E FUN has been churning out Android tablets under the Nextbook brand at a steady rate since Android tablets first started coming out. Yesterday E FUN announced another new tablet, the Nextbook Next 7S.
The Next 7S runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and ties-in with the Barnes & Noble NOOK store for ebooks and the GetJar App Store for apps, which means it doesn’t come with access to the Google Play store for apps, unfortunately.
But on the bright side the Next 7S sells for a wallet-friendly $129. And that’s the retail price; these tablets often sell for less than retail. In a couple of months it will probably be in the $99 range.
Let the onslaught of cheap 7″ Android 4.0 tablets continue…
The Next 7S has the same base features as a lot of similar budget Android 4.0 tablets. It’s powered by a 1GHz processor (probably a Cortex A8), it comes with 4GB of storage space, it has a microSD card slot, Wi-Fi, a G-sensor, and sports a front-facing camera.
It has a 7″ multi-touch capacitive screen and the resolution is the typical budget tablet 800 x 480.
The Next7S is the second Android 4.0 tablet from Nextbook. Last month they released the Nextbook Premium8se, a similar tablet feature-wise but with some upgrades and a larger 8″ screen.
I’ve reviewed some Nextbook tablets in the past. They tend to have sleek designs that are above average for the budget tablet category. The software is fairly typical. I’m going to try and get my hands on the Next7S to review.
Hi Nathan,
I just picked one up here in Canada. But it’s called the Nextbook Premium 7se, not the 7S, so I don’t know if it’s different or not. Specs look the same. I’ll try it out when I get home from work and let you know in a few days what I think.
I’ve tried to find reviews of the 8se to see how it’s been reviewed, but couldn’t find any, and interestingly, Nextbook USA doesn’t even list the 7se under the Products page on their website yet. Wierd. Where did you get the info on the 7S announcement?
Their marketing department sent me the info on the 7S. I couldn’t find it listed anywhere for purchase yet; I’m surprised that you did.
HSN had an exclusive on the Premium 8se last month. They’ve since removed the listing. The reviews weren’t very good, but from what I read it was mostly because people didn’t know where to get apps, how to install apps, basically how to use the device. They are supposed to go back on sale again soon, and I should be getting one to review when they do.
It will be interesting to hear what you think of the 7se. In particular battery life. I just reviewed the 7″ Coby Kyros with basically the same specs and the main negative was the 4-5 hour battery life.
Video review of a preproduction sample at a trade show. Looks pretty snappy and responsive. Might be a keeper, if I can ever get home from work to try it out.
Wondering if it has Android Market – comes with GetJar, at least here in Canada. I’ll probably try 1Mobile if I can’t use Android Market – it seems better than GetJar. There’s a hack for the Nextbook 7 but I don’t know if it will work on the 7se because of the diff between the 2.3 and 4.0 OS.
How do you test battery life, so my estimate will be consistent with your testing?
It doesn’t have Android Market but 1mobile has a lot. Too bad you can’t use the Amazon AppStore in Canada.
There are battery monitoring apps but I never get that technical since there are so many variables involved. I just judge battery by general use over a few charge cycles and get an estimate for how much percentage decreases per hour on average.
The hack for the old one definitely won’t work on the new one, but it won’t be long before it gets its own.
When are we going to get the 10″ iPad killer? I guess I am waiting for a Superpad 4. Have you reviewed Superpads?
Nope. Superpads are about as far from an iPad killer as you can get.
Nathan, what would you recommend as the best cheap Android 4.0 tablet out now? I’m not looking for a camera or anything fancy for games, I just want a smooth-running tablet with decent speed and nice screen quality. I’m sorry for being so general, but what could you recommend?
