If you're like me, then you were a little disappointed after updating your Nexus 7 to KitKat and realizing that not much has changed. The old Jelly Bean look still occupied your home screen, and there wasn't really anything noticeably new overall. All of that waiting and anticipation only to be left high and dry.
The Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 (2013 edition) boast beautiful 1080p screens that are capable of displaying images and videos in ultra-sharp high definition. But for some strange reason, the YouTube app only allows for streaming of 720p content on these devices. It's not a limitation of YouTube for Android, since other devices support 1080p playback out of the box, and some, like the LG G3, even support higher resolutions.
There's over 20 million people out there who use Ubuntu as their main operating system, and the number is steadily increasing due to its thriving community. While it's easy enough to download Ubuntu on your PC, the process to get it on your mobile devices can be fairly more difficult. Thankfully, it's not the hard to get Ubuntu onto your Nexus 7 tablet, but first you'll need to unlock it.
Okay, you're Nexus 7 is awesome, but ever wish you could explore those nifty TouchWiz features that make the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Samsung Galaxy Note 2 so interesting?
There is nothing worst then having to wait for something you really want. It doesn't matter how old you are or what the item is, the fact that you have to wait for it makes you want it even more. It's the love-hate relationship I have with Amazon and anything I order, and when that anticipation is for a new smartphone, it's amplified by about a thousand. The LG Nexus 4 has received great reviews and is one of the most sought after phones this holiday season, but it's a hard one to get a hold ...
Just because you have a Mac doesn't mean you can't root your Nexus 7 tablet. In fact, rooting Android 4.4 KitKat on both the 2013 and original 2012 N7 models is easy, if not easier than rooting it using a Windows PC.
Something went wrong and your Nexus 7 is freaking out on you. Maybe you flashed a bad ROM or ZIP file, or maybe it's just bugging, and it's time to restore your tablet back to a working condition. Thankfully, you've already made a backup of your Nexus 7!
The new Android 4.3 Jelly Bean has been out for a while already, and most of you already have it installed on your Nexus 7 tablets. Many of you softModders have also probably rooted your tablet so you can take advantage of some of the more popular root-only softMods, like speeding up performance, installing WhatsApp, increasing internet speeds, getting Beats Audio, etc.
The new Jelly Bean is out in the wild, but if you've installed Android 4.3 from stock, you'll notice rooting is now not possible. If you miss the ad-blocking capabilities of AdBlock Plus, how Seeder made apps snappier, or the convenience of backing up with Titanium Backup, you'll need to get rooted.
Real Racing 3 is by far one of the best racing simulators available on Google Play, and best of all—it's free! If you're playing this game on your Nexus 7, you've probably noticed that the graphics just don't look anywhere near as good as the in-game screenshots floating around on the web.
In a previous how-to, I showed how to send and receive text messages by wirelessly syncing them from your phone to your Nexus 7 tablet. Some eagle-eyed users may have notice that the Nexus 7 with 3G actually has a SIM card slot.
The volume is maxed out, but that doesn't stop me from hitting the volume key on my Nexus 7 in hopes that it will magically get louder. This happens to me everyday as I watch videos or play music. The simple fact is that a Nexus 7 tablet just doesn't get very loud. At least, not loud enough for me.
Whether you have the original Nexus 7, or the 2013 Nexus 7 tablet, rooting it will give you access to tomorrow's features, today.
Google's long awaited 4.3 Jelly Bean update is officially out, only it has not been pushed out to some of our Nexus 7 tablets yet. Although there aren't really any new UI changes, most of Jelly Bean 4.3's magic is under the hood, meaning user's can expect better performance and battery life with the latest version.
Facebook Home was just released in the Google Play Store a couple days ago, and for those of you eagerly waiting to get it on your Nexus 7, you'll unfortunately be stuck with this message: The new Facebook Home launcher app is blocked on the Nexus 7, because Facebook only released it for a few select Android phones. Home for tablets probably won't appear for months, but that's okay, because you don't have to wait that long! In this article, I'm going to show you how to get Facebook Home insta...
So, you've flashed a bad ROM or ZIP file, and now your Nexus 7 won't boot up. Maybe it just went haywire for no reason. Whatever happened, the bad news only keeps coming—you didn't make a backup of your system, contacts, or apps.
Facial, voice, and hand gestures are the way of the future for controlling our devices, and even gaming consoles like the Xbox One have incorporated them. Unfortunately, our Nexus 7 tablets have not. We're currently limited to using soft keys for most actions, but we can inch closer to the future by replacing one critical action with a simple touch gesture—going back.
For the most part, transferring files from your computer to your Nexus 7 (and vice versa) is a simple process. Just hook up your tablet to your computer with the USB cable and transfer. However, most of the time you'll need additional software on your computer to do this, and then, of course, you need the USB cable.
You've probably already figured out that your Nexus 7 doesn't have a rear camera, but that doesn't mean you can't do some awesome things with your tablet's front camera!
