![]() ![]() That's what the 2013 Nexus 7 was launched into. It felt like there was lots of room for something inexpensive-but-capable to succeed. Amazon's Kindle Fire tablets were inexpensive but used limited app stores and low-rent hardware (all three things are still true of Amazon's tablets). Windows 8 and RT were flailing as tablet operating systems and tended to run mostly on more expensive hardware. There were lots of limitations on the kinds of apps that could run in iOS and what those apps could do. The first iPad mini wasn't launched until very late in 2012, and it was essentially an 18-month-old iPad 2 in a smaller package (it was also relatively expensive at $329 compared to the original Nexus 7's $200). Advertisementįurther Reading Cheaper than most, better than all: the 2013 Nexus 7 reviewedĪpple's iPad lineup also had holes in it back then. Most of Google's apps, at least, were being designed with tablets in mind, and the turn-of-the-decade Nexus phones and tablets were cheap enough and good enough to pique the interest of would-be tablet app developers who didn't want to miss out on (what seemed like it could be, at the time) an exciting growth market. Though all three tablets were flawed in their own ways, the rapid iteration signaled a focus and commitment that petered out with latter-day, lackadaisical efforts like the Nexus 9 and Pixel C. The Motorola Xoom came out in 2011, and the first Nexus 7 and the Nexus 10 followed in 2012, and they were released alongside new Android versions that were designed with larger screens in mind. Back when Android tablets seemed like they might happenĪ decade ago, Google's tablet efforts were at their high point. But the Pixel Tablet's launch did get me thinking of the one Google tablet I actually retain some affection for and the last great tablet that the company helped to make: the second-generation Nexus 7 from 2013. I don't know! I can only look at high-profile failures like the Pixel C and Pixel Slate and guess. ![]() Maybe the new Pixel Tablet is the one that's going to put Google's first-party tablet efforts on the map. Further Reading Google’s Pixel Tablet looks just like a smart display, so why isn’t it one? ![]()
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