back to article Google suspends 16GB Nexus 7 orders

Google suspended orders of its 16GB Nexus 7 tablet this week, after underestimating demand for the 7in Jelly Bean slate. The company was forced to halt further requests for the £199 slate through its Google Play store, as consumers shunned the cheaper 8GB model in favour of the higher capacity version and swallowed Google's …

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  1. ukgnome

    And not a single mention of the apparent build issues.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jul/22/nexus-7-glass-complaints-google

    1. SteveK

      Hmm. I'll give mine a very close inspection later, but certainly haven't noticed any of those reported issues with it, so they are certainly not common across all devices. Seemed very good build quality - not all as flimsy or rattly as I'd been half-expecting!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Excellent kit

        High end performance and feel, low end price. Couldn't ask for more, and it truly is "buttery smoth", much smother than iOS.

        1. A Known Coward
          FAIL

          Re: Excellent kit

          <pre>"High end performance and feel, low end price. Couldn't ask for more, and it truly is "buttery smoth", much smother than iOS."</pre>

          But no storage ... my phone (<£100 sim free) has more and that's not primarily a media consummation device. Hard to see what purpose it serves if there's not enough storage to watch videos on the plane/holiday and no way to easily switch/expand via an SD card.

          1. Chris Parsons
            Headmaster

            Re: Excellent kit

            Consummation? Are you sure? I think 'consumption' works better.

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Facepalm

            Re: Excellent kit

            Because watching movies is the *only* thing you can do with a tablet on an airplane. Some of us like to catch up on business stuff, like emails, reviewing documents, putting our thoughts down, etc. Some of us like to read, listen to music or play puzzle games. Some of us even like to do a bit coding using AIDE. All of these activities are quite comfortably possible with 8GB of storage.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      1. toadwarrior
        Meh

        Re: What about this problem?

        Awesome, you're getting downvoted for bringing up a real problem.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      8GB storage I'd ok for an MP3 player but nowhere near what is required for a tablet. I would suggest that the break open all the 8GB models and add some memory. It's like they are scoring an own goal.

    4. ukgnome
      Thumb Down

      Ha Ha Ha you sad bunch of down arrow losers

      If you read my posts you would see I'm Google through and through.

      Unless of course it was the fruit fondler's trolling a fandroid post

    5. Ben Holmes
      Stop

      @ukgnome

      Not sure why your post has been downvoted to such a degree - I have a Nexus 7, and it's absolutely fantastic. BUT it does have a wobbly screen. I'm not sure how to address this issue at the moment, as Google are apparently completely disinterested in such a mundane problem.

      So, to conclude? Love the tablet. Google's customer service however, leaves a lot to be desired.

      1. ukgnome

        Re: @Ben Holmes

        Great article about defects and what to do here :-

        http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/how-to-deal-with-nexus-7-defects-20120723/

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      What build issues?

      I would put much trust in anything Charles Arthur writes. He seems to have a hidden agenda going on.

      My Nexus7 is superb, and I don't know anyone else personally that's had any issues (I know ALOT of people that have bought one), given the number of units sold, there will clearly be the occasional issue/ shill post claiming problems.

      Given that neither Microsoft or Apple have anything to compete, and are the kings of viral marketing, I would put it past them to be behind any of this bullshit (including this post)

  2. Gizzit101
    Terminator

    I got mine...

    ...on time, no dead pixels, no wobbly screen, and I'm very happy with it.

    I never saw the need for a tablet before, but now I'm a convert.

  3. Mark C Casey

    No brainer on the 16GB being more popular

    The 8GB after everything else actually has 5.9GB of free space and the Nexus 7 doesn't have an expandable storage option.

    If the 8GB N7 had an sd slot I can guarantee that it'd be massively outselling the 16GB. These days 8GB (or in this case 5.9GB) is laughable for storage capacity.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: No brainer on the 16GB being more popular

      Especially if you consider that Transformers download that comes with it weighs in at nearly 3gb... not that I actually intend on watching that piece of crap again, I just wanted to see what the quality was like, honest guv.

      I really like my Nexus 7, but there is no way I'd order one with only 8gb of memory in it. Incidentally, mine wouldn't charge on it's first boot, but after a reboot it was fine.

    2. Richard 116
      Thumb Up

      Re: No brainer on the 16GB being more popular

      Re: 5.9GB Handy to know. Thank you.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's the BBC Micro all over again

    The cheaper Model A (16K) was expected to be the popular one, but everyone bought the BBC B (32K) leading to out of stock delays.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It's the BBC Micro all over again

      Except you could upgrade a model A to become a model B...

