Asus Google Nexus 7 (2013) review: The magnificent seven

Google Now

Google Now integrates with your Google account and can access your daily routine, internet searches, email, etc. and give you information relevant to your interests and daily needs.

It provides traffic information to your work or home, knows those scores of sports teams you follow, has the weather forecast for your location and can even tell you who Kevin Spacey is.

Google Now

It can interpret a lot of things from your search history as well. If you've been searching for, say, your favorite football team, Google Now will prepare a card showing you the next match the team is playing and will provide you score updates once the game begins.

If you allow it, can scan your email for upcoming flights, deliveries or restaurant reservations and let you know when they are due. There are also numerous kinds of cards like birthdays (yours and contacts') and what distance you've walked in a particular month. The last one could definitely feel creepy for some users, but it's easily turned off from the Google Now settings menu.

Google has also integrated Voice Actions. They can handle stuff like sending messages (SMS or email), initiating a voice call, asking for directions, taking a note or opening a site. Google Now can also launch apps, check and manage your calendar and look for nearby places of interest and stuff like movie openings in theaters.

One big advantage of Google's Jelly Bean is that the voice typing functionality doesn't require an Internet connection to work. You can enter text by speaking anywhere you can use the on-screen keyboard - be it the Messaging app or a note taking app - without the need for a data connection as long as you have pre-downloaded the needed language packs (and those only take about 20-25MB of your storage per pack).

Making dictation available offline also made it faster. What's even more impressive is that the transition hasn't cost anything in terms of accuracy.

Google Now also has its own separate widget on the homescreen.

Synthetic benchmarks

The 2013 Asus Nexus 7 is powered by Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC, which packs a 1.5 GHz quad-core Krait CPU and Adreno 320GPU. There's 2GB of RAM on board to keep things running smoothly at all times.

The slate's chipset recorded a respectable outing in the synthetic benchmark field. Despite not being the latest and greatest available on the market today, it often rubbed shoulders with the established top dogs in the smartphone field- both in terms of CPU and GPU performance.

As far as tablets go, most of the time, the new Nexus 7 handily posted better benchmarks scores than its competitors in and around its price range. See for yourself below.

Benchmark Pi

Lower is better

• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  211
• Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
  351
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
  470
• Samsung Galaxy 3 7.0
  483
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 Plus
  488
• Galaxy Tab 2 7.0
  499
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
  520
• Huawei MediaPad
  703

Linpack

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0
  324
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  263
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 Plus
  222
• Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
  185
• Google Nexus 7
  124.3
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  105.2
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
  86.5
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  96
• Samsung Galaxy 3 7.0
  78

AnTuTu

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4
  24716
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  24236
• HTC One
  22678
• Sony Xperia Z
  20794
• Sony Xperia ZL
  20743
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  20216
• LG Optimus G Pro
  20056
• HTC Butterfly
  19513
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  19131
• Oppo Find 5
  15167
• Google Nexus 10
  12695
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  9070

Geekbench 2

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4
  3227
• LG Optimus G Pro
  3040
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  2692
• Google Nexus 10
  2543
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  2200
• Sony Xperia Z
  2173
• HTC Butterfly
  2143
• Sony Xperia ZL
  1995
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  1845
• LG Optimus G
  1723
• iPhone 5
  1601
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  1221
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  1130

Quadrant

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4
  12376
• LG Optimus G Pro
  12105
• HTC One
  11746
• Sony Xperia Z
  8075
• Sony Xperia ZL
  7912
• HTC One X+
  7632
• LG Optimus G
  7439
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  7215
• Oppo Find 5
  7111
• HTC One X
  5952
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  5916
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  5864
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  5552
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  4627
• Nexus 4
  4567
• Google Nexus 10
  4385

GLBenchmark 2.x puts the graphics processor to the test.

GLBenchmark 2.5 Egypt (1080p off-screen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPad 4
  54.4
• Google Nexus 10
  40
• Samsung Galaxy S4
  40
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  39
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  32
• Asus Padfone 2
  31
• Oppo Find 5
  30
• Sony Xperia ZL
  29
• Sony Xperia Z
  29
• LG Optimus G
  29
• HTC Butterfly
  27.9
• Apple iPhone 5
  27
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  26
• Nexus 4
  26
• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  17
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  16
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  15
• HTC One X+
  12
• HTC One X
  9

GLBenchmark 2.7 T-Rex (1080p off-screen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S4
  17.1
• Apple iPad 4
  16.8
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  15
• Google Nexus 10
  13.9
• Sony Xperia Z
  13.5
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  13
• Sony Xperia ZL
  12.8
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  7.0
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  4.0

Epic Citadel, on the other hand, measures performance at native resolution.

Epic Citadel

Higher is better

• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  59.1
• Samsung Galaxy S4
  57.1
• HTC One
  56.4
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  56.4
• Sony Xperia Z
  55.6
• Sony Xperia ZL
  55.4
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  54.6
• LG Optimus G Pro
  54.2
• Nexus 4
  53.9
• Asus Padfone 2
  53.4
• LG Optimus G
  52.6
• Google Nexus 10
  52.1
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  43.1
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  41.3

SunSpider

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  1233
• Huawei MediaPad
  2490
• Galaxy Tab 2 7.0
  2253
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  1150
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
  1992
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
  1953
• Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
  1891
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  1366
• new Apple iPad
  1722
• Google Nexus 7
  1703

BrowserMark 2

Higher is better

• LG Optimus G
  2555
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  2386
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  2228
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  2363
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0
  1612
• HTC One
  2262
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  2170
• Sony Xperia ZL
  2107
• Sony Xperia Z
  2093
• LG Optimus G Pro
  1801
• Oppo Find 5
  1797
• Nexus 4
  1794
• Nokia Lumia 920
  1774
• Google Nexus 10
  1773
• HTC Butterfly
  1475
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  1247

Vellamo

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note II
  2418
• HTC One
  2382
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z
  2265
• Sony Xperia Z
  2189
• Sony Xperia ZL
  2186
• HTC One X (Tegra 3)
  2078
• Samsung Galaxy S4
  2060
• Google Nexus 10
  1929
• HTC Butterfly
  1866
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0
  1633
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
  1777
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0
  1440
• Samsung Galaxy S III
  1641
• Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
  1597
• Nexus 4
  1310

Benchmarks aside, there wasn't a task, which the 2013 Asus Nexus 7 couldn't handle with ease. We did for example, spend quite a few hours playing Real Racing 3 (ah, the joys of being a reviewer!) - one of the most graphic intensive games available out there. The tablet performed buttery smooth, without even a hint of lag.