Andrew, that’s a good question. So far I haven’t come across any that I would highly recommend. The Novo 7 Paladin is okay, but the MIPS processor doesn’t support a lot of apps. The Coby Kyros tablets are okay except for the battery life. I haven’t tried the Innovatek InnoSoul; it might be worth checking out. None have great screens, though. Just the typical 800 x 480. You’d have to go up to something like the Galaxy Tab 2 for a 1024 x 600 resolution screen. Other than that there’s the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet, but the CM9 ROMs for Android 4.0 aren’t fully baked and by the snail’s progress being made it doesn’t look like they ever will be. We’re all still hoping for a $199 Android 4.0 tablet from Google or ASUS…
WEll, finally got around to opening the Nextbook Premium 7se up at around 10pm last night. That was a mistake – didn’t get to bed til 1pm!
OOTB, it had 85% battery charge, so I decided to just go ahead and play with it. Now keep in mind this is my very first tablet (other than a couple of Android 2.1 Hipstreet eReader/Tablets I got my kids and frankly, haven’t played with at all because of the anemic specs) so I have no real frame of reference to compare this Nextbook with any other tablet.
Having said that, OOTB, the tablet appears to be very solidly built – nice glass smooth front (no raised bezel), textured back that offers good grip and no smudging, feels solid with no creakiness or flex. Boots up quickly – didn’t time it, but estimate of under 1 minute to lock screen, maybe 45 seconds even. ICS experience appears to be relatively unvarnished – there is a launch screen with a weather widget and most used apps, as well as a second one preloaded with links to the User Manual, online help, Task Killer etc.
Setup was a breeze – set country, language and found router in seconds. Good connectivity through most of my house except the one dead spot even my laptops seem to have trouble with (have to get a range extender one of these days to fix that!). Up and running in probably 2 minutes. Despite having no Android experience, found ICS pretty easy to navigate and figure out.
First, the screen colours are terrific, to my 50-year old eyes, anyway. Viewing angles are not IPS, but easily viewable from at least 45 degrees off centre laterally and from the top – only when tilted away from the bottom does it wash out more quickly (though I guess if I had rotated the tablet 180 degrees, it would make it wash out from the top quicker than the bottom). Touch screen is pretty responsive as far as I can tell, and pretty accurate. I was able to type on the onscreen keyboard with relative ease, though a 10″ screen would definitely have been easier. The touchscreen is very responsive and the tablets performance very snappy. Page turns in the ebook and swipes through the homescreens seemed lag-free to me.
Downloaded Angry Birds Space and Aldiko from GetJar and 1Mobile to see how that worked. Installation was a breeze. Tried Google Play, but got the unsupported device error message. There are a couple of sites that say you can install Google Play/Android Market by using the Android SDK and a GAPPS package, but I don’t know if it will work and am afraid I’ll brick the tablet if I try, so I don’t know if it’s worth it, given all the alternative apps stores.
Angry Birds seemed to work fine in my limited experience using it and playing games in general (guess I’ll have to get my kids opinion!) and Aldiko worked just fine, though I need to figure out how to use it and access the menus before I can really comment on it.
I’ll keep playing over the next few days and try to do a YouTube video later this week by about Thursday or Friday, hopefully.
But initial impressions are positive – fast, responsize, no crashes. Battery life was about 3 hours from 85% charge. Will give it a full charge today and see how long it lasts this time. Battery function in settings even tells you how long it has been running on the battery since last charge, I think, which makes it easier to determine battery life.
Hi Nathan,
Not sure I’m brave enough to try it yet, but what do you think the odds of success getting Android Market installed using this process (with updated SDK and Universal GApps pkgs of course) are?
I don’t know much about this custom ROM and hacking business, but this process doesn’t seem like much of either to me.
Nice review, Chris. I don’t know what you mean by adding the Android Market; do you have a link? The SDK is usually only needed for ADB and other technical stuff that’s over most people’s heads, including mine.
Had the link copied – if only I had remembered to paste it!
http://gunnersbarn.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/how-to-install-android-market-to-nextbook-premium-7/
That must be for the older Next7 because it’s dated six months ago and refers to the SDK for Android 2.3, not 4.0. So that definitely won’t work.
