Nexus 7: Customers Shafted(UPDATED)

When Google launched their Nexus 7 earlier this year it was welcomed with open arms. Unlike Amazon's Kindle Fire, the N7 came with the latest version of Android, 4.1 Jelly Bean, and some awesome specs to back it up. You got all this starting at $200. Before the N7 it was unheard of to have a budget friendly tablet that performed well. The N7 changed that for the better.

But there was one thing that a lot of people were concerned about: storage.

The baseline model of the Nexus 7 was $199 for 8GB, and for $50 more you could grab a 16GB version. That was, and still is a great deal, but there is no way to expand your storage. Google really wanted folks to buy into their content via the Play Store, rather than store it locally. In reality, the only profit Google makes from the N7 is through content purchased from them. They really just break even on the price of the hardware. 

Naturally most people were ready to shell out $250 for 16GB automatically. Then something changed. Not too long ago, rumors began surfacing of a 32GB Nexus 7 hitting the market. In fact, I wrote an editorial on this very subject and how displeased I was with the rumored pricing. Turns out the rumors were true. On October 29th, a midst the announcement of the Nexus and Nexus 10, a new flavor of the Nexus 7 was released as well. The 32GB model replaced the 16GB at $250, while the 16GB replaced the 8GB for $200. Not to mention there is now a 32GB version which also comes with unlocked cellular data for just $300. Still cheaper than the iPad mini. That's great, right? Google made(arguably) the best tablet available even better, right?  

Well, it's great for those who are just now looking to buy one for the holidays. It's not so great, however, for those of us that previously purchased one and now realize we could've saved money. I feel it's a bit unfair to do this to customers without any sort of compensation. Wouldn't you agree? Well luckily Asus is offering vouchers to anyone who purchased one before October 29th. If you live in the UK. And only if you got it directly Asus or Google. And you have to have proof of purchase. 

Well, at least they tried. 

UPDATE: Apparently Google, as per their pricing protection policy, is giving refunds of $50 to anyone who bought 15 days before October 29th. This is nice, but Google could do better.