Did Google Just Take The Lead in The Tablet Race?

Did Google Just Take The Lead in The Tablet Race?

Since the launch of the first iPad in 2010 Apple has dominated the tablet market. Quite a few companies have tried to contend with them but no one has been able to do it. This November, Google is launching it's new tablet, The Nexus 10, and Apple might finally face a contender that could land it some nasty blows. 

The new Nexus 10 tablet, manufactured by Samsung, will have the world's highest resolution tablet display with a resolution of 2560x1600 and a pixel density of 300dpi (higher than Apple's latest 4th generation iPad.) The 10" super PLS screen claims to offer higher brightness and better viewing angles compared to other screens. In addition to the impressive screen, the Nexus also comes in thinner and lighter than the iPad.

According to PC World Magazine, the tablet is powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core Exynos 5250 processor, has 2GB of RAM and will come in 16GB or 32GB variants. There's a quad-core Mali T604 GPU, too, so the device has been designed with games and other graphically intense apps in mind. If that is not enough Google also says the devices battery will last up to nice hours of video playback or 500 hours of standby time before needing a recharge. This beauty also includes a Micro USB and Micro HDMI ports which could open up lots of opportunities without using a proprietary connection.

For those who enjoy Google Hangouts, the tablet comes with a 1.9-megapixel front facing camera and a 5-megapixel camera for photos and video capture. The tablet will run an all new flavor of Jelly Bean, Android 4.2 and will include a new way using Google Accounts to sync all your data; photos, emails, contacts, bookmarks and more simply by signing into your account. Lastly, the tablet makes it easy to add multiple users and switch between them instantly at the lock screen. As Google explains, "that way everyone can have their own home screens, their own music, even their own high scores."

The Nexus 10 goes on sale Tuesday, November 13th in two different favors. The 16GB will go for $399 and the 32GB for $499. This device sounds pretty impressive and I look forward to getting my hands on one to give you a hands on review. If it lives up to how impressive it sounds I might just be replacing the iPads and Kindle in my house.

 

Trevor Dayley's picture

Trevor Dayley (www.trevordayley.com) was named as one of the Top 100 Wedding Photographers in the US in 2014 by Brandsmash. His award-winning wedding photos have been published in numerous places including Grace Ormonde. He and his wife have been married for 15 years and together they have six kids.

Log in or register to post comments
45 Comments

I think in a year they will be crushing iPad and Surface products!

Just look at what the Galaxy S3 and Note 2 are doing to iPhone's market share.

Apple overplayed their hands on this.

it can't handle RAW - so no eye-fi tablet syncing  (only jpeg)  :(

There are many android apps that allow you to read raw files. I've shot tethered to my oldschool Asus Transformer tablet and it had no problem reading raws from my 5DII

thanks dave

I predict this will be as useless as the iPad, but with only marginally less rabid adherents lying to themselves and others about how 'indispensable' it is to their lives.

Wow. You really can't allow yourself to believe that people are using new tools like this in revolutionary ways. Do you have any idea how many people have replaced laptops and projectors for business presentations and sales pitches with iPads? They travel lighter and end up with a more ideal arrangement for a personal discussion than they previously did in a conference room. 

That's just one example of how indispensable these new tools have become to some people. Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean people are lying to themselves. 

Yeah, it's because I don't "understand" it. The iPad is just so deep, so intellectually consuming that I simply cannot fathom it's brilliance. 

It's beyond me in a way I'll never understand. I mean, fuck, they replaced laptops! This is some deep Socratic shit. 

I'm just sitting here looking at this iPad, and totally not "getting" it. It's like a laptop without a keyboard that you touch. WHAT.THE.FUCK. It's plain sorcery.

Is there some kind of spiritual guru, shaman, or mystical Apple god I can do to to help me fathom this mysterious item?

But yeah, I kind of understand what you mean.. The iPad has replaced a bunch of tools that were already perfectly suited to the job, and in most cases, did the job better.

I mean, if I needed to project something on the wall, and my choice was an iPad, or, say, a projector, well, it's hard to know WHICH one I'd choose!

Like I said though.. adherents lying to themselves. 

Such anger. Such insecurity. You might want to seriously consider talking through your issues with a professional. Good luck.

Maybe I should read some Epictetus, or one of the other great Stoic philosophers. Seneca perhaps? Then I could unravel the deep mysteries of the iPad at the same time as curing this deep insecurity that manifests itself as a criticism of a consumer product!

You've convinced me: you know and understand all. It's not you who doesn't "get it"; it's the Millions of satisfied tablet owners. Clearly anyone who can reference a relatively obscure philosopher understands all human philosophy and behavior. My mistake.

