Google Nexus 10 vs. iPad 4

If you’re currently in the market for a tablet, you would be forgiven if you had a hard time trying to decide which one to go for. If you need some guidance, our recent How to choose the right tablet article might help you narrow down your choices.

If however, you’ve decided that you’d like something along the lines of a 10″ tablet with a multitude of features, then your choices inherently comes down quite simply to either the Nexus 10 or the iPad 4.

Here we pitch them both head-to-head and help you make sense of some of their main features.

Nexus 10 vs iPad 4 with Retina Display Direct Comparison

Here is the Google Nexus 10 vs Apple’s iPad 4 direct feature comparison.

Resolution
Nexus 10 with the “World’s Highest Resolution” screen: 2560 x 1600 resolution at 300 pixels per inch (ppi)
iPad with Retina Display screen: 2048 x 1536 resolution at 264 pixels per inch (ppi)
4,096 Megapixels (Nexus 10) vs 3.146 Megapixels (iPad 3rd / 4th Generation)

Winner: Nexus 10 – Nexus 10 is 13.6% sharper based on ppi count

Screen Size
Nexus 10: 10.055” 2560 x 1600 (300 ppi) WQXGA True RGB Real Stripe PLS with Corning® Gorilla® Glass 2
iPad with Retina Display: 9.7‑inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Multi‑Touch display with IPS technology
Winner: Nexus 10 -Nexus 10 screen size is approximately 3.7% bigger compared to the iPad

Processor
Nexus 10: Dual Core A15 at 1.7GHz with quad-core graphics Mali T604
iPad with Retina Display: Dual-core A6X with quad-core graphics, benchmarks revealed that the processor is clocked at 1.4GHz and the GPU is based on PowerVR SGX 554MP4
Winner: Nexus 10 –  Nexus 10 has a much faster processor at 1.7GHz

Cameras
Nexus 10: 5MP rear facing, 1.9MP front facing
iPad with Retina Display: 5MP rear facing, 1.2MP front facing
Winner: Nexus 10 – Nexus 10 has slightly higher resolution front facing camera

Storage & RAM

Dimensions & Weight
Nexus 10: 263.9 x 177.6 x 8.9 mm 603 grams
iPad with Retina Display: 241.2 x 185.7 x 9.4 mm 662 grams
Winner: Nexus 10 – the Nexus 10 is thinner and lighter than the iPad but a little over 2 cm longer

Battery Life
Nexus 10: 9 hours of video, 7 hours of web browsing, 90 hours of music playback with 9000mAh Lithium polymer battery
iPad with Retina Display: 10 hours of web browsing on WiFi, watching video or listening to music and 9 hours of web surfing using mobile broadband with 42.5 watt hour Lithium polymer battery
Winner: iPad – not  a great difference here, these claimed battery life highly depends on device settings, usage and many other factors but it’s great to see that both devices average about 9 – 10 hours.

Connectivity
Nexus 10: WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (dual band MIMO+HT40), Bluetooth, NFC (Android Beam), Dual side NFC, Micro USB, Magnetic Pogo pin charger, Micro HDMI, 3.5 mm headphone jack
iPad with Retina Display: WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (dual band 2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooh, Lightning connector 3G and LTE models available for mobile (cellular) broadband
Winner: Draw – while Nexus 10 has the upper hand in terms of connectivity with Near Field Communication (NFC), Micro USB and Micro HDMI, it lacks the 3G and LTE options for those who would like mobile data on the go. Apple’s iPad on the other hand has the option for 3G and LTE  in the pipeline across the range, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions.

Memory Expansion

Both devices do not have memory expansion slots.

Operating System
Nexus 10: Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
iPad with Retina Display: iOS 6

Other Features
Nexus 10: Accelerometer, GPS, Gyroscope, Barometer, Ambient Light sensor, Compass
iPad with Retina Display: Accelerometer, GPS*, Gyroscope, Ambient Light sensor, Compass (*Assisted GPS and GLONASS on mobile version)
Winner: Draw - no surprises here, both devices have very similar sensors for controls, screen orientation, screen brightness, location awareness and other functions.

Prices
Nexus 10: £319 (16GB) and £389 (32GB)
iPad with Retina Display: £399 (16GB) and £479 (32GB)
What you see above are like for like comparisons. Apple does have the 64GB model at £559 and options with mobile broadband at £499 (16GB), £579 (32GB) and £659 (64GB). Winner: Nexus 10 – clearly, Nexus 10 is a winner here for affordability and value for money.

Conclusion

The Nexus 10 has by some distance a greater number of positives when stacked up directly with the iPad4. It beat the iPad 4 in 6 out of 10 categories we looked at. While all of these features are comparable on ‘paper’ none will actually be able to tell you how each feels in terms of user experience.

If you’re already an Apple device user and fan, you may well be swayed towards the iPad4 simply for familiarity and for the fact that you’d be able to use the same App store account across multiple devices.

Similarly if you’re already an Android user, you would quite easily be convinced of the advantages of Nexus 10 over the iPad4.

Author: Samuel J. Tan

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• Bio
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Samuel

Technical Director at Xelium Ltd

Sam is a tech evangelist, e-learning and learning platform enthusiast, tablet and smartphone chomping maniac, mac and windows zealot, wireless & network genius, developer, designer, user experience tinkerer, moodle and sharepoint two timer, social media junkie, web analyst and server engineer (and an all round good guy). He has over 15 years of tech experience ranging from ground-breaking university research networks to high level secure government extranet projects. He has overseen many megabuck project deployments from Building Schools for Future to harnessing technology, improving sustainability and realising a performance framework for technology in school. And now, while every other so-called expert and consultant is plotting away on world domination, Sam is quietly working on helping each and every teacher, lecturer and trainer, one school at a time to make the most of Technology for Teaching to enrich every child’s learning experience.

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