at. So make sure you are happy with it. Trinity kernels come pre-color calibrated to give that pop. Still might not be enough for your tastes though.
On the other hand you can flash custom roms on the Fire.
In my experience though, roms on those kinds of devices are far from perfect. May not be bad now but with newer Android versions, things will be missing and/or not 100%. Nexus devices really have longevity in this regards. Even in a few years, we'll still have the latest and greatest updates.
Updates and support won me over. Else I'd look at the Galaxy Tab 7 2. Walmart had them on sale for $249. Samsung would give you a true tablet experience and a nice screen... but updates from Samsung are sparse too.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app

altimax98 said:
I agree with you 100% that the 4460 is behind the Tegra in raw specs. But having both of them my Galaxy Nexus out performs my N7 in daily use, it'll run circles. Both are running the same nightly on CM10. I think it has more to do with a slow EMMC, but that may be why the OP feels the 4460 is better.
I do wish Asus built better products though
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure what I'm doing wrong or you're doing wrong but my nexus 7 runs circles around my Galaxy Nexus. Both running cm10 also. If there is an app updating in the background my gnex is frustratingly slow, the 7 just flies.
Either way the Kindle is probably the better consumption device, but less capable overall and for most of us a non starter due to the os.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Good glad to see you didn't get sucked into Apple and their bs !