Operating System
Since this tablet ships with an un-altered version of Android you get the experience Google intends out of its operating system. Jellybean runs amazingly on the Nexus 7. As of writing the tablet was tested using 4.2.1 and I was downright impressed the first time I fired up the Nexus. Compared to previous Android operating systems, Jellybean is simply awesome.
Froyo and Gingerbread were fine in their day, my experience with Honeycomb was quite good for it being a tablet-only OS and my Ice Cream Sandwitch experience was good as well for integrating tablets and phones together on a single operating system. But Jellybean simply blows everything else out of the water in comparison. The smoothness in basic tasks while operating around the OS pages is flawless and transitions are very good.When this operating system is coupled with high-end mobile hardware it can be a force to be reckoned with.
The Screen
Running at a 1280×800 resolution this screen offers up a solid resolution for the size. Being an IPS screen, the viewing angles are pretty good. While they are not fantastic they definitely do what you need them to with daily use. Of course everything looks a bit sharper up close, but even at an angle there is good clarity. Although, when looking at extreme angles there is an ever so slight tendency for pixelation to occur but unless you are looking at the tablet from 2-3 inches away I would hardly call that an issue.
Colors are much like the viewing angles. Good, but not the best out there. Everything is crisp and pops off the screen. Darker brightness levels such as when setting the screen to automatic have a slight tendency to produce washed out colors when not viewing the tablet at a relatively direct angle (although it certainly does not look terrible). Ramping up the brightness level produces a more crisp look across the board. Lighter colors look very good at higher brightness levels, but sadly dark colors like blacks and blues have a tendency to look washed out and faded. I found 50% screen brightness to be a good compromise that looks good, but also gives good battery life.
