The Nexus 7 developer community has taken to Google's new tablet like flies to honey as a number of exciting developments have transpired for those that will want to customize their tablet experience after receiving their new devices.  We already told you last week about the Nexus 7 gaining root access, well now we have our first custom ROM by the SoCal Devs Team over on XDA-Developers Forum.  The custom ROM is a 'fast and light' version that makes the UI snappier, removes some of the superfluous software installed by Google on the device and gives you some tools to better access the device. 

In further developer news the Nexus 7 also has its first 'custom kernel' as well which among other things let's you overclock your Nexus 7 to 1.5 GHz.  Finally for the real developers out there looking to dive into the Nexus 7's code to do their own experiments on the device XDA Elite Developer AdamOutler has created a 'hack pack' for the Nexus 7 which contains various binaries and reference materials to help other developers create complex modifications and packages for the Nexus 7.  This is great for all your new Android developers looking to make the Nexus 7 your developer device.

Now I've included links below to each of these developments but I should caution that for the average consumer...while you might want to look to satisfy your curiosity and learn more about your Nexus 7 device and the kind of developer support that will only grow on this pure 'Nexus' product, we are not encouraging anyone at this time to root their device.   Those that do so do it at their own peril!(and it could void your warranty)   Of course if you're an experienced hacker or Android geek who has rooted before you know that as long as you follow instructions the chance of 'bricking' your device is small,  still, we want to caution the inexperienced so that they don't jump in without doing their homework first. 

All in all though, the fact there is so much effort and progress being made in the developer community for the Nexus 7 is great news for us regular tablet users.   Why you ask?  Because it is these developers that will eventually create workarounds, improvements and even new features for our tablets that will greatly add to its usefulness to us.   If a way to get video out, add memory to our device via USB(actually, this one has already been done) or other 'fixes' to Nexus 7 limitations are found...it will be because of these guys.  And we can expect all kinds of custom ROMs in the future that will keep our Nexus 7 tablets perpetually cutting edge as well.


So are you a Nexus 7 developer or perhaps Android aficionado that plans to experiment and put a custom ROM on their device?  What do you think of these developments?  Excited that the developer community is taking such a keen interest in the Nexus 7?  What would you like to see them develop?


Source:  XDA-Developers

Welcome tsruggles!  I think you made a smart choice.  The Nexus 7 is a superior tablet to the Galaxy Tab 2 you owned.   You're gonna be a tablet pro in no time.

One of the many new highlighted features of the Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) operating system that was introduced at Google I/O a couple of weeks ago and that comes pre-installed on your Nexus 7 tablet is 'Google Now'.   Since its introduction there seems to be a bit of confusion as to exactly what 'Google Now' is...with some well-known tech publications (BusinessInsider/Slashgear..cough..cough) actually getting it wrong and confusing 'Google Now' with the voice activated 'assistant'.  It's actually a bit understandable why some might be unclear what 'Google Now' is because at first glance it actually sounds a tad confusing but I'm here to shed a little light and 'clarity' on the issue. 

Ok, so what exactly is 'Google Now'?   'Google Now' is in essence a 'predictive' technology that uses contextual information such as current location, location history, web history, calendar and appointment information, and more to bring you information on your device that could be valuable or useful to you 'automatically'.   By automatically I mean that you, the user, doesn't actually have to do a search, either through text or voice to get the information.   Your device, in this case the Nexus 7, once Google Now is activated, will be noting what you typically do each day...such as what appointments you have, what modes of travel you use, what things you do and where and at what time you do them.   It even will note things such as what sports scores you look up so that it can 'automatically' have the scores available for you when the next game is played...all without you even asking.

This video might make things a bit clearer and I'll go into some specific examples after you view it:


Now 'Google Now' is in essence a form of 'artificial intelligence' technology and more to the point is kind of like an always on assistant that notes what your usual patterns and interests and activities are each day and creates a predictive model of your behavior.  So the more and the longer that you use it...the better it gets.   If you have certain types of restaurants or foods you like it will potentially tell you...around mealtime...what options are close by that you might be interested in.   'Google Now' can also know when you leave for work in the morning and if you're running late...it can warn you and give you a message to get going.   

Now Google's engineers have put each separate capability on what it calls 'cards'.  With this initial launch they're starting with 10 'cards'...but more are promised.  The initial 10 are:

Traffic
Get traffic conditions and alternate routes before you leave for work. Google Now also puts traffic to your next likely destination at your fingertips.

Public transit
When you’re near a bus stop or a subway station, Google Now tells you what buses or trains are next.

Next appointment
When you have an appointment, Google Now checks traffic so you can know how long it'll take to get there. You even get a notification for when you should leave.

Flights
Google Now keeps you up to date on flight delays and traffic conditions to the airport for flights you've recently searched for.

Sports
Google Now keeps you updated on your favorite sports teams in real time, with live scores and upcoming games. You can even can buy game tickets on the fly.

