By 
While I wouldn’t classify this type of thing as “breaking news,” it is a fun little tidbit that wasn’t exactly broadcast by Google, and went completely unnoticed in the tear down we posted earlier today. Apparently, the Nexus 7 has the hidden ability to awake itself when a magnet is placed over the side of the device, then removed. A video was uploaded to YouTube today demonstrating the secret feature that will make the device even more easily accessible when paired with the official Nexus 7 “smart covers,” coming soon to Google Play. Have a look see.
Cool, I dont care. SEND IT TO ME ALREADY.
Apple attempting to sue in 3…2…1…
Asus telling Apple to f¥©# off in 3, 2, 1.
Apple cant patent magnetism, Magneto owns it.
Apple isn’t great at having original ideas they are great at exploiting good ideas. Mac computers ripped off work from Xerox Park (which originated in research from the 1960s) and then cried when Microsoft used similar (old and by then obvious) ideas. The same thing with mobile. They weren’t original but they exploited the ideas best. In fact Microsoft software was running on iPhone-esque devices before the turn of the century. And let’s not forget PALM!
Apple’s going to be pissed.
love magnets!
Who would buy that diarrhea brown, and the orange? Those are some ugly covers….
different strokes and all that
It is still uncertain as far as I am aware if the cover in the Play Store has a small built-in magnet hidden inside it. I ordered one with my 16GB Nexus 7 though, so hopefully I will know in a few days.
Yeah im with these guys…apple is gonna slap asus in the face with a lawsuit in less than about a week.
this is one of the few things i would side with apple on if they had a patent on it (the round edges and flat screen ipadent is BS though)
Try again. As others have pointed out, magnetic triggers in computing devices has been around for a LOT longer than Apple was in the phone / tablet business, namely Blackberry devices starting with the old 957. Before that the general concept of using a magnet to trigger something has been around for decades..
it was on the BlackBerry before any Apple device so there will not be any lawsuit.
That’s hardly stopped them before!
So the question remains, does the oem cover do this? I.E. the dark gray cover from the play store? I hope so!
I think that cover is the grey out of this lineup. I expect to see those other colors available in the play store too as well as all the retail locations the nexus 7 is coming to. I’m gonna get mine at the local staples.
Rumor has it retail stores ALREADY have Nexus 7s in stock in the back but have to wait on Google to start selling. Google wants all of it’s pre-order customers to get theirs first which is I’m sure the right thing. If I pre-ordered I’d be pissed if I coulda had it from the local store sooner…but I hate waiting for new toys! :)
So if Apple decides to slap a lawsuit on this, then should Rim slap one on Apple? Because I’m pretty sure Blackberries has had this feature for quite some time now. Considering every blackberry I had did this with the case that came with the phone. I know tablets and phones are different but same concept unless I’m mistaken. First blackberry I noticed this on was the Pearl.
The Motorola Droid had this. I was blown away the first time I put it in the car dock and it went into car mode. I was like HOW DID IT KNOW? Magnets are magic. :P
DUMB IT DOWN!!
I’m not convinced this is for smart covers, seems to be on the wrong side for one thing. I’d be thinking more along the lines of dock mode activation hopefully for hdmi out since it’s on the same side as the pogo pins and it shuts off the screen, might only be wishful thinking on my part but it makes more sense to me.