  5. Neil Dawson

    Learning from Apple

    Apple always under stock and sell out instantly

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Learning from Apple

      A quick quip, but what's this got to do with Apple?

      Be honest Apple products sell out quick because they sell so many and not because they under stock.

      In this case there has been a faux pas in that who the hell will want a tablet that only has 8GB storage. That's a marketing and management mistake, not an under stocking or production problem.

      1. Sartori

        Re: Learning from Apple

        Who the hell will want a tablet that only has 8GB storage?

        Well me for starters, and plenty of other people I expect who want to browse the web on it, use email, listen to a bit of music, online radio, read ebooks etc etc. Not everyone needs to have a digital music/video jukebox constantly loaded to their kit. For those who do then yes, they need more storage but that's not everyone, very far from it.

        I haven't bought one yet because I'm waiting for any initial production issues to be ironed out, I was already caught out by getting the HTC One X on release date and took 4 phones to get one that was put together properly. Early adopter again? Sod that......

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    Why not let people still order and wait for it?

    Stopping sales until an indeterminate date makes no sense whatsoever...

    unless it's pushing punters to the 8GB model which relies much more on Google's cloud services..

    Nah, couldn't be that could it...

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Re: Why not let people still order and wait for it?

      It could be a simple matter of the price was for a limited quantity of devices. Ordering is a contract for both price and date of delivery. If either of those are uncertain it's best not to accept the order.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        WTF?

        Re: Why not let people still order and wait for it?

        @Charlie Clark are you seriously claiming that Google and Asus only planned as far as a single manufacturing run for these tablets?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Why not let people still order and wait for it?

          Sure, why not? Do you really think that does not happen with other products and companies. It's possible that even Google thought that only die hard Android fans would go for the Nexus 7 and roughly estimated a production run they thought would suffice. Now they know better they can do another production run if both parties (Google and Asus) can break even or make a tiny profit. I'd bet Google would even subsidize Asus because getting more of these devices into people's hands is worth a lot more to Google.

  7. Azzy

    Does Google not know why people want local storage?

    Google seems to live in a utopia of reliable, unlimited, lightning fast internet connections, where everyone uses and trusts cloud services, and said services never have downtime. I mean that they literally - at Google headquarters, I'm sure that's what it's like. And so a low-storage tablet that everything gets streamed to sounds fine.

    Streaming everything isn't a satisfactory solution for the real world, though... You can't even connect to a file server on your local network (accessing SMB shares requires a rooted device).

    If the nexus 7 had a micro SD card slot, it would be a much more attractive device for people living in the real world.

    1. Fuzz

      Re: Does Google not know why people want local storage?

      "You can't even connect to a file server on your local network (accessing SMB shares requires a rooted device)."

      Is that a limitation of Jelly Bean or the Nexus 7?

      My Motorola Xoom can access SMB shares fine.

      1. Tom 35

        Re: Does Google not know why people want local storage?

        The free media player I installed lets me connect to a share on my computer and play video files. I have not rooted my N7.

        There are reports that you can use a USB OTG cable with a USB memory stick but I have not picked up a cable to test it yet.

        No screen problems with my N7.

        1. bluest.one

          Re: Does Google not know why people want local storage?

          >There are reports that you can use a USB OTG cable with a USB memory stick but I have not picked up a cable to test it yet.

          USB OTG storage, unfortunately requires root. It seems a little daft, but once you have root and download an app from the Play store it works. You shouldn't have to though.

        2. David Hicks
          WTF?

          Re: Does Google not know why people want local storage?

          As someone with a NAS that refusese to do UPnp/DLNA, can someone please tell me what I need to make my android (ICS) tablet play media off SMB shares?

          In the context of this discussion, please note that a file manager that allows you to copy files across is not an adequate solution - you need local storage space and copying the file leads to a significant delay. I want to be able to just play the media like I could on a normal computer.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Does Google not know why people want local storage?

            XBMC

            Will pleam media off an SMB share no problem.

            Unfortunately there's no official build yet, it was only announced last week, but the APK file I found linked on xda-developers works just fine.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Does Google not know why people want local storage?

        > Is that a limitation of Jelly Bean or the Nexus 7?

