It was with a heavy heart that I went to my local PC World tonight with my Nexus 7, all boxed back up to return. Something had irked me ever so slightly with it since I got it…

The glass wasn’t fixed down properly on the left hand side.  I had thought that this might be because the Nexus 7 is cheap and I should expect a few ‘rough edges’, but when I got G’s out of the box, it was fine; perfect in fact. On mine though the glass was raised from the edge just ever-so slightly (less than 0.5mm), and it creaked back into place when you applied pressure.

I did muse that this might mean that I had a dodgy one; it certainly wasn’t the end of the world, just a little irk that I knew was there, but it would seem the problem is a lot bigger. There have been scores of complaints on the XDA Forums of users with creaky glass. A lot have resorted to popping the back off and screwing it down tighter. This temporarily fixes the problem though after a bit of use, the creaking raised glass returns.

One forum user set up a Poll asking owners if they are suffering with the issue. Out of the 357 who have responded, 148 (41%) have said they have had the issue with their Nexus 7.

It would seem Google do know about the issue and have said it’s a problem with ‘the glue’. They are happily swapping out replacements to anyone with the issue who purchased via the Play Store. When I spoke to someone at PC World they had today been told that there is an issue with the glass on some of the Nexus 7’s and it is a manufacturing fault. PC World took mine back, but there is an issue with a replacement. These tablets have sold phenomenally well, and no-one has stock. PC World won’t have any until the 20th August. Madness! Even Google have run out of the 16Gb version! I opted for a refund.

I must stress, this hasn’t put me off the Nexus 7 – not in the slightest, it is nothing short brilliant. It’s a fantastic piece of kit and it really can’t be beaten for the price. It is a shame there is an obvious QA issue that has blighted a batch of them, but Google are aware and I imagine the problem will be resolved. Thankfully, I won’t be without one for too long, it would appear Tesco are one of the few places in the UK with stock and I collect mine on Thursday.

If you do have a Nexus 7, just give it a little check on the left hand side. If you squeeze in the middle and it feels firm, you’ve got a good-un! if it creaks down a little, decide whether you can live with it or find your receipt 😉

3 thoughts on “Do Google have a problem with the Nexus 7?

  1. Patrick Goff says:

    I bought mine through Google Play. I won't bore you with all the problems they gave me except one – they don't seem to issue receipts. So if there was a fault (and thankfully it seems mine is OK) there would be no usual 'proof of purchase'. Not that it is possioble to connect with Google over any issue anyway – they are expect at making sure you cannot contact them.
    I won't be buying through Google Play again

  2. Helinä Turunen says:

    Found this post when looking up PC World problems and Nexus 7. We had a different problem when buying two of the Nexus 7 tablets from PC World: They only delivered one and provided no explanation to why the other one was not delivered. Our account was charged, but the second tablet not delivered. They were supposed to be delivered in the same package.

    The customer service at PC World has been “investigating” on the missing tablet issue for weeks now, and we are trying to get a refund. We have not had any problems with the Nexus 7 that was delivered, and absolutely love it. Hope your story with Pc World ended well!

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