Nexus 7: Waiting for Android 4.2

After the successful upgrade from 4.1.1 to 4.1.2 i read at Google's Official Blog about the new Nexus devices:

And they all run Android 4.2, a new flavor of
Jelly Bean—which includes the latest version of Google Now and other
great new features.

But what are these great new features? A description is available at this webpage. Here only a short summary:

• Photo Sphere camera
• Keyboard with gesture typing
• User concept to use the tablet with more than one user (only tablets)
  
• Wireless display on HDMI-enabled TVs
  
• Google Now (????)

So let's wait and i hope, that there will be a rollout for older Nexus 7 devices, too....

Nexus 7: Android Update 4.1.1 to 4.1.2

Yesterday my Nexus 7 came up with the following notification:

After tapping this entry i got the following screen:

And after some minutes the update was done:

This was quite easy.
The tablet still runs and no impacts up to now were detected...
And of course the home screen rotates without any additional app.

Nexus 7 and Navigation: Finding the best app...

In my last posting about navigation with Nexus 7 the conclusion was:

• Google maps: calculating routes offline not possible
• Google navigation: see abouve

One comment of a reader suggested the application "navfree". One of the postings which i found with Google search (the last one) suggested "CoPilot GPS". Both application can be installed without paying, so i tried both:

navfree	Zoom: only +/- buttons, no two finger gesture Units: metric possible 2D and 3D Searching "Rüsselsheim, Am Waldschwimmbad: not found (but found on the map and could be chosen via map as destination) map size (only Germany): ca. 900MB
CoPilot  GPS	Zoom: +/- buttons and two finger gesture Units: metric possible only 2D (3D purchasable) Searching "Rüsselsheim, Am Waldschwimmbad: found map size (Germany, Austria, Switzerland): ca. 320MB

I think, i will try both for some days and then take my decision, because both apps look quite good. But let's see wether navfree will find the next destinations, i want to drive to.

Nexus 7 and Navigation: Arriving at your destination without WLAN

The Nexus 7 comes with GPS (http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7/specs):

So it should be possible to use the tablet as route guidance system. While smartphones can connect to the internet via GPRS, UMTS or LTE then Nexus 7 can only use WLAN or Bluetooth to connect to the internet.
There some postings out there, what apps you can use:

• http://ilaks.com/2012/08/16/nexus-7-4-best-offline-navigation-apps/
• http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1790315
• http://www.everythingandroid.org/forum/threads/nexus-7-and-navigation.5018/
• http://www.nexus7source.com/forum/nexus-7-news-site-news-forum/138-copilot-gps-app-nexus-7-enjoy-hassle-free-navigation-go.html

My first attempt was using Google Map and Google Navigation. First you have to download some maps for offline use (there are some tutorials out there - or use "->Settings->Make available offline" in Google Maps.)
After that i switched off WLAN and tried to enter a destination in Google Maps:

Hmm - this did not work. What about Google Navigation?
After giving a destination i got this screen forever....

So i decided to buy an app from Googles play store, but there is nothing like TomTom or Navigon to buy or download:

But i read, that at least TomTom announced a navigation app for Googles play store...
As long as i find no navigatio app, i will use my Nexus 7 as road atlas and doing the navigation part on my own ;-)

Charging a Nexus 7 via USB: Not via notebook...

After unpacking my Nexus 7, i was suprised, that the usb-charger showed 5V and 2A... All of my usb-chargers only had 1A so far. But after trying the chargers with 1A, no charging happened. My first notion was: I got a broken Nexus 7 - but then i tried the power-usb-charger with 2A and then:

The usb specification (take a look at wikipedia) states:

current draw may not exceed 900 mA during high-speed data transfer. A
dedicated charge port may have a rated current between 0.5 and 1.5 A. [...] (standard USB 2.0 A-connectors are rated at 1.5 A)

From google if found the following:

One nice discussion about this can be found here. I liked this posting:

Interesting, well I guess we'll just have to see. I haven't found many
USB chargers that can output 2amps, none the less the charger for the N7
should easily charge my Nexus S which still leaves me with the desired
outcome of one charger to charge them all. (my tried and true ipod
class, Nexus S, and soon N7)

This is a really problem: Even at amazon you find not many usb chargers with 2A. And the reviews of these adapters is in most cases only two stars or less ;-(

Nexus 7 - movie player does not start: Error [ -2147483648 ]

Yesterday i wanted to view the last hour of Transformers 3 but the movie player only gave the following error:

I tried several things:

• Starting from the beginning of the movie
• Rebooting the tablet
• Change to HD and back

But this did not help. But then i found via Settings -> Apps -> Google Play Movies & TV the solution:

After pressing "Clear Cache" the error was gone and i could continue the movie...