As you might have gathered from my title, I have the Nexus 7 in my hand and have been playing with it for a couple of days now.

i can’t believe how different my experience has been with this compared to my previous Android experience on the Kobo Vox. This machine is FAST. it is a Google sponsored product, so it comes with pure Android 4.1.1., Jelly Bean. The Google team has been focussing on lag in Project Butter, and although I can’t compare with anything other than the Kobo Vox, the user experience is silky smooth. In comparison to the Kobo Vox, when I changed screen orientation while reading a Kobo book, I was not faced with five seconds of white screen while the device caught up.

Two things I was anxious to check out in Jelly Bean were the Google Search (a Siri equivalent) and Google Now. I have had great fun with Google Search – I was particularly impressed when it hooked up to my Rdio account and will play any song I tell it to play. I was also blown away by Google Now when I checked it and found my bus times without my having to do anything.

One of my biggest complaints about the Kobo Vox was the lack of apps available in the official Kobo app store (it was recently opened up to the entire Android Market.) The Nexus 7 is linked to the Google Play store. In general I have no such complaints. Within a very short time of owning the device I had all my favourite eReading apps downloaded and installed: Kindle, Kobo, Goodreads, Overdrive. One rather annoying issue is that the Nexus does not show up on my iMac’s Finder when it is connected; I had to download the Android File Transfer app to be able to copy files. This means that I cannot authorise the device in Adobe Digital Editions, as it does not recognise the device, and so I cannot read non Kobo DRMed ebooks. However, I was able to download 50 Shades of Grey (don’t judge my reading choice, please!) from my local library and authorise it for the Overdrive Media Console.

In terms of battery life, I’ve been impressed so far. I charged it fully, and after a full day of playing with it (not much video, in all fairness) it still had 44% left. Of course, that can’t compare to my eInk Kindle or Kobo, but I didn’t expect it to do so. I will read my library book on it and see how it holds up from reading.

One thing I’m loving about Android is widgets. I have my home screen set so it shows me local time and weather information, my last few emails and my upcoming calendar entries.

As a long-time self-confessed Apple fan girl, I live in an iCloud world. I’d been wondering how to get my iCloud information onto the device. I found a couple of (paid) apps that synchronized my iCloud contacts and calendar. I wasn’t out of pocket thanks to the Google Play’s generous $25 store credit on purchase of the device. These two apps worked perfectly, and I soon had my iCloud contacts and calendar on my device.

All in all, I adore this device and will certainly be keeping this one. I had intended it as a multi-platform eReading device, but having played with it, I can see it will offer so much more. I would not hesitate to recommend it.