TechDomino
The new Google Nexus 7 (2013 version) mad a big splash this summer, because it showed that you can make a “retina” tablet, even under $250, which is something Apple said would be very hard to do even at $330. Whether the next-generation iPad Mini will have a retina display or not, is not the question right now, because that’s still months away, at least. The question is, which small tablet is the best right now between the two, if you wanted to buy one today. Let’s start with the specs:
Google Nexus 7 (2013)
- CPU: quad core 1.5 Ghz Qualcomm S4 Pro
- GPU: Adreno 320
- Display: 7″ LED-backlit IPS LCD, 1920×1200 resolution
- RAM: 2 GB RAM
- Storage: 16 GB (about 12 GB free)
- Camera: 5 MP, 1080p@30fps,
- Front-camera: 1.2 MP
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 A2DP
- USB: microUSB (SlimPort) v2.0
- Weight: 290g, 299g (LTE)
- OS: Android 4.3
Apple iPad Mini
- CPU: dual core Apple A5
- GPU: PowerVR SGX543MP2
- Display: 7″ LED-backlit IPS LCD, 1024×768 resolution
- RAM: 1 GB RAM
- Storage: 16 GB
- Camera: 5 MP, 1080p@30fps,
- Front-camera: 1.2 MP
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 A2DP
- USB: microUSB (SlimPort) v2.0
- Weight: 308g
- OS: iOS6
Processors
The win here goes to Google Nexus 7, which not only has a quad core processor, but it’s also of a new generation of ARM processors (Krait) while Apple A5 is based on Cortex A9, and it’s also clocked 50 percent higher. So there’s no doubt the Qualcomm S4 Pro has faster CPU – about 2x faster.
As for the GPU, the Adreno 320 was about as fast as the Apple A6 GPU, which was about 2x faster than the Apple A5 GPU. Therefore we can conclude that the Adreno 320 GPU is also twice as fast as the iPad Mini GPU.
Display
The Nexus 7 (2013) display not only has a much higher resolution than the iPad Mini (1920×1080 vs 1024×768) but it’s also much better in every other metric from contrast to brightness to color gamut. The first Nexus 7 display was so-so, but Google really outdid themselves this time with the display, especially when you consider.
Of course the biggest advantage over the iPad Mini remains the much sharper resolution, which makes everything from pictures to full HD videos look great on it.
The other specs seem to be relatively the same, but it’s one thing that is very different: price. Even the new Nexus 7 which costs a little more than last year, is still about $100 cheaper than the Apple iPad Mini. For a lot of people that can be a deal breaker when deciding what to get, even if they don’t care as much about specs. The fact that the new Nexus 7 happens to be twice as fast, and with a much better and sharper display is just the icing on the cake.
