Good news everyone. Google has posted on their +1 page that they will start shipping the Google Nexus 7 from today onwards. With any luck we might start seeing them appear next week. I’m a bit annoyed the process wasn’t more transparent and they didn’t provide dates a few weeks ago to keep those that pre-ordered informed.
Google has gifted Nexus 7 tablets to 6,000 of its most adoring developers
In a recent techradar review of the Google Nexus 7 tablet, the article makes mention that Google gifted 6,000 Nexus 7 tablets to their favourite developers. An interesting development that we hope will alleviate one area where Apple clearly reigns supreme, tablet app development. We can onnly hope this will be the sign of more tablet focussed apps for the Google Nexus 7.
Read the article over at techradar.
Looking to root your Google Nexus 7 tablet but a little unsure how to do so? xda-developers have an easy root guide for the Nexus 7 tablet all prepared for you. But it’s ever so easy that I had to share it myself.
How do you unblock your Nexus 7 tablet you ask?
1. cd to platform-tools
2. Reboot to the bootloader – adb reboot bootloader
3. Unlock your device* -
More over at xda-developers
According to pcmag, the Google Nexus 7 shipping date is due to commence from July 12. Great news for those of us that pre-ordered and hoping to get our Google Nexus tablet before it hits retail stores. Apparently the tablet will start shipping between the 12-17 of July and has already commence being tagged in warehouses ready for shipping to those that have pre-ordered. Exciting news. This means if the Google Nexus 7 tablet was shipped around the 12th, those in Australia could expect to see it 2-3 days later (assuming Google’s shipping times are accurate). We can only hope!
Good news for Australian users (and maybe bad news for those of us that pre-ordered via Google Play). EB Games has listed the Google Nexus 7 16GB on their website for $299 which also comes with the free $25 Google Play credit and Transformers movie. The tablet is expected to be instore from the 27/07 onwards which I’d expect would be the norm of other stores including JB HiFi, Dick Smith, etc.
In a way I’m a little disappointed I could have waited until the 27/07 and paid $20 less (shipping) and walked out of a store with it in my hands but I’m not. I’m happy that Google is putting this tablet out there at an affordable price to hopefully lure people away from the iPad purchase. Obviously it would have been better if the prices were reflective of the US pricing of models but even with our Australia tax, it’s still an affordable tablet.
Let’s just hope that those of us that pre-ordered will get it a couple of weeks before it’s released in store.
So what exactly comes free with the Google Nexus 7 tablet for users that purchased through Google Play? Good question.
Most users seem to think we only get $25 free Google Play credit but I have good news. I can’t comment for users who are purchasing their device through a store but those that purchased through the Google Play store will be happy to know they receive:
I’m also unsure whether the Bourne Dominion book and free magazines extends to Australian users as presently we’re unable to purchase these from the Google Play store so it’s likely we’ll miss out on this. Sucks 
How is it I’m only just hearing of Chameleon? This is BEAUTIFUL!
Chameleon is a yet to be released home screen replacement for the Android. One thing that really jumps out at me is that the lock screen changing for morning, evening and when you’re at work. How good is that? Your morning screen can be setup to display your favorite news, social feeds, weather, schedule and email. Maybe at work you might be after something different on your lock screen but you’re too lazy to change the screen? Chameleon has you covered and recognises based on GPS cooridnates that you’re in the office and changes your lock screen accordingly. Amazing. Unfortunately it won’t be released until winter 2012
Although I’m curious to see how it will play with the Nexus 7 tablet. For me, I think it would very much benefit from a bigger screen size so I’ll be holding my breath that it will play nicely with the 7″ screen of the Nexus 7 tablet. Fingers crossed though.
Interesting in reading up and oozing over Chameleon a little more? Head over to their website for the full scoop.
Looking to play with your Google Nexus 7? Look no further as the chaps over at xdadevelopers have released their first custom Google Nexus 7 kernels.
Features
It’s not much but it’s progress at least.
Good news. Neowin has reported that those unhappy with the default phone based UI on the Google Nexus 7 will be able to change to the tablet UI with a few minor touches.
Changing to the tablet UI provides a lot real estate than the default UI provides by removing the notification bar at the top of the screen and incorporating it into the system bar located at the bottom of the screen.
Wondering how you can change the default view of the Google Nexus 7 from the phone to tablet view? Start by editing the LCD density in the build.prop file on the Android system (this will require rooting your device). Once you’ve opened your build.prop file in a text editor, simply change the entry for ro.sf.lcd_density to 170. Then save, and reboot and you’ll have an interface more suited for tablets.
ifixit have gone ahead and dissembled a new Google Nexus 7 tablet. The results are interesting and have allowed us to gain some insight what is inside powering this little gem. From the teardown we’ve learnt that it’s powered by -
Some other important points..
Most of this we already knew feature wise however it’s nice to learn the specifics. Something that did come out of this teardown that was music to my ears (and probably yours too) was the ability to use a USB-to-HDMI cable for HDMI support. There was suggestions on release that the Nexus 7 would be capable of being plugged into a HDMI port via a converter however was not confirmed. The review can now confirm that the Nexus 7 is capable of being plugged into a TV hdmi slot via converter. Great news.
Want to learn more about the ifixit teardown of the Google Nexus 7? Hit up ifixit.
