Nexus 7 Owners Thread - apps, tips & tricks!

eoinf · 17-06-2015 10:36am

have one of these with a cracked/broken tochscreen (glass only LED is still working) along with the docking station if anyone is interested.

Gathering dust at home otherwise.

Fluffy88 · 17-06-2015 11:04am

What's the docking station?
Sounds cool

eoinf · 17-06-2015 11:26am

Fluffy88 wrote: »

What's the docking station?
Sounds cool

http://www.amazon.com/Nexus-7-2012-Docking-Station/dp/B009UQZPA0

ferrigan101 · 17-06-2015 11:56am

eoinf wrote: »

have one of these with a cracked/broken tochscreen (glass only LED is still working) along with the docking station if anyone is interested.

Gathering dust at home otherwise.

How difficult would it be to swap the glass and led from another unit?

mightybashful · 17-06-2015 10:30pm

eoinf wrote: »

have one of these with a cracked/broken tochscreen (glass only LED is still working) along with the docking station if anyone is interested.

Gathering dust at home otherwise.

I'll take the dock if you still have it. The charger port on my daughters hasn't worked for a long time.

Sneachta · 18-06-2015 8:43am

I'm interested too please.

neacy69 · 18-06-2015 11:10am

I'll take the dock also if the lads above don't....

Any recommendations on a cover?

NegativeOne · 18-06-2015 11:11am

neacy69 wrote: »

I'll take the dick also if the lads above don't....

Any recommendations on a cover?

You'll do what now?!

neacy69 · 18-06-2015 11:19am

NegativeOne wrote: »

You'll do what now?!

Yikes....ninja edit quick!

jonski · 18-06-2015 8:26pm

There are 3 of these in my house .

2012 16GB wifi
2013 16GB wifi
2013 32Gb wifi

All 3 are updated to the latest version 5.1.1
All 3 have had their cache wiped
All 3 have had Factory Resets
The 2012 one has been wiped and the latest clean image flashed onto it .

All 3 are barely working

, it's like they are running through treacle .

Anyone have any suggestions other than going back to KitKat .

Fluffy88 · 19-06-2015 9:27am

I was about to post, I have a 2013 WiFi and it's running as smooth as a babies bottom.

But, I forgot that it's actually running the KitKat version of CyanogenMod, 10.2 I think. I'm guessing that's not an option either?

homer911 · 19-06-2015 12:48pm

jonski wrote: »

There are 3 of these in my house .

2012 16GB wifi
2013 16GB wifi
2013 32Gb wifi

All 3 are updated to the latest version 5.1.1
All 3 have had their cache wiped
All 3 have had Factory Resets
The 2012 one has been wiped and the latest clean image flashed onto it .

All 3 are barely working , it's like they are running through treacle .

Anyone have any suggestions other than going back to KitKat .

Flash to cyanogenmod

19-06-2015 4:43pm

Is putting CM on the N7 2013 worthwhile? I mean I have two and they're great but I put CM on a S4 Galaxy Mini one time and that flies with it now. Just wondering would I see much of an improvement.

neacy69 · 22-06-2015 12:07pm

ordered this one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leather-White-Folding-Smart-Case-Cover-for-Google-Nexus-7-FHD-2nd-Gen-/231596707527?nma=true&si=iE5irz028m32TSRZEPC8%252Fu4XNiQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

only £2 but we'll see how it works out...

any update on takers for the dock above? I'll take it if its still available?

jonski · 22-06-2015 12:32pm

jonski wrote: »

There are 3 of these in my house .

2012 16GB wifi
2013 16GB wifi
2013 32Gb wifi

All 3 are updated to the latest version 5.1.1
All 3 have had their cache wiped
All 3 have had Factory Resets
The 2012 one has been wiped and the latest clean image flashed onto it .

All 3 are barely working , it's like they are running through treacle .

Anyone have any suggestions other than going back to KitKat .

Just to update , I found this and it seems to have made a difference .

croo · 22-06-2015 12:58pm

jonski wrote: »

There are 3 of these in my house .

2012 16GB wifi
2013 16GB wifi
2013 32Gb wifi

All 3 are updated to the latest version 5.1.1
All 3 have had their cache wiped
All 3 have had Factory Resets
The 2012 one has been wiped and the latest clean image flashed onto it .

All 3 are barely working , it's like they are running through treacle .

