Last year Google released the Nexus 7 in a market predominantly dominated by Apple’s iPad. Android meanwhile was struggling to gain momentum in tablet market and mind share. Rushed-out hardware attempting to capitalise on the success of the iPad and an underdeveloped content and app ecosystem resulted in negative first reactions. Google’s Nexus 7 with its aggressive price point, new OS (Jelly Bean) and impressive specs gave consumers a proposition that was good enough to swipe those preconceptions away.

One year on, the market has changed; new competition from Apple’s iPad Mini, Amazon’s new Kindle Fires and even non players like Tesco’s Hudl. The Nexus 7 is no longer at the low-end of the market, with Tesco and Amazon undercutting the Nexus 7’s £199 price point. Can Google repeat the success of last year with a slimmed down, Steve McQueen omitted, pixel dense iteration, while the competition for the 7″ space heats up?

Tall. Black. Slab. It seems it’s hard for companies to avoid this clichéd look. At first impression it makes the Nexus 7 feel uninspired and flat. At 114 mm x 200 mm x 8.65 mm, Google has slimmed down the width, making it more comfortable to use one-handed. The top and bottom bezels have grown, giving it, at first, a very tall stretched out look. Once you start to explore the design of the device it reveals a more subtle refined look set against last year’s model. Gone is the dimpled Steve Mcqueen inspired back and replaced by a soft touch plastic which has a nice feel in the hand. It wraps around the back and chamfers onto the screen with a subtle black gloss plastic rim. It’s elegant and understated at the same time.

At 290g it feels light and perfect for reading/browsing for extended periods of time without the hardware being noticeable.

It has a Micro-USB port at the bottom, a 3.5mm headphone jack on top, a volume rocker and a sleep/wake button. The former buttons sit close together and are made of the same gloss plastic, which led to occasional unintended actions.

I expected the speaker quality to be just like any other mobile speaker. My first experience did not disappoint, on the loudest setting, the music sounded pretty terrible. However more time spent with the Nexus, the more I warmed to them. They are not going to win over any audiophiles, but they are perfectly suited to watching TV shows and movies, suitably loud, good quality and sport stereo speakers.

The screen is really where it shines, a 7” 1920×1200 screen with 323 PPI (Pixels Per Inch). The pixel-dense screen makes even the smallest of text a pleasure to read. It has excellent viewing angles and vivid colours, perfect for watching movies. With the PPI race starting to unfold, this screen is one of the best on the market for this form factor. Auto-brightness is a little muted in strong light and a little bright in complete darkness, but overall the Nexus 7’s screen is its best feature.

Browsing websites in portrait looks great, sharp text makes reading enjoyable and responsive. Google demoed the Nexus 7 mainly in landscape, but the screen feels like it can’t contain webpages in this orientation, as if webpages were bursting out at the bezels. The software keys on the bottom persistently squeeze the content in and maybe this is a constraint of the form factor.

Battery is a champ. Google stating that 10 hours of web browsing is expected from the 3950mAh battery. Easily getting through a whole day with light browsing, watching media, casual gaming and more. It’s what should be expected and nothing more. Standby drainage is almost non-existent, which furthers its portability prowess. It’s not just a coffee table device.

The Nexus 7 comes with a 5MP shooter, a welcome addition to the absence of a camera in last year’s model. It’s better than expected but it’s not going to replace your phone as the go-to device. It’s often said that “the best camera is the one that’s with you,” and that might be true in this case for a quick Instagram selfie but don’t expect to produce Ansel Adams level photography. The front facing camera is much of the same, capable and good enough quality for what a front face camera is for.

Installed with the latest Android version 4.3 Jelly Bean. Android feels much more capable on a tablet than what the rest of the market has to offer. Android seems to handle everything that you can throw at it. Jumping from one graphically intensity game to a streaming video and back to browsing, with no lag, no refresh and no visible performance drop. With a 1.5 GHz CPU and 2 GB of RAM, the high-end specs keep the performance fluid. The work on Project Butter has definitely paid off, helping Android feel more refined and responsive.

With Jelly Bean, Android does finally feel like Google is paying attention to design. However the OS itself hasn’t visually changed since ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich). With iOS7’s recent release and complete redesign, Android is starting to look slightly dated, especially with Google’s new design direction appearing in products like Google Now, bringing in flatter and brighter designs. With the recent leaks of the next version of Android 4.4, named KitKat, indicate a continued move towards this design language, however a complete visual overhaul of the OS is expected for Android 5.0.

Then there’s the apps. Android has historically struggled with tablet optimised apps compared to its iOS counterpart. The Nexus 7’s screen size allows phone sized apps to not look and feel ridiculous.

Strong sales of the Nexus 7 (2012) coupled with Android’s Smartphone market share is starting to turn developers heads but not before Apple. Google’s Play Music and Goggle+ really showcase what developers should be doing with their apps, the Play Store even has a section for tablet optimised apps. Design in general is getting better for Android apps however it still lags behind Apple’s iPad, with prominent apps such as Twitter and Dropbox to name a few, that have not implemented designs for this form factor.

Last years Nexus 7 (2012) with its high-end specs, refined OS and aggressive pricing strategy not only impressed critics but also impressed consumers, resulting in a high adoption rate. This year with a less aggressive pricing point and an app ecosystem still trailing behind iOS, can an iteration really repeat Google’s success?

The New Nexus 7 is an iteration. It’s a slimmed down, souped-up, hardware refined Nexus 7 with a beautiful screen. It’s an iteration that feels like the realisation of what Google and Asus had envisioned from the beginning. From software, to hardware and to content through the Play Store.

Occasionally I have the feeling I might be missing out on “Fishing with Friends” or the latest iOS craze, and that is the crux of the matter. If you can live without the iPad’s app ecosystem then this is definitely a fantastic tablet to buy. Who knows, you might even get a chance to play “Fishing with Friends” in a year’s time.