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NVIDIA Tegra Note 7 Tested, Fastest Android 4.3 Slate Under $200

MojoKid writes "NVIDIA officially took the wraps off of its Tegra Note mobile platform a few weeks back. If you're unfamiliar with the Tegra Note, it's a 7", Android-based tablet, powered by NVIDIA's Tegra 4 SoC. The Tegra Note 7 also marks NVIDIA's second foray into the consumer electronics market, with an in-house designed product; NVIDIA's SHIELD Android gaming device was the first out of the gate earlier this year. Though Tegra Note 7 on the surface may appear to be just another 7-inch slate, sporting a 1280X720 display, it does have NVIDIA's proprietary passive stylus technology on board, very good sounding speakers and an always on HDR camera. It's also one of the fastest Android tablets on the market currently, in the benchmarks. Unlike in NVIDIA's SHIELD device, the Tegra 4 SoC is passively cooled in Tegra Note 7 and is crammed into a thin and light 7" tablet form factor. As a result, the SoC can't hit peak frequencies quite as high as the SHIELD (1.8GHz vs. 1.9GHz), but that didn't hold the Tegra Note 7 back very much. In a few of the CPU-centric and system level tests, the Tegra Note 7 finished at or near the head of the pack, and in the graphics benchmarks, its 72-core GeForce GPU competed very well, and often allowed the $199 Tegra Note 7 to outpace much more expensive devices."

18 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Always-on HDR by umafuckit · · Score: 4, Informative

    In case you were wondering what always-on HDR actually means: http://androidcommunity.com/nvidia-tegra-4-always-on-hdr-camera-demo-20130320/ Looks rather nice, actually.

    1. Re:Always-on HDR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Bold claim. You obviously didn't even read the article. The camera is not always on, it is HDR that is always on when the camera is on...

  2. evolutionary development. by Dzimas · · Score: 2

    Company introduces new version of an established form factor, except slightly faster. Not really worthy of mention. The disruptive (or potentially disruptive) products are the ones /. should be covering -- like the tiny new laptop chargers from finsix (complete with built-in USB port so it can charge your phone at the same time). Let's hope for something extremely clever to come out of the upcoming CES show. I'm not holding my breath, though; we may have a decade of iterative improvements in tablet tech ahead of us before the next big hardware shift.

    1. Re:evolutionary development. by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 2

      How it really works

      I had to dig down another layer to discover that they were creating an intelligent amplifier that used asymmetric multilevel outphasing. This is surprisingly similar to the new logic going into cruise control systems (see recent slashdot article) but applied to phasing the amplifier instead of an automotive powertrain. This thing should waste a LOT less energy when "idle" as well -- just running the chip and sensor controlling the phase level.

  3. benchmark by Bram+Stolk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It does well for on-screen benchmarks, because of the low resolution of 1280x720.
    For on-screen tests, it will have to process fewer pixels than the more expensive models with high-res screens.
    This makes it look faster than it is, as you can see by the off-screen benchmark results.

    --
    Bram Stolk http://stolk.org/tlctc/
    1. Re:benchmark by Teckla · · Score: 2

      It does well for on-screen benchmarks, because of the low resolution of 1280x720.

      The submitter got the resolution wrong. It's 1280x800, which is actually a quite nice DPI for a 7" device that's only $200.

    2. Re:benchmark by Luckyo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, it makes it look like it's actually sane in the current "more pixels is better" fad. It prioritizes having a good resolution and computational power to match it, rather than huge resolution and no computational power to support it which is the current fad.

  4. Re:Why "always on"? by craigminah · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is an NSA-mandated option...

  5. has anyone used the 'passive stylus'? by Trepidity · · Score: 2

    There's a promo for what it's supposed to do from nVidia here. The short of it is that they're trying to replicate what pressure-sensitive active styluses do without requiring you to actually have a pressure-sensitive stylus. Instead it seems to use some kind of pattern-recognition on the input signatures from the passive stylus to figure out what you're intending to do, and does things like vary stroke width with pressure, or treat the back side of a stylus as an eraser, etc. Cool if it works: if you can replicate a more expensive hardware stylus in software, go ahead. But does it work reliably?