What version is the SDK for ICS and would one of XDA’s universal GApps packages for CM9 work using that process?
I think it’s 14 but I’m not sure. I haven’t used the SDK in ages so I can’t offer advice in that regard. I always use the easier methods, but I don’t know of any yet for this one since it’s so new.
Hi,
Sorry it took so long, but time is scarce these days for me. Finally, I’m uploading a (rather lengthy) video review as we speak. It will be posted at:
http://youtu.be/KeJy3q3XdHo
Cheers.
Chris
Nice video, Chris! I updated the post to add it in.
Hello!
The 7S will be offered at Big Lots stores in the USA beginning May 23rd, at a price of $99.00 USD. It has a resistive touch screen. Camera and specs identical to other models, AFAICT.
Being well-connected, I was able to get one early. I think folks will REALLY like it!
73 DE N4RPS
Rob
Thanks for the heads up, Rob. But resistive screens should avoided at all costs, especially when you can get a tablet with a capacitive screen for the same price.
What sucks about this 7s is you can’t use Netflix.
Not sure if its the hardware or software that doesn’t allow it but sucks.
Been great for our little ones to watch movies on trips and out dinning. Shame.
Hi,
Just picked up the Nextbook Premium Next 7S for a graduation gift for the son of a friend. This one has a “multi touch resistive” screen. How good is this technology? I was under the impression that the plus side of capacitive over resistive screen had something to do with the multi touch ability. If the resistive screen now has this ability plus lets you use a stylus, etc.,as opposed to just flesh, would this be good?
Hi..i work at Big Lots and it will be 89 dollars on our 2 day Memoriwl Day sale..got to check one out the other day..they are nice
Hi, Cindy – Is the one at Big Lots the resistive or capacitive screen?
new out of the box nextbook 7 s…. its speaks foreign to me and i cant reset it how can i set it to good old english? please help and thanks
You’ll have to go into settings and change the language, which won’t be easy since the menus aren’t in English. You can probably figure it out from watching the video to see what the menus are in English.
the one i got is capacitive
Got the next7s at biglots for 89.99. Resistive screen. My first tablet. The screen works best with a stylus. For the basics email and web surfing it works fine. I am disappointed that netflix won’t work on it. I downloaded it from amazon app store and I can sign in but can’t select anything…it almost seems like it may be that the app isn’t compatible with the resistive screen. I can’t decide if I want to keep this or take it back and spend an extra fifty bucks on a nook tablet. Kmart has them this week for 149.99.
I have 1 of the Nextbook 7P (capacitive, android 2.3) and 2 of the Nextbook 7s (resistive, android 4.0) tabs all from Big Lots. So far I can’t decide which screen I prefer. I like the brightness and color of the capacative better but being fumble-fingered its easier for me to use the stylus on the resistive. The difference between the 7s and 7se is that the 7s is resistive and 7se is capacitive. I find the G-Sensor more responsive on the 7P than the 7s. I have not tried rooting or adding apps because I just don’t have time to fool with this right now and I’m looking to sell all the tabs and maybe get something else later…
I just bought it and my only complaint is the battery only lasts about 3 hours. Rediculous! And I resent that it only has a front-facing camera. I’m having the greatest trouble trying to get the Android AVD manager to detect it. However, othewise, it seems to be functional.
I’m wondering if anyone knows if it can support the Documents To Go app? Can I easily edit/create Microsoft documents on this tablet?
Most likely it will work because those types of apps usually work fine on these tablets but I couldn’t confirm 100%.
Do not buy these from big lots I bought 2 and they dont work plus for 50 more dollars u can get another tablet for 16gb will never buy electronics at big lots again!!!!!!!! Cheap studd always ends up breaking!!!!
what is rong with them. from big lots.
can some one call me at 559-562-2587. Iam having aperobelem with my tablet.Please call me. Thank you From Cora