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Comment by podperson | Hacker News Reader

We (me, my wife, two small children) have the original Kindle Fire, a Nexus 7, and two iPads (first generation). We used to have two iPad 2s but we had to return them to former employers. The Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire are only used in desperation, while we basically fight over the iPads.

I wanted to like the Nexus 7, but I find it borderline useless for everything including simply browsing the web. (There's a lot to like about the Chrome browser, but it's simply too fiddly to resize text all the time.) Overally, I find the Kindle Fire to be a superior device to the Nexus 7 (which is pretty depressing given the Nexus 7 is a year newer, ostensibly has better hardware, is running a far more modern OS, and was more expensive).

I think Apple is going to clean everyone's clocks with the new devices, even if they're a bit expensive. $330 for a really good device is a way better deal than $200 for a piece of junk.

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That's interesting, because I have not touched my iPad since getting a Nexus 7, except to test websites on it.

I use it for reading ebooks, some browsing the web, reading email, managing my calendar, and very occasional casual gaming. It's fast and responsive, and as far as seeing it, the display is sharp and bright. It's not an issue (which is saying a lot--I'm legally blind).

The display and responsiveness are no better than the iPad, and the retina display on the new iPad is a bit crisper, but I prefer the 7in form factor (lighter, easier to hold/use with one hand) and the customization options that Android offers over iOS.

I know Google had a lot of problems with them initially, some of which effected performance and display... maybe you got a dud?

The Nexus 7's display is technically fine -- it's what it does with it that's problematic. I am nearly legally blind when not wearing corrective lenses, but when wearing corrective lenses the Nexus is unusable and unfixable. I'm sure it would be fine if I took out my contacts and read it 2" from my nose.

Bear in mind, it's not just me. My daughters would rather wait for an iPad to recharge than use the alternatives (even when the same content is on them).

Since I'm in the process of buying a tablet, I'd welcome elaboration on "it's simply too fiddly to resize text all the time".

Do you mean that (like Mobile Safari) Chrome does not reflow text, so that you cannot make the text big enough to read without making the text expand past the edge of the window, so you have to scroll each line of text horizontally?

Chrome reflows the text on the Nexus 7 -- pretty much the greatest mobile browsing feature ever and I miss it terribly on my iPhone.

I think his point was more than you have to resize text on the Nexus 7 because the screen is much smaller than an iPad. Pretty much every page on the Nexus will require a pinch zoom and a tap before you start reading.

Also, Chrome on Nexus 7 has a lot of "accessibility" options, so you can size the default reflowable text to your comfort, which reduces any need to manually squeeze/expand. (Nexus 7 is dramatically superior to a New(3) iPad.)

iOS has the "reader" function which, in my opinion (when it works) is nearly ideal.

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