New Nexus 7 more durable than predecessor and iPad mini - Los Angeles Times
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New Nexus 7 more durable than predecessor and iPad mini

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The new Nexus 7 is thinner, lighter and more narrow than its predecessor, and it seems to be more durable too.

The latest Google tablet was put through a durability test against the old Nexus 7 as well as the iPad mini and it fared the best.

SquareTrade, a company that provides protection plans for mobile devices, conducted the experiment, which included a 5-foot drop test, a slide test and a water dunk test.

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The drop test cracked the screens of the old Nexus 7 and the iPad mini while the new Nexus 7 incurred a few scratches.

On the slide test, which is meant to see how likely a device is to fall off of a table or desk, the iPad mini slid completely off. The new Nexus 7, meanwhile, slid just a little farther than the original Nexus 7, which has a more grip-able back cover.

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The new Nexus 7 also shined during the water dunk test, which involved submerging the three devices a few inches underwater while they played videos. The new Nexus 7 surfaced just fine, but the iPad mini lost audio and the old Nexus 7 had to completely reset itself.

On a breakability scale of 1 to 10, with 10 meaning the device is the most likely to break, SquareTrade gave the new Nexus 7 a 5. The old Nexus 7 received a 6 while the iPad mini earned a 7.5.

All in all, it seems the new Nexus 7 is the most durable of the three devices, but you should probably still be careful with it.

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