  6. Re:Why "always on"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Why would anybody want the video camera on this tablet to be "always on"?

    Always on HDR or High Dynamic Range http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_imaging
    Not the camera
    basically it takes images so fast it can snap 2 images at the same time

    ~Loko

  7. Re:Slashvertisement Alert!! by StevenMaurer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Do you have evidence that slashdot was paid for this?

    If not, this is a product review of a tech toy, which seems perfectly fine for this site.

    Believe it or not, it isn't a requirement for all reviews (be they for movies or products) to be entirely negative. When something has much better technical specs at a lower price point, that's something I want to know.

  8. More, more, more of the same by joh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I recently handled a Lenovo Yoga 8 tablet. This thing has paltry specs, but front-facing stereo speakers, an adjustable stand and power and volume buttons you can actually press without looking for them without any risk of pressing them by accident. I was utterly impressed.

    Most tablets are just so BORING. There are very few tablets that actually try some new and useful things. Really, being able to put that thing up onto a table and easily adjust the angle so that the camera when using Skype actually shows me and not the ceiling is more useful to me than pushing the benchmarks a little farther out. Why are there so precious few tablets allowing this? Why has even the fine Nexus 7 the power and volume button hidden behind the bezel, all of them in the same shape and close together, so that half of the time you have to first hunt them down and then you still press the wrong one often enough? Why?

    1. Re:More, more, more of the same by guises · · Score: 2

      The headline is stupid, tablet speed is largely irrelevant - your machine is either fast enough or it isn't. It's not like a PC, where framerate is a moving target.

      None the less, the Tegra Note does have a standout feature in the style that you're asking for: it's the cheapest tablet by far to support a pressure sensitive stylus, and supposedly it works quite well. I've considered one of these (over a Nexus 7-2) for the sake of have a little sketch pad.

  9. Spam by joh · · Score: 2

    So many words just because you have no idea what you're talking about...

    It's not the camera that is always on. Its the HDR mode that is always on when you use the camera. Reading "always-on HDR camera" and jumping up and down just because you can almost feel the well-known button ("NSA! Spies! They want to see me all day long!!) being pressed is a bit tired now.

    Really, it's almost like Spam these days. In the original Mounty Python meaning that coined the phrase (not that /. readers these days would know about that). "You can have Egg and Spam. Or Egg, Bacon and Spam. Egg, Bacon, Sausage and Spam. Spam, Bacon, Sausage and Spam. Spam, Egg, Spam, Spam, Bacon and Spam. Spam, Spam, Spam, Egg and Spam..."

  10. Re:only 1280x720? by symbolset · · Score: 4, Informative

    The nexus 7 is 1920x1200 at 300 DPI for $199 just about everywhere.

    --
    Help stamp out iliturcy.
  11. Re:Slashvertisement Alert!! (not) by MojoKid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes, and that slashvertisement BS is getting mighty old. It's a legitimate product review that discusses the pluses and minuses of the product. Take time to actually read the content submitted instead of being so judgmental maybe?

  12. Re:Slashvertisement Alert!! (not) by BBF_BBF · · Score: 2

    Sure, the linked to article is a *real* review. The slashdot summary is not, it reads exactly like an ad, that's what makes it a "Slashvertisement". Too bad it's no longer *news* since the tablet was released in NOVEMBER, over one month ago.

    And by calling it a "slashverdtisement" I don't imply that Slashdot is getting paid in any way, I mean that the summary reads more like an ad than a "news" item for nerds.

  13. Re:Slashvertisement Alert!! (not) by MojoKid · · Score: 2

    The product was released at the end of NOVEMBER and is just now getting out to retail. No need to shout that. And just because an article here speaks to a product's salient features (both good and not so good - lest you forget the lower res display was mentioned too) doesn't make it an advertisement.