You're the first person I've ever heard say that the Nexus 7 has terrible build quality and the AnandTech figures show that the 10 has around 90% of the iPad battery life rather than "nearly half".
Build quality issues were rampant when the device was introduced. I had to swap out my Nexus 7 twice because of loose-screen / screen-flicker issues. I did order it the day it was released, so maybe there were some unresolved factory quality control issues at the time.
My current unit has a speck of dirt trapped under the screen, but I don't really care that much anymore given that the thing was $199. You'd be a lot less annoyed about a rattle in the dashboard on a new Corolla than you would if you bought a BMW.
Battery life during use is generally good, but the battery in mine dies completely after ~4 days of non-use. Stock install, nothing but my Google account signed in. I'm not sure if it's a hardware issue, but reinstalling the OS hasn't fixed it.
You're really good at cherry picking, aren't you? Anandtech for the performance numbers, Engadget for battery life numbers. By Anandtech's numbers, the Nexus 10 gets 93% of the battery life of the iPad, even though the Nexus 10 uses a much smaller battery. Between the lighter battery and the grippy back, Google designed a device that can be safely held in one hand, a tradeoff I appreciate.
Ah, yes. The old game of taking a perceived flaw of a product that is competitive to a product you like, and blowing it way out of proportion. I'll play a round.
- The camera on the iPhone 5 has the 'purple haze' issue.
- The iPad mini has an embarrassingly low resolution display for (almost) 2013, despite also having a larger display than the Nexus 7.
- The iPad 4 doesn't run as hot as the iPad 3, and no longer makes me scrambled eggs for breakfast while I play Infinity Blade.
Seriously. All products have flaws, and therefore there is no perfect product. Pointing out flaws to prove that your favorite company is better than their competitors is counter-productive. I really wish people would stop this childish debate and just agree that both Google (with their hardware partners) and Apple make fantastic, competing products.