Cracked 2012 Nexus 7 Repair: Worth It Or A $55 Mistake?

[Guest]

Everyone loves a good-looking glass screen. But scratch-resistant tempered glass likes to shatter. When it does, where do you draw the line on repair-worthiness?

Cracked 2012 Nexus 7 Repair: Worth It Or A $55 Mistake? : Read more

 

[envy14tpe]

My experience from my 2012 Nexus 7....take it to the shooting range. It was a great product for a couple months then became slow and a piece of sh#%. In my list of worst products I ever bought.

 

[FlayerSlayer]

I need to throw CM on mine. The last OTA update they threw my way virtually bricked my device. Several minutes to boot, 30+ seconds to open an app (any app), and then it randomly just hangs for minutes at a stretch. Not sure what Google did, but their updates were clearly not tested on first-party hardware.

 

[SirGCal]

I had three N7's and the screens seemed to SHATTER from the tiniest of drops. Never again. And that was with regular screen protectors, a full glass protector and all of them in different 'cases' supposedly child proof. Last one slid off my lap (in a wheelchair) onto a run on a carpet within it's case and the screen spider-cracked. Seriously?

 

[Valantar]

I'm still using my 2013 N7, and luckily I've never had the sort of issues you describe here. Sure, the touchscreen is a bit slow, but nothing awful. I bought it late - about two years ago now - so that might explain some of this. After the Marshmallow update (hooray, an Android update arriving on time for the N7 2013 LTE!), it's been entirely stable, and slightly quicker than before. By the way, I can't remember ever needing more than two touch points. What applications do you need that for?

Lately, though, I hardly use it - I work from home, so my PC is in constant use any way, and when I'm not near a PC, the drop in browsing speed when using the N7 compared to my phone (Sony Xperia Z2) is significant enough that I often don't bother, even if the 2" screen size difference is huge.The 3GB of RAM in the Z2 really make a difference when keeping a bunch of tabs open in Chrome. Also, remembering to keep a seldom-used tablet charged is a hassle like no other - and switching it off completely means a roughly 1-minute wait to turn on, by which time I've already picked up my phone instead.

I fully support repairing your N7 for a couple of reasons:
1: throwing away an otherwise fully functional piece of hardware is just dumb. Repair, reuse, repurpose, resell. The world has no need of more electronics waste.
2: As you say, there's nothing better out there.The tablets on the market today are mostly awful (although I fully support the move to 4:3 or 3:2 screens), and I very much doubt it'll improve any time soon. The market has devolved into two segments: "premium" (which frequently isn't, but you still have to pay one), and "we don't make a profit on this so we don't give a sh*t."

 

[lp]

Can't imagine this writer having so much trouble with his Asus Nexus 7. Mine is still working perfectly since the day i bought it.

Greatest app on my Nexus 7 is Google Body. Everyone i show it too is amazed with the 3D figure as well as the speed when i flip it around. Even my Doctor(s) ask me if i can install it on their phones, which is not possible.

 

[alexbb_123]

I'm a proud owner of both Nexus 7, 2012 WiFi and 2013 LTE. Even today I feel exactly the same, there's no real replacement for Nexus 7 2013 even when climbing a bit in the price tag, maybe around 450€...

the 2012 model is used by my wife daily for ebook reading and the 2013 is still my best friend for gaming and browsing.
Both are stock and mine doesn't even know what a factory reset is! in recent month's the most common problem I have is a very random rotation lock that its only fixed with a power cycle, apart from that its cruising speed all the time!

 

[captaincharisma]

i have a 2012 nexus 7 and spent a year trying to find a custom ROM that would make the nexus 7 not LAG but only have been able to find ROM's that make the lag manageable. and it was so hard to believe google released a version of lollipop for it because it just made it unusable.

 

[lp]

Heard that my Nexus 7 2012 will get Ver 6 Marshmallow as soon as it's released.
Anyone have that update yet?

 

[megamanx321]

I still have my Nexus 7 2013 Wifi. It survived numerous system updates unscathed until last December's 6.0.1 update. It bricked it and required a factory reset. It always had the following minor issues though:

1) Auto-Rotation becomes locked unless an app forces it to change. Only a reboot fixes it.
2) Sometimes the touch-screen flakes out and stops registering touches. Power-cycling (not rebooting, just putting to standby via the power button) fixes it, as does a reboot.
3) It became unusably slow after the first 5.0 update. I wish I went back to 4.4.3(?) back then, but afterwards, games choked, apps stopped working well. But it still worked.
4) The micro-usb port is unstable. Have to play the "angle game" to get it to seat and charge properly. My HTC charging cable from an old EVO 4g phone works the best, but most other don't seat properly.

When Google offered a discount on the Pixel C, I went for it and haven't looked back at the Nexus 7. But it was one of the best tablets aside from those issues. Currently, its being used by my girlfriend as her first foray into the Android world...

 

[captaincharisma]

Heard that my Nexus 7 2012 will get Ver 6 Marshmallow as soon as it's released.
Anyone have that update yet?

android marshmellow has been out for almost more then a year now so being a Nexus tablet you would have got an update for it long ago. but there are a few custom versions out using marshmallow. but given how crippled lollipop made it i don't see why anyone would want to

 

[Kattz888]

I'm still using my 2013 N7, and luckily I've never had the sort of issues you describe here. Sure, the touchscreen is a bit slow, but nothing awful. I bought it late - about two years ago now - so that might explain some of this. After the Marshmallow update (hooray, an Android update arriving on time for the N7 2013 LTE!), it's been entirely stable, and slightly quicker than before. By the way, I can't remember ever needing more than two touch points. What applications do you need that for?

