'Dead Trigger' is actually coming out today.  Check on Play.Google.Com later on today and the page should be up.

We were all newbies once birdastrompgman!  Pretty soon you'll be an expert so welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the Nexus 7 Forum Dave!   Glad you could make it!

Very cool Garry!  Welcome to the forum.  Look forward to you being an active part.

The Nexus 7 is a fantastic piece of hardware and most everyone on the forum is super excited about getting their hands on one. (heck, that's why I started this site!) but as we all know there's a few small limitations that Google put in place that some of us might want to rectify such as the ability to enable some form of video out or add additional memory.

Well the first step to coming up with solutions for these issues as well as to open up the Nexus 7 to putting custom ROMs and adding other kinds of mods or hacks to the device has just been accomplished.  It seems the fine ladies and gents over at the XDA-Developers forums (a forum for developers and hackers for those not familiar) have succeeded in unlocking the bootloader and hence granting 'root' access to the device.  They've also been successful in installing 'ClockworkMod Recovery' which again for the unfamiliar is a program commonly used by developers and hackers to enable the ability to roll back a device's operating system to the original version as well as install hacks to a rooted device. 

Now 'rooting' your Nexus 7 by unlocking your bootloader has the unfortunate effect of erasing all your personal data so it's not something you'd want to do if you had tons of information you don't want lost or if you've purchased lots of apps.   Also, 'rooting' your Nexus 7 always has the small...but real risk that if you don't know what you're doing that it could possibly 'brick' your device making your Nexus 7 into an expensive paperweight.  In otherwords it's best left to those that are experienced tech hobbyists and know what they're doing...or at least get walked through the process by someone that is experienced.   So again just to be clear.  'Root At Your Own Risk!'

Now just because the Nexus 7 has been rooted doesn't mean that custom solutions have actually been created yet. (actually, at least one has- adding support for USB flash drives by installing 'StickMount'!)  But it's the first step and that's how all great things start now isn't it.   I've provided links below to the XDA-Developers Forums for those that are tech inclined and would like to learn more.  Again...I wouldn't actually go ahead and root your Nexus 7 after you get it in a couple of weeks unless you know what you're doing.   We don't take any responsibility here at the forum for anything bad that happens to your tablet so make sure you understand that...and understand the root process thoroughly if and when you decide to do so.   

With that said...it's pretty exciting to think of the possibilities that lie ahead for us new or soon to be Nexus 7 owners.  With the amount of developer support and support this device is going to get from the hacking and modding community we really should be able to make this into the 'tablet of our dreams' in very short order!

Hi Ashone!  Welcome to the Nexus 7 Forum! 

As a quick answer to your question, rooting means giving 'super user' access to a device.   So in other words many manufacturers 'lock' their devices software to prevent users from adding things like drivers or other capabilities and by 'rooting' a device it unlocks it so that the user can basically add anything to the device's software such as change it to a new operating system or alter the current one to add more functionality to it.  I hope that helps.

If you have any other questions please start a thread in the appropriate discussion board such as 'help' or 'general discussion' since this is the 'New Member Introduction' thread.   Thanks!

BFM

If you weren't lucky enough to catch Google's Day One Keynote this past week at the Google I/O Conference held at San Francisco's Moscone Center then you missed on what is being called one of the most entertaining and informative tech Keynote's ever.   Chock full of hardware and software introductions from the Nexus 7 Tablet and Nexus Q Media Streamer to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and all its great new features and more. 

Perhaps the highlight of the show was when Google co-founder Sergei Brin ran in unannounced and 'hijacked' the Keynote in a staged introduction of 'Project Glass' and then proceeded to wow the audience as several of his friends and fellow developers parachuted from a blimp that was hovering 7000 feet above onto the roof of Moscone Center while letting the audience...and the world...experience the entire spectacle from the jumper's point of view through their wearable Project glass glasses. 


Truly amazing stuff and while the entire Keynote is about 2 hours long I can honestly say if you're a technology junkie like me it'll simply fly by as you marvel at all the great stuff Google is working on that is shown throughout.  Highly recommended if you haven't seen it yet and on a more pragmatic note if you're interested in all the great new features of Jelly Bean that'll be appearing on your Android handsets as well as the Nexus 7 tablet a good portion of the first half is dedicated to all the great features in Android 4.1 so again...well worth watching. 

It's very common for demo devices during tradeshows to be modified in order to show the content on a big screen.  If they don't specifically mention that video out ability during the Keynote then it's highly unlikely its meant as part of the consumer version of the device.   But that doesn't mean that there won't be a hack eventually that will allow some kind of video out.  Just might take a few weeks or months for it to show up.