As you probably know by now, Google’s latest (and largest) member of the Nexus family is now listed on the Play Store and will be taking orders soon. But with the Microsoft Surface and the new (new) iPad just recently announced as well, the tabletosphere is a little crowded right now. So I’ve made up some handy tables to compare specifications. And while I know that raw specs, like processor speed and how many cores are in a device, don’t mean a lot in terms of usability or awesomeness, things like pixel density and screen size certainly do.
| Google Nexus 10 | Microsoft Surface | Apple iPad | |
| Screen size | 10.055″ | 10.6″ | 9.7″ |
| Resolution | 2560 x 1600 (300ppi) | 1366 x 768 (148ppi) | 2048 x 1536 (264ppi) |
| Size | 263.9 x 177.6 x 8.9mm | 274.6 x 172 x 9.4mm | 241.2mm x 185.7 x 9.4mm |
| Weight | 603g | 680.4 | 652g |
| Cameras | 5MP (rear), 1.3MP (front) | 720p front and back | 5MP (rear), 1.2MP (front) |
| CPU | Dual Core A15 (CPU) with Mali T604 GPU | Quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 | Dual-core A6X with quad-core graphics |
| RAM | 2GB | 2GB | ? |
| Storage Options | 16 GB / 32 GB | 32GB, 64GB | 16GB, 32GB, 64GB |
| Sensors | Microphone Accelerometer Compass Ambient light Gyroscope Barometer GPS |
Ambient light sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Compass |
Microphone Three-axis gyro Accelerometer Ambient light sensor |
| Wireless | WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (MIMO+HT40) Bluetooth NFC (Android Beam) |
Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n) | 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz and 5GHz) Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology UMTS/HSPA+ (3G) and LTE (4G) *specified model only |
| Connectivity | Micro USB Magnetic Pogo pin charger Micro HDMI 3.5mm headphone jack |
Full-size USB 2.0 microSDXC card slot Headset jack HD video out port |
Lightning connector 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack |
| Battery | 9000 mAh lithium polymer | 31.5 watt-hour | 42.5-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery |
| OS | Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) | Windows RT | iOS 6 |
| Price (RRP) | $469 (16GB) | $549 (32GB) | $539 (16GB) |
And even though Apple seem to think that the iPad Mini is in a different class to the Nexus 7, I made a comparison chart anyway:
| Google Nexus 7 | Apple iPad Mini | |
| Screen size | 7″ | 7.9″ |
| Resolution | 1280 x 800 (216ppi) | 1024 x 768 (163ppi) |
| Size | 198.5 x 120 x 10.45mm | 200×134.7×7.2 mm |
| Weight | 340g | 308g |
| Cameras | 1.2MP front-facing camera | 5MP (rear), 1.2MP (front) |
| CPU | Quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 | Dual-core Apple A5 |
| RAM | 1GB | ? |
| Storage Options | 16, 32GB | 16, 32, 64GB |
| Sensors | Microphone NFC (Android Beam) Accelerometer GPS Magnetometer Gyroscope |
Proximity and ambient light sensors, 3-axis accelerometer, gyroscope, digital compass |
| Wireless | WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth NFC (Android Beam) |
802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz and 5GHz) Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology UMTS/HSPA+ (3G) and LTE (4G) *specified model only |
| Connectivity | USB Micro USB |
Lightning connector 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack |
| Battery | 4325 mAh | 16.3 watt-hour lithium polymer |
| OS | Android 4.1.2 | iOS 6 |
| Price (RRP) | $249 (16GB) | $369 (16GB) |
So, are any of you sitting on the fence here? Personally, I’m leaning towards a Nexus 7, but the Surface intrigues me. I would not buy a Samsung-made tablet without having seen one in the flesh, but I do prefer the 10″ size. Feel free to discuss your thoughts in the comments!