Anyone have any suggestions other than going back to KitKat .

With the 2012 - when you factory reset did you tell it to wipe the programs too?
I had tried what you did and, like you, had no improvements but last week I did a factory reset but on the startup I chose the option not to reinstall the programs and when it completed it worked normally again! Just one week so it might deteriorate again - but I'm wondering now might it have been some specific app(s) that were causing the issues!?

@jonski
That looks interesting I might try that too if the lag returns.

jonski · 22-06-2015 1:08pm

croo wrote: »

With the 2012 - when you factory reset did you tell it to wipe the programs too?
I had tried what you did and, like you, had no improvements but last week I did a factory reset but on the startup I chose the option not to reinstall the programs and when it completed it worked normally again! Just one week so it might deteriorate again - but I'm wondering now might it have been some specific app(s) that were causing the issues!?

@jonski
That looks interesting I might try that too if the lag returns.

Yeah , I've done a few different variations of the factory reset including not reinstalling the programs and wiping the cache , plus full wipe and flashing the latest 5.1.1 , the above was the only thing that has made any real difference . Chrome is still a killer but it works a bit better , I'll stick to FF or Dolphin for now . Really disappointed tbh , especially considering my Nexus 4 is powering along with no problems .

Edit : Just to stick in the relevant part from that article , it's from ater you try the 'wipe cache'

Settings > About Tablet and tap Build Number 7 times to enable the hidden Developer Options menu. Go back to Settings, Tap Developer Options then Window Animation Scale and set it to Off. Repeat for Transition Animation Scale and Animator Duration Scale. Finally tap Background Process Limit, set it to 3 Processes, switch off, restart and it should be a lot livelier.

neacy69 · 26-06-2015 4:14pm

neacy69 wrote: »

ordered this one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leather-White-Folding-Smart-Case-Cover-for-Google-Nexus-7-FHD-2nd-Gen-/231596707527?nma=true&si=iE5irz028m32TSRZEPC8%252Fu4XNiQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

only £2 but we'll see how it works out...

any update on takers for the dock above? I'll take it if its still available?

Got delivery of this case this morning. Very please with quality, fits very well and the magnetic sleep/wakes works perfectly...very good case all in for €6.90. would recomend (i got mine in white cos that was the only deceny color left at the time)

T-Bird · 03-07-2015 3:21am

Just a thought on all this lagging. My Nexus lags almost every time it has been woken up from sleep, this seems to be regardless of operating system. I did think this was caused by apps, but now think it is caused by widgets. I have 3 running, weather, calendar and scheduler. I think they all phone home when the device wakes up and it is this that is causing the lag. The 1gb memory can’t cope and there goes your lag… I just removed mine and it seems a lot better now. Might be wrong, but it kind of makes sense.

neacy69 · 03-07-2015 9:11am

5.1.1 update received last night

Bligh · 05-07-2015 6:18pm

Hi neacy69,

any issues installing the update to 5.1.1 and any issues after the install, I am getting an error on I try to install the OTA update

neacy69 · 05-07-2015 10:36pm

Bligh wrote: »

Hi neacy69,

any issues installing the update to 5.1.1 and any issues after the install, I am getting an error on I try to install the OTA update

No... I got the ota notification and it installed straight away no issues such installation

illdoit2morrow · 22-07-2015 10:46am

Has anyone gone done the route of flashing a f2fs kernel and ROM?

I may be getting a new tablet this weekend, if i do the N7 can be played around with. I've read some stuff on xda that the f2fs route improves the speed on the N7. I'm willing to give it a try but the most of done with my N7 to date is flash a few custom ROMs.

Has anyone gone down this route and how difficult is it to do?

TIA

Captain Chaos · 22-07-2015 10:53am

I'm taking the plunge on a N7-2 this Friday myself. Just hope the issues with Android 5.1 are sorted. Also any of the latest tips are welcome. I see some are saying to unlock and root it before doing anything as it leaves the door open later on without deleting all your data.

I was looking at the N9 but the battery life and 16:9/10 form factor of the N7 won out for me.

illdoit2morrow · 22-07-2015 12:03pm

Captain Chaos wrote: »

I'm taking the plunge on a N7-2 this Friday myself. Just hope the issues with Android 5.1 are sorted. Also any of the latest tips are welcome. I see some are saying to unlock and root it before doing anything as it leaves the door open later on without deleting all your data.