Please, teach us more, o Great One. We are ALL unworthy of Your presence; nevertheless we sit and patiently await another dispensation of Your wisdom, for we are hopelessly lost without it.

Thanks, it sucks preaching to a crowd of non-believers. Throw away your tablet and follow me; you can be saved. 

Self-deception is not satisfaction; dust off your laptop and stop pretending you weren't doing everything far quicker and more efficiently when it was all you had.

My number's on my website-call me if you need a friend.

I own not a tablet; indeed my trusty notebook is my computer of choice. Your assumptions are entertaining, if not persuasive.

Yeah the hard ware sounds nice but lets not forget the software . Google's android software is terrible. I have an android phone and it freezes just by turning it on. The actions like doing the swipe motion on the touch screen is very sluggish at times ,apps sometimes don't close when I quit them. so remember people it's not just the hardware but the software. 

I have a Android and have non of these problems. You need to trouble shoot your device. Perhaps a backup and restore to default settings. Better yet format and install. Nice and clean.

I have had these types of issues in the past, but I must say my Nexus 7 with Jelly Bean just isn't the same problematic beast that past versions of Android have been. It's very smooth and nice to use. In many ways I prefer it to my iPad, although the iPad is still the leader in overall experience for its end-to-end polish. This gap is largely closed now though.

The litmus test for me is a simple question: would I give one to my Mom. Until Jelly Bean, the answer was a simple 'no' but now I'm not so sure.

I accidentally "liked" this instead of hitting "reply" (butterfingerz).  I've used iProducts exclusively for the last 3-4 years, but used to have an Android device (HTC Incredible).  I loved that thing, and never experienced any lag issues.  Perhaps yours is defective? I think Patryk Molczan might have a good idea with troubleshooting it.

I just switched to Android via the HTC One X from the iPhone. iOS may be boring now, but compared to my experience, it's rock solid. It built into me a zero tolerance for odd behaviors that aren't solved in an obvious, immediate way, and that's what I've been dealing with. I'm happy with the phone for the most part, but if Google wants to start converting iPad users, they are going to have to tighten things up pretty neat. 

As usual the Hardware is nice, but it's the software where Google leaves questions marks. Not to mention the lack of tablet optimized apps. Maybe this new Nexus 10 will help move them forward in this area...

I want a tablet with thunderbolt and reading raw... mmm... raw...

ive been thinking about getting an ipad for the longest. but now that this is coming out i settled for the itouch and will get the nexus for my photos. i wonder if it will have wifi photo viewing.

"battery will last up to nice hours of video playback"  I think you meant "nine" hours of video playback.  It's an awesome tablet.  I love android and the potential the future will bring.  At least Google tries new things and irons out bugs as it finds them.  Project Butter smoothed out Android a lot.  iOS is just as bad in regards to crashing and sluggishness.  I have both types of devices so I'm not being bias.  It all comes down to preference.  Try before you buy.

 "At least Google tries new things and irons out bugs as it finds them." Not when it comes to Chrome!!!!!

On another note.....Why doesn't my monitor have this resolution yet?  We should have 4k computer monitors by now!!!!!!  Arrghh!  lol

Viewing distances are different.. a 30" eizo monitor would not need retina res to look great,and at this moment it would cost an obscene amount of cash...

In my opinion, the ASUS Slate not only contended but dominated the iPad, just not in the market. Full operating system, IPS screen and wacom pressure sensitivity. Everything you need to photoshop on the road. But this does look very very nice. I am an android fan on my phone but I think I'd feel a bit empty with a mobile OS for a tablet still.

And Chuck.. my monitor has this resolution. Cost as much as the rest of my computer though..

Apple = made in USA  (sort of) Surface = made in USA ( sort of) Samsung not so much.

seriously? LOL..nice try. 

seriously. And I think that the potential CNOOC deal is bad too. Pretty sure that neither Samsung hires a lot of american / canadian photographers. Except for feel good shots of farmers hugging windmills in Ontario.

congrats.

You made an ass of yourself all on your own. You should be proud!

het your story straight. Ipad products are made by Foxxcon in China. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn

you might also want to read part 4.1 to 4.3 ....

 Sorry your wrong Taiwan is NOT china even though china is trying to..

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (trading as Foxconn) is a Taiwanese multinational electronics manufacturing company headquartered in Tucheng, New Taipei, Taiwan. It is the world's largest maker of electronic components.[3][4]

While you are correct that Foxconn is a Taiwanese company, the vast majority of their manufacturing and assembly work (including the factories where Apple makes their iPhones, iPads and iPods) are located in China. Just clarifying that the other post is not technically wrong.

