Google Nexus 7

[Mi An]

Yeah, I liked having the jack on top of my NT. I bet a number of ereading apps would allow flipping the screen 180* though. As to why, I doubt they thought about it. I still can't figure out why any of these devices targeted towards ereading come without bezel buttons for page turning, a la the Nook Simple Touch or the older kindles. Touch screens are good, but pushing unnatural uses to them isn't.

edit: whoops, beaten to the punch

[Mitlov]

Well, with 360 degree rotation, "top" and "bottom" don't mean as much as you might think.

On the Kindle Fire, the lockscreen doesn't rotate even if the UI past the lock screen does. So the clock and the lock screen image are upside-down when I try to do that. Don't know how the Nexus 7's lock screen works.

Also, the camera would then be upside-down, at the bottom of the device.

I realize it's a nitpick, but it's something that actually does really annoy me about my Fire, so I thought I'd at least mention it. I much prefer the Nook Tablet's layout.

[Adama D. Brown]

Get "No Lock" from the Android marketplace, and you can disable locking entirely. It's pretty pointless on a tablet anyway.

[Varjak]

Someone once gave a decent explanation for having the jack on the bottom; but I can't remember what it was. As for me, I still prefer it on the top; but mostly use BT headphones with a device like this.

[Mitlov]

Get "No Lock" from the Android marketplace, and you can disable locking entirely. It's pretty pointless on a tablet anyway.

That's available on the marketplace my tablet doesn't let me access, right?

[Adama D. Brown]

Well, that I can't help you with. But fortunately the Nexus 7 will get it.

[Mi An]

Asus: Nexus 7 audio dock coming, but don't expect a Transformer-like keyboard - Pocket-lint

Those hoping for a docking keyboard, as found on the company's Transformer range of tablets, should expect to be disappointed however. Asus has told Pocket-lint there were no plans for one telling and that the device needs to be 10-inches or more for it to work effectively.

Beacuse obviously, you can't possibly have a keyboard that's bigger than the tablet under our present understanding of the laws of physics. The universe would implode, after all. What would you do with all that empty space? Front-facing speakers you say? Direct the audio towards the listeners instead of away from them? Why that's so completely imbecilic, I won't even explain why that's both unworkable and not an improvement to everything that currently exists.

[/angry monologue]

Such a device would not be without compromise, certainly, but at least for me, it would be less compromise than most. I'd be less ticked if they'd just said no, and not explained themselves. Then I could harbor the hope that Asus could think and reason through a problem simple enough for a preschooler to solve. And I can't even mount a meaningless one man boycott over it because my two top options are still made by Asus. So I rant. In a few hours I'll probably be grateful that at least now I know it won't happen in the near term. My options are clearer now.

[LandSurveyor]

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@LS, was the magazine reflow in post 10 what you were hoping for? If so, I imagine it's software, and you'll be able to get it on any jelly bean tablet.

Yes, much more like it. And thank you for that. Makes Zinio look very primitive indeed. I think that any magazine that goes electronic, which probably means any magazine that intends to survive, will have to do something like that.

[LandSurveyor]

All the press releases show what appears to be an icon for voice calling in the bottom center of each screen. Anyone know what that icon is actually for on the Nexus 7?

I think that might have been an improvement they were touting in voice typing, which works even without internet access. It appears in the video above that Mi An was so kind to provide, about halfway, IIRC.

[Drillbit]

Got my Nexus 7. Working on it.