I was looking at the N9 but the battery life and 16:9/10 form factor of the N7 won out for me.

Are you planning to purchase a N7 2013?

I know the hardware is better than the 2012 version but i'd advise against it as it'll probably feel very laggy now or in the not to distant future. I stand corrected on this though.

Argos have reduced the price of the N9 if you are in the market for a new nexus tablet, the only thing with that is that they are out of stock. It is possible to reserve but whether they fulfill the reservation is another matter.

Captain Chaos · 22-07-2015 12:24pm

I've already ordered an N7 2013. Due to have it on Friday. I looked at the N9 on Argos but after reading about all the issues with the N9 I was put off. It has poor battery life for a tablet and takes an age to charge up, light bleeding from the screen edges, excessive heat, 4:3 screen ratio and lower PPI compared to the N7 2013.

Only going to use it for web browsing, reading, and watching the odd movie while on the go. Don't see any point with a bigger screen in a 4:3 ratio while watching movies as it will just have black bands, defeats the point of a 9" screen for movies. With the N7 it will use all or most of the screen as it's 16:9 ratio.

illdoit2morrow · 28-07-2015 9:40am

illdoit2morrow wrote: »

Has anyone gone done the route of flashing a f2fs kernel and ROM?

I may be getting a new tablet this weekend, if i do the N7 can be played around with. I've read some stuff on xda that the f2fs route improves the speed on the N7. I'm willing to give it a try but the most of done with my N7 to date is flash a few custom ROMs.

Has anyone gone down this route and how difficult is it to do?

TIA

I tried this last night and initial impressions are pretty good.

I used this guide which did involve purchasing an app to make the rom f2fs compatiable. In hindsight that was probably unnecessary but i just wanted to keep to the instructions. I have Slimkat 4.4.4 running on the N7 now and it's definitely an improvement over the Paranoid Android kitkat rom i was running.

The only step where i thought i had messed up was step 9. I had to reboot into recovery to perform this step correctly, apart from that it was easy enough to do.

Q&A · 28-07-2015 7:11pm

illdoit2morrow wrote: »

I tried this last night and initial impressions are pretty good.

I used this guide which did involve purchasing an app to make the rom f2fs compatiable. In hindsight that was probably unnecessary but i just wanted to keep to the instructions. I have Slimkat 4.4.4 running on the N7 now and it's definitely an improvement over the Paranoid Android kitkat rom i was running.

The only step where i thought i had messed up was step 9. I had to reboot into recovery to perform this step correctly, apart from that it was easy enough to do.

Did this 6 months ago and haven't looked back. Lollipop was a disaster on this tablet but slimkat is has kept my N7 ticking along nicely. I was sceptical at first as a new install will always run well at first before getting sluggish (as 5.0 did) but still running smoothly to this day. I may not be a heavy user but For the casual use I throw at it (surfing, videos, casting to my chromecast etc.) my N7 handles it fine.

Definitely better tablets out there these days but no plans to splash out on another one. Perhaps its looking its age in its slightly frayed leather case or maybe it just adds distinction :cool:

muffler · 29-07-2015 11:10am

I'm hoping someone may be able to help me here. My wife has a Nexus 7 (think its the 2012 model) and has been experiencing serious enough issues with the performance. Its very slow to boot up and when it does it freezes every whip-about. She tells me that she turns it on about half an hour before she intends using it as it just doesn't work well or not all after booting.

It keeps updating so I have no idea what software its running on at the moment. Just to clarify....neither of us are into the technical end of things so is there something simple that can be done to get rid of these problems?

I would appreciate any advice or suggestions.

droidman123 · 29-07-2015 12:55pm

muffler wrote: »

I'm hoping someone may be able to help me here. My wife has a Nexus 7 (think its the 2012 model) and has been experiencing serious enough issues with the performance. Its very slow to boot up and when it does it freezes every whip-about. She tells me that she turns it on about half an hour before she intends using it as it just doesn't work well or not all after booting.

It keeps updating so I have no idea what software its running on at the moment. Just to clarify....neither of us are into the technical end of things so is there something simple that can be done to get rid of these problems?

I would appreciate any advice or suggestions.

You could try wiping the cache partition or factory resetting it. You should see an improvement. There are known issues with the 2012 model since the lolipop update unfortunately.

Nexus 7 Owners Thread - apps, tips & tricks!

Comments