[Nexus 7 General] JaSauders:
Like many others here, I share frustration in regard to some of the issues highlighted in this very thread. As time goes on, it seems as if the return rate for the Nexus 7 is dropping. This is largely based on what "word of mouth" I've heard from various people and retailers, which is hardly scientific proof, but it's worth at least considering if all else. At first the N7 return rate was rather high. Since then, it's mellowed out quite a bit. I've heard retailers suggest that the N7 return rate is rather equal to the iPad return rate these days. Food for thought.

I'm not one to tolerate design issues in the slightest. Call it OCD, I really don't care, I just know when I buy a mountain bike, I don't expect the air-ride shocks to immediately need "xyz" adjustment to run properly. I also don't buy a brand new car only to turn around and have it re-painted because the manufacturer didn't do a good enough job. But at the same token, I'm also not one to sit here and blame the entire Nexus product lineup, the entire company of ASUS, and the entire corporation of Google and call them out as if I want to burn them to the ground and run after the employees with pitchforks. This was a new product. Things happen. It happened to the iPad too, and even happened to the iPhone several years after they released the very first model. I'm not saying it's right, I'm not saying companies shouldn't be doing a better job, but especially when it comes to newer products released on such a grand scale, a certain percentage coming back with issues, to some degree, is expected.

While there are quite a few people on this forum here who have expressed frustration about having returned 2, 3, 4 units, I've been the only one out of people I know personally who has utilized any sort of warranty or return policy. Between several colleagues, co-workers, and friends/family of mine also purchased the Nexus 7 (I'd estimate about 12 of them total). All of them have had no issues that I could detect. I didn't specifically ask them if they had issues - but whenever the opportunity arose to "take a look at it" or "show them xyz feature", I jumped on it, and would quietly do my best to take notice of the various faults outlined on these forums. There again, far from scientific proof, but if you have a good eye it doesn't take much to notice the backlight flicker, and it certainly doesn't take more than 2 seconds to notice screen lift or sponginess if you know what to look for. In regard to those things, at least, my opinion of those particular units was highly accurate to the best of my knowledge.

The Nexus lineup, in my opinion, is the absolute best. I would absolutely buy from this lineup again, and in fact, I'm not sure I'd ever buy another Android device unless it was a Nexus device. For what it's worth, don't think I'm sitting here from my high horse with my nose in the air. My Nexus 7 screen cracked without me even doing anything to it. After a small battle with ASUS, they replaced my screen for free (granted, my N7 had no marks on it whatsoever, so it added a substantial amount of credibility to my case). When I got my C6O 16GB unit back with the new screen, I took notice that my screen list was nearly 100% gone. This made me think that the screen wasn't mounted properly from the get-go. At this point, I decided to live dangerously. I grabbed both ends of the tablet horizontally and twisted my hands opposing to one another. I learned then that the Nexus 7 screen is not "made of sugar" or any other ridiculous crap like that. This screen is actually quite durable. I'm convinced that my screen crack was due to the screen being mounted improperly when it was originally made, as there's no rhyme or reason that an LCD screen would crack unless it's binding under some sort of pressure. How would an LCD be under pressure? Unevenly torqued mount points is a very likely candidate. There were some freak lemons out there. I accept that. I was one of them. But they fixed my device and I now have a flawlessly repaired Nexus 7. I'm a happy customer. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one again. However, I also wouldn't buy anything brand new without some sort of warranty. The Nexus 7 is no different than a laptop, desktop computer, the dehumidifier I bought last week, the new automatic transmission I put in my van last December, or the road bike with a lifetime frame warranty that I bought 2 years ago. If it's new, it needs a warranty of some sort.