Google’s Nexus 7 has been challenging every 7 incher that has been released since its inception. The Nexus 7 is now in its 2nd avatar, i.e., 2013 edition, loaded with a more powerful processor and greater amount of RAM. On the other hand, XOLO’s Play Tegra Note is a powerful entrant into the 7 inch scene, albeit a newcomer. Which one out of the two should you go for?
Hardware
Model | XOLO Play Tegra Note | Google Nexus 7 (2013) |
Display | 7 inches, 1280 x 800p | 7 inches, 1920 x 1200p |
Processor | 1.8GHz quad core | 1.5GHz quad core |
RAM | 1GB | 2GB |
Internal Storage | 16GB | 16GB/32GB |
OS | Android v4.2.2 | Android v4.3 |
Cameras | 5MP/VGA | 5MP/1.2MP |
Battery | 4100mAh | 3950mAh |
Price | 17,999 INR | 20,999 INR |
Display
Both come with the same display size of 7 inches. However, there’s a major difference in the resolution; while the Play Tegra Note features an 800p resolution, the Nexus 7 2013 comes with a 1200p one, stretching the display density up by quite a bit.
This means that the Nexus 7 will be the better tablet as far as the display is concerned, and activities like gaming, watching movies, surfing the web, etc. will prove to be a better experience on the Google device, albeit at the cost of extra battery drain.
Camera and Storage
Not a huge difference in the imaging hardware. While XOLO’s entry comes with a 5MP rear and a VGA front, the Nexus 7 2013 does slightly better on the front facing department with a 1.2MP unit instead of a VGA one, and the rear stays the same at 5MP. Although this doesn’t seem like a huge difference at first, you will soon realize that the front camera is all you use (for video calls) and the Nexus 7 2013 might prove to be the better one here.
XOLO Play Tegra Note comes with 16GB of on-board ROM along with a microSD card slot for further expansion, giving you the flexibility to expand storage as and when you need, and cutting costs at the same time. On the other hand, the Nexus 7 2013 in true Nexus spirit does not include a microSD card slot and comes 16GB and 32GB storage variants.
Processor and Battery
This is probably the most important and conclusive department in this comparison. The Play Tegra Note comes with NVIDIA’s latest mobile computing platform, the Tegra 4 which packs a quad core CPU clocked at 1.8GHz. On the other hand, Google’s Nexus 7 2013 comes with a quad core 1.5GHz CPU which comes from none other than Qualcomm. Although there’s not a lot to choose from in between the two chipsets, you can make your choice depending on your requirements.
The Play Tegra Note will be the better tablet for those who are into multimedia and/or gaming thanks to NVIDIA’s affinity towards gaming devices. The lower resolution on the tablet will also give the performance a slight boost. On the other hand, Google’s Nexus 7 2013 is for those who want pure processing grunt, i.e., for the ones who’re looking for a productivity tablet. The 2GB RAM on the device will also mean better multitasking capabilities than the Play Tegra Note.
Conclusion
Although its very hard to pick one out of these two, we would perhaps suggest the Nexus 7 2013 to anyone who’s confused between the two simply for the fact that you get the latest Android running on the device before anyone else does, and secondly 2GB RAM which is exactly the double of what comes in the Play Tegra Note.