Lately, though, I hardly use it - I work from home, so my PC is in constant use any way, and when I'm not near a PC, the drop in browsing speed when using the N7 compared to my phone (Sony Xperia Z2) is significant enough that I often don't bother, even if the 2" screen size difference is huge.The 3GB of RAM in the Z2 really make a difference when keeping a bunch of tabs open in Chrome. Also, remembering to keep a seldom-used tablet charged is a hassle like no other - and switching it off completely means a roughly 1-minute wait to turn on, by which time I've already picked up my phone instead.

I fully support repairing your N7 for a couple of reasons:
1: throwing away an otherwise fully functional piece of hardware is just dumb. Repair, reuse, repurpose, resell. The world has no need of more electronics waste.
2: As you say, there's nothing better out there.The tablets on the market today are mostly awful (although I fully support the move to 4:3 or 3:2 screens), and I very much doubt it'll improve any time soon. The market has devolved into two segments: "premium" (which frequently isn't, but you still have to pay one), and "we don't make a profit on this so we don't give a sh*t."

Heard that my Nexus 7 2012 will get Ver 6 Marshmallow as soon as it's released.
Anyone have that update yet?

android marshmellow has been out for almost more then a year now so being a Nexus tablet you would have got an update for it long ago. but there are a few custom versions out using marshmallow. but given how crippled lollipop made it i don't see why anyone would want to

 

[Kattz888]

You're in Canada? There's a store called Factorydirect.ca. I know that they had the Nexus 2012 and 2013 quite cheap. Might as well get something refurbished with a decent battery for a few more dollars. They have lots of other cheap tabs too.

 

[Daniel Sauvageau]

Can't imagine this writer having so much trouble with his Asus Nexus 7. Mine is still working perfectly since the day i bought it.

My N7 issues aren't over yet: the USB port on my N7 decided to die a few weeks after I sent this story in, so that's one more thing on my growing laundry list of things to look into fixing. Now it only charges at a meager ~280mA instead of the more reasonable former ~860mA and I get no data connection to my PC. The next time a firmware upgrade goes wrong, it may be the end of the line.

 

[captaincharisma]

Can't imagine this writer having so much trouble with his Asus Nexus 7. Mine is still working perfectly since the day i bought it.

My N7 issues aren't over yet: the USB port on my N7 decided to die a few weeks after I sent this story in, so that's one more thing on my growing laundry list of things to look into fixing. Now it only charges at a meager ~280mA instead of the more reasonable former ~860mA and I get no data connection to my PC. The next time a firmware upgrade goes wrong, it may be the end of the line.

for charging you should see about getting the docking station for it that charges by using the pogo pins on the side of the tablet

 

[VideoSavant]

As a stop-gap, you could get a new $59 Amazon Fire 7-inch Tablet, add an microSD card for expanded storage and flash an alternative ROM (there are a few specially designed for the Fire).

I'd favor this over the repair simply because something else is more likely to fail before something fails in the Fire.

 

[Daniel Sauvageau]

You're in Canada? There's a store called Factorydirect.ca. They have lots of other cheap tabs too.

Lots of cheap tabs with 1GB of RAM, barely working digitizers, long outdated OS versions, no support and who knows how many other issues. I'm not going to buy another tablet with only 1GB of RAM on it: that may have been fine four years ago under Android 4.2 but with apps, APIs, runtimes and the core OS getting a little heavier each year, 1GB is barely enough to have one non-trivial app open at a time on a 32bits ARM platform today. On x86-64, I'd even bump my minimum requirement to 3GB RAM based on how the ZenTab z580c's 2GB RAM could barely handle two open apps at a time after I got done updating its bloatware.

 

[Dugimodo]

The only issue with my 2012 nexus seven has been android 5 which made it horrible to use. I bit the bullet and rolled it back to 4.4.2 and it's back to usable again.

I bought the charging dock and just use mine as an alarm clock these days though

 

[Daniel Sauvageau]

As a stop-gap, you could get a new $59 Amazon Fire 7-inch Tablet

I may have already found my "stopgap" and plan to write a mini review about, after I use it some more and decide how (un)impressed I am. The tablet in question is slightly slower than the 2012 N7 and costs more than I would have liked to pay for that level of performance, but it has some redeeming qualities which may be just enough to make up for that.

 

[KiNga_]

Warning : Asus nexus 7(2013) ver gets bricked and unrecoverable by any ways once you download and install an O S. upgrade and there is no support from google. Besides that, it 's the best 7inch tabet ever madeso far.

 

[Cokang]

I luv my n7 2012 until it upgraded to 5.0. Lag

 

[superj]

Wow that was way more of an awesome geek fest than I had imagined. I was about to say dump the old tablet, but I'd love to see someone pull off a storage and ram upgrade. Too bad I sold mine for $40 on Kijiji (I'm in Canada).

 

[angrypat]

I admire your ability and tenacity, but you may want to speak to someone about that O.C.D., maybe get a prescription?

 

[ingtar33]

I still own my 2013 Nexus 7 HD, still the best tablet i've had in my hand short of my IPad Air, and that tablet cost x4 what the Nexus 7 did.

I keep looking for a replacement for both, and nothing on the market is worth spending the money to replace two perfectly functioning tablets.

 

[Victory Toast]

You do know that Google is probably releasing a 2016 tablet successor by this summer, right?

Details of its release date and price should be revealed at the Google IO conference this month.