        It's a limitation of both. Google simply didn't include the CIFS kernel module unlike others have done. Probably because they want people to use *their* servers, not yours.

    2. Gizzit101
      Terminator

      Re: Does Google not know why people want local storage?

      Here's the thing - you don't want one, then don't buy one.

      Unlocking & Rooting isn't rocket science - especially for readers of El Reg. Put Stickmount on it and you can use USB OTG to access 32 GB thumb-drives - one of the wags over at XDA developer forums has hooked up a floppy-drive to one.

      Seriously though, buy what you want to buy, and enjoy what you like.

    3. Geoff Campbell Silver badge
      Boffin

      @ Azzy

      "You can't even connect to a file server on your local network (accessing SMB shares requires a rooted device)."

      Load of old tosh. Astro file manager with the (for reasons I fail to understand) separately listed SMB module, sorted. No root access required.

      You're welcome.

      GJC

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Does Google not know why people want local storage?

      All this talk about having to root the flamin thing to get more out of it. If I buy something I just want it to work, not have to faff around with it.

      1. Chet Mannly

        Re: Does Google not know why people want local storage?

        "All this talk about having to root the flamin thing to get more out of it. If I buy something I just want it to work, not have to faff around with it."

        You don't have to root/faff around with it - the original poster just doesn't know how to use the device properly

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Does Google not know why people want local storage?

      My ASUS Transformer can access SMB shares OK. Frequently watch films on it from my NAS box via SMB.

    6. bluest.one
      Boffin

      Re: Does Google not know why people want local storage?

      > You can't even connect to a file server on your local network (accessing SMB shares requires a rooted device).

      Nonsense. I have about three different apps downloaded from the Play store that let me connect to samba shares on my PC over the local network. My Nexus 7 is unrooted (I thought it a little early in the day to mess around with it. Looking forward to doing that later though.)

      1. ukgnome

        Re: Want it rooted?

        When you buy a Nexus device you buy the reassurance that not only are you likely to be among the first to get future Android version upgrades directly from Google, but you can unlock the bootloader and hack around to your hearts content. The Nexus 7 is no different! It’s easily unlocked via fastboot, easily rooted via our Superboot and easily flashed back to it’s shipping state if everything goes wrong via factory images made available by Google.

        For many people this is a considerable plus point when considering the Nexus 7 purchase!

        Cheers Paul O'Brien founder of MoDaCo for letting me steal this from your site

    7. Richard Crossley
      Facepalm

      Re: Does Google not know why people want local storage?

      I've flown a good few miles in the last year or so. Radio transmitter must be switched off. Specifically mentioned are devices using WIFI and cellular phones.

      Is it possible to store 13 hours (LHR to HKG) of video in 8 GB?

      Back in the real world, local storage is much more important than Google give credit. Local sorage allows you to do stuf away from the internet. Chromebooks are simularly limited.

  8. ForthIsNotDead
    Thumb Down

    No SD slot?

    No sale. Simple as that.

    1. Figgus

      Re: No SD slot?

      Sadly, this was the deal breaker for me too.

      So now instead of 1 user accessing Google servers some of the time, they get no users at all.

      1. Hairy Spod

        Re: No SD slot?

        ...apart from all the users that bought up all of the available stock that is

        1. Figgus

          Re: No SD slot?

          Clearly, that is what I meant. The only lost sale was me, I am sure lots of people don't care one way or the other on the SD card.

          I didn't mean to pluralize that second users in my post. It should have read "no user at all".

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ooooh, I was literally about to comment here to complain that I'm still waiting for mine, but as I was typing my shipping email came through! 16GB ordered on the 9th, to be delivered tomorrow, if you were interested :)

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'll just wait then

    and in the meantime follow the threads on XDA forums reporting everything from missing screws to speakers being blown by the Transformers movie plus a never-ending list of display issues

    http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1674

    Might have given up by the time it comes back.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'll just wait then

      Whatever.

      Mines perfect. Some people have problems getting a grip on perspective it seems.

  11. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Alert

    And in a masterpiece of timing...

    I ordered one (16gB) from Tesco a couple of hours before seeing this!

  12. toadwarrior
    Trollface

    Given how much people pirate on Android with some games seeing up to 90% of users being pirates (http://paritynews.com/software/item/88-developer-switches-paid-android-app-to-free-citing-rampant-piracy) it's no wonder they want the larger model.

    They need to realise though the 8G model will be fine though once all the developers dump Android before they go bankrupt.

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