Places
When you’re on the go, Google Now will suggest nearby bars, restaurants, and places of interest. You can quickly jump to Google Maps to get more info, reviews, or even make a reservation.

Weather
When you start your day, Google Now shows weather for your current location and work.

Translation
Google Now helps you find just the right word when you're away from home.

Currency
Use Google Now to quickly check the local conversion rate when you're traveling.

Time at home
When you're in a different time zone, Google Now shows you the time at home so you never feel too far away.

Now it's a bit unclear how far Google's engineers are going to go with this technology but let's look at some of the almost infinite possibilities for a minute.

*Let's say you have your spouse's birthday coming up and you've noted it in your calendar.   'Google Now' could remind you to buy her/him a present.   
*If you have a meeting scheduled for early the next morning and it's 1am and your walking around Manhattan, 'Google Now' could conceivably 'remind' you that you might want to get some shuteye to be fresh for that next morning's meeting. 
*As they mention in the video, 'Google Now' can notify you about sports scores but imagine if you could set it up to notify you when a stock reached a certain buy or sell price or when a new piece of electronics you've been waiting for has gone on sale at an eStore or even when that girl you had a crush on changes her status to 'single' on Facebook.   

In other words while 'Google Now' is a new product and is limited to some useful travel and basic daily appt and location uses for now, in time this could really be an amazing 'always there' personal assistant type technology.   It could easily be combined with Google's voice 'Assistant' to bring a 'Siri' (Apple's personal assistant) on steroids type of experience that would be far more powerful because it wouldn't rely on you asking anything.  It just would know your life, interests and plans so well it would always be on top of things before you even had a chance to ask.  Depending on which 'cards' they decide to add in the future you could build a customized experience that would enable...and encourage your own specific goals.  It could conceivably be almost a combination assistant/life coach.  The fact that the Nexus 7 is the first device to get this amazing new technology is a big part of why I'm so excited to receive mine.  It should be a lot of fun playing around with the potential of 'Google Now' and I expect we'll have lots of discussions about it in the forum.

So what do you think about 'Google Now'?   Cool or creepy?  What potential uses do you see for using this 'predictive' technology?


Google Now

It's not a problem.  It's intentional.   Here, read this: 

http://nexus7forum.com/index.php?topic=101.0

and if you still REALLY want the home page in landscape you can do this:

http://nexus7forum.com/index.php?topic=85.0

are referring to a Windows machine or an Android device?

Oops...I missed your post above where you mentioned the Staples dates before.  Thanks for clarifying.

Ever since the introduction of the Nexus 7 last week many had thought that Google had decided to set their new tablet to use the 'phone' layout of Android 4.1 since the 'Home' screen is rigidly set as a portrait orientation with the notifications bar on top.   A couple of days ago we showed a hack that had been developed to trick the Nexus 7 into showing a more 'tablet'-like landscape view for the Home screen. The 'hack' artificially changed the screen size in a system file to make the software think the device was larger than 7 inches and therefore trigger the 'tablet' UI which gave a landscape orientation with the notifications on the bottom right.  So is the Nexus 7 set in 'phone' mode?  Well...no.  We now know that isn't quite the case.

JR Raphael, over at ComputerWorld has spoken to some techs at Google and has since learned that there are actually THREE different screen layouts in Android 4.1 depending on the size of screen you are using.   There's a 10 inch layout which is landscape based.  There's a phone layout for small screens with a portrait orientation.   Then there's the 7 inch layout...which is a sort of a combination of the two.    Each is designed to maximize that particular form factor.

In the 7 inch Android 4.1 layout the Home screen is indeed in portrait mode but some applications will customize themselves to best use the screen real estate depending on the orientation of the tablet.  An example below is the Gmail application.  When in portrait mode and held vertically you'll see a single pane display but when oriented horizontally, you'll have a dual pan landscape display like this: 



Now, we know what you must be thinking.  Isn't this going to cause 'fragmentation' if different devices have to have different layouts for the same app?  Well...no.  You see if an app is programmed correctly using Jelly Bean's tools,   the OS actually handles the changes 'on the fly' automatically.  That's one of the beauties of Android 4.1.   It has been specially designed so that developers can have one app with multiple screen size customizations depending on the screen.  There's no need to have separate apps.  Here's how Android enginner Dianne Hackborn explains it:

For developers, when designing your app to scale up from its phone UI, this mostly means you should pick the break point at which any major change in your layout should occur and let the layout managers take care of all of the sizes in-between. ...

Android's density scaling was designed to be able to support arbitrary densities, by including the concept of density in all of the UI specifications of the application (bitmaps, measurements, etc) and using layout managers for final pixel-accurate placement of UI elements. ...

You don't need to supply bitmaps for every possible density; Android will scale your bitmaps (typically when they are loaded) to match the current density.

So in a nutshell:  7 inch tablets are not using a 'phone' UI.  They are using a unique combination of elements...some taken from the tablet UI, some from the phone UI and some unique to the 7 inch form factor.  All as part of the goal of maximizing each screen size to its best potential.


Source: ComputerWorld