It's spending season this fortnight, that time of the year when you're most likely to be splurging your money on a gadget. In this series, our crew of gadget-obsessed boffins pick the best deal in each category, from entry-level dual-SIMs to superphones, tablets, ultraportables and luxury laptops. We've spent plenty of time deliberating on our choices, saving you the trouble of poring through a sea of specs sheets, reviews and benchmarks. Today we're gonna tell you why we think the Nexus 7 is the best tablet you can buy. Feel free to debate your choices and suggest alternatives in the comments below.


ASUS Nexus 7- Overview

It’s been a good year for Google, Android, and all its beneficiaries, thanks in part to devices such as the Nexus 7 from ASUS that has been shipping by the millions. Coming from ASUS, the Nexus 7 is built on a Tegra 3 SoC that has a quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz, and 1GB of RAM. The tablet has a 7-inch IPS-grade screen with native resolution of 1280x800 pixels.

The Nexus 7 model that ASUS has released for the Indian market has 16GB of onboard storage. Being a Nexus device, there is no SD slot for storage expansion, instead the user is expected to use online storage services such as Google’s Drive. Getting the Nexus 7 sourced from North America will set you back by little over $200. Alternatively, the 16GB version can be acquired from local markets for Rs.19,981.

Specs

Screen7" 1280x800 HD display (216 ppi)
Back-lit IPS display
Scratch-resistant Corning(R) glass
Camera1.2MP front-facing camera
WirelessWiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
NFC (Android Beam)
Memory16 GB internal storage (actual formatted capacity will be less)
1 GB RAM
Battery4325 mAh (Up to 8 hours of active use)
OSAndroid 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
CPUNVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor

Pros
Hard to find another tablet with matching price/specs ratio

Easy to Service/Repair

Cons
No Rear Camera
Lack of expandable storage slot
Indian prices are nearly double of what you would have to pay in the US

Bottom-line: Getting an Android device backed by Google should ensure best support for future OS updates, even more so now considering the company is going after the brand with renewed vigor. While the tablet may not be a powerhouse, the specs are quite respectable for a device of its size. Like the rest of the Nexus line, the Nexus 7 is selling at a price that almost makes it a no-brainer for anyone in the market for a mobile computer.