When choosing a phone or tablet, I always take in to consideration what my music experience will be. Unfortunately, the Nexus 7 doesn't have Beats by Dre technology, which some may view as overrated, though it's definitely one of the better ways to get perfect-sounding tunes with headphones. But it's not all about the Beats. There are many other ways to make listening to music on your Nexus 7 tablet a better experience, and we'll highlight some of the options and add-ons that you can try out.
One of the best features on the new Moto X is Touchless Control, which lets you verbally ask the device questions or perform tasks without ever touching or turning on the display, a feature that would do quite nicely on the Nexus 7, if it could handle it.
Samsung is currently dominating the Android market with their line of Galaxy devices, including the GS3, GS4, Note 2, and Tabs. All of these devices run Samsung's TouchWiz, which is something every softModder should try out eventually. The only thing is that Samsung devices are pretty expensive, and many of you don't actually need (or want) another Android tablet.
Like most Android devices, the Nexus 7 suffers from its fair share of battery gripes. Nobody wants to see that dreaded "connect charger" warning pop up on their screen. NOBODY. Yet it probably happens to you every day nonetheless. What can you do about it besides charge, charge, and charge? Well, there's actually plenty that you can do. You can manage your notifications better, keep your screen brightness low, and kill apps running in the background. Or, you could just optimize your battery t...
Rooting, bootloaders, custom ROMs, CyanogenMod, ClockworkMod... it's all pretty confusing, isn't it? You're not the only one having trouble with this. Many users in the Nexus 7 SoftModder forum have been scratching their heads at these many terms.
We may all have a Nexus 7 tablet, but we don't all want to have the exact same look and feel, which is why we softMod for a more personalized vibe. There are hundreds of cool mods you can perform on your Nexus 7, whether stock or rooted, but one of my favorites in Android 4.4 KitKat was unlocking the hidden battery percentage icon in the Status bar.
You've got a brand new Nexus 7 tablet for Christmas, and you're extremely eager to start using it. There are many things you can do with it, like shake for new wallpapers, get rounded screen corners, and make it help you fall asleep at night. But, before you get into softModding your Nexus 7, you should know the basics, and if you've come over from a Kindle, turning your new Android tablet into a powerful eReader is a must.
I remember how fast my Nexus 7 was the first time I turned it on. Boy, do I miss it. Now my tablet is pretty buggy and crashes happen frequently, and I'm sure that goes for many of your Nexus 7s as well. Even if you upgrade to the new Nexus 7 next week, it will eventually develop similar issues.
There are a lot of mods for your Nexus 7 when it comes to improving and streamlining its overall functionality. You could add custom swipe gestures, conserve battery power, and even run multiple apps at the same time.
Samsung's exclusive music streaming service, Milk Music, has been making waves across the web thanks to its peculiar name and ad-free stations.
Sometimes, taking a picture of your friend doing a crazy stunt just doesn't suffice. Getting the progression of the stunt in one image does!
Customization of our Android devices, outside of what Google and mobile carriers allow us to do, used to mandate that our devices were rooted and running a custom ROM.
Snapchat users upload a whopping 150 million pictures a day—which are deleted as just quick as they're sent. However, none of these images are coming from Android tablet users. If you try downloading Snapchat from Google Play on your Nexus 7 or other Android tablet, you'll get the "Your device isn't compatible with this version" message. Even those with the new Nexus 7 tablets that have the front and rear cameras are out of luck. Unless you're a softModder.
Writing longhand may boost learning and goal achievement, but that doesn't mean squat if you don't have pen and paper on you.
Apps sure do run great on Android tablets! If you caught that little whiff of sarcasm, you probably already figured out I was lying. There is a definite lack of good, high-quality apps specifically made for Android tablets. If you've ever tried Facebook or Twitter on a tablet, you know exactly what I mean.
Update, November 12, 2014: Android 5.0 Lollipop is officially out now. If you haven't gotten the OTA yet, check out our new guide on installing the official Lollipop builds on any Nexus for download links and instructions, for Mac or Windows.
There are countless things you can do to your lock screen to customize it, including adding app shortcuts that adapt to your time and location or custom widgets with DashClock. However, one thing you can't easily do in KitKat is change your lock screen background to be different from your home screen wallpaper.
Like a beautiful woman, curves can enhance the appeal of certain things, so why not your Nexus 7 tablet? If you're tired of the uniformity of right-angled corners on your screen, add a little character by rounding them out.
According to Nielsen, the average American spends about 34 hours per week watching television. That may sound like a lot, but when you factor in multi-screen viewing, it could be even higher—81 percent of Americans use their smartphones or another device while watching TV. It's the new picture-in-picture.
There is no SD card support on the Nexus 7, so managing internal storage can be tricky. There are ways to free up space, but the biggest space hog on my tablet is music, and that's not something I'm willing to delete just yet.
Rooting your Nexus 7 tablet is now easier than ever. Previous rooting methods required connecting your tablet to a computer and using any one of a number of programs and/or ADB commands. Now, it's as easy as downloading an app on your phone and tapping one button.