@facebook-500858372:disqus  That's what I'm saying.  A screen this small can have it but not a 24", 27, or bigger without costing a left nut?  Damn you technology companies!!!!!!!  I know it will happen and be cheaper, probably in the next couple of years but it's kinda frustrating.

I wonder if they will do retina style pixel trickery.  I don't know how many of you are developers, but optimizing webpages for retina is a trick - it actually assumes it's 1/4 the physical resolution (1/2 as tall, 1/2 as wide) and interpolates the rest. If you want your gallery to show true "retina quality" 400px images, you have to upload an 800px image and resize it down with CSS. Take the new macbook retina 13's - same graphics/processor hardware as the unibody, but 4x the resolution does not make sense until you realize that it's still calculating for a "normal" sized monitor then upscaling... to a very pretty monitor. 

I work with android/windows tablets and i still wouldnt change my ipad for any of them. They often get laggy and stops working over time. My ipad have been working perfectly since day one and same with my iphone/imac... it just works.

YES! Google will eventually CRUSH Apple! And I can't wait! I LOVE my Galaxy note and my old android tablet. Will def be getting one of these. I agree that Android isn't quite as slick as iOS but I've seen the newest jellybean (without all the wireless carrier crap installed) and it looks amazing. Stoked.

No matter which brand you like, I think the best part is that the Nexus 7/10 tablets now represent enough of a contender in the tablet arena that competition will tighten between them and, ultimately, be better for the consumer. More competition between brands = great news for everyone. So long as one doesn't completely crush the other ;-)

up to nice hours ey?

Nexus 10 is dead on arrival for the same reason all 10" Android tablets have failed, lack of tablet optimized apps. People also don't seem willing to spend 500 bucks on an Android tablet. It doesn't have the Apple cache nor do they usually have the industrial engineering excellence seen on Apple devices.

As android continues to sell their product Apple sells more and dominates in actual use. I believe the iPad has over 90% of the web traffic vs ALL android tablets. The problem with most tablets that aren't made by Apple can be found on craigslist and holiday sales. They are a dime a dozen and people don't buy them to use for long. Even if they did compete with as smooth as an operating system people aren't using them. Phones are different in this respect as the iphone will never gain back all the ground it's lost in marketshare but as a single company with a single product they outsell any other single product. The Galaxy SIII is actually a great phone and it's only downfall is that Samsung makes a dozen different good phones and different phones that cannibalize it's own sales. Samsung needs to take the Apple approach and make one killer phone instead of saturating it's own market with inferior or just different products. We will soon see the new smaller SIII ship soon so now their own inside joke about screen size will go away. If not they will just have to bite their tongues since they've picked on Apple about it's small screen. I hope one day someone competes to a point that Apple has to shift gears, until then I'll enjoy my iPad and it's rock solid apps and usability.

The reason the "i" devices "just work" and android devices sometimes have issues, is because Apple is in control of everything and Google is not... Apple designs the hardware and the software; everything had better work 100% when you have complete control. Google makes the software, and the manufacturers take it and shoehorn it onto whatever hardware they want.

The higher end Android devices seem to have most of the kinks worked out. The lower end ones can be unreliable though, like people have pointed out above. However, since I started putting custom roms on my Android devices like the G1, well, it just works. :D

In the end, use what you love. Who cares who makes it?

Yes but .. android ... lame OS !

All of those really thought out comments about android just like the one saying "lame os"... This "lame os" lets you do things that iOS will never, ever let you do (unless you jailbreak it and lose the warranty). A couple of days ago I posted a video (in spanish, I'm sorry) about how I shoot tethered with my 5D Mark II and a Nexus 7 with the app DSLR Controller. No root needed, no jailbreak, just a plain Nexus 7 with the app connected to the 5D Mk II and you're set. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ArITvF5jI

mmh,... nexus 10 has a great specs above the iPad 4th generation, but today its not only depend on the specs for winning the battle. High specs is only for geeks, but for general market an establish ecosystem is more important in order to deliver a great user experience. Only Apple who have the best establish ecosystem for now.

How bout Google? hmm they still on the process to reach it, so I think nexus 10 will not so easy to take a lead on a tablet race. Personally I don't like the Nexus 10 form design, it's looks cheap for me,.. if we talking about the rounded body design, I prefer to the nook than the nexus 10.

i thought this was a blog about photography? i dont give a damn about whose tablet is better i come here to read about creative projects that my fellow photographers are working on. get this crap off fstoppers and go back to gizmodo or one of the awful rumor/tech sites