Joshua Topolsky at The Verge published his early review of the Google Nexus 7.

The Google Nexus 7 appears to be the best book reading device on the market today. In a recent interview Matias Duarte, Android's head of user experience, spoke about designing the device to be the perfect fit for his book reading experience: a book in one hand and a sandwich or cup of tea in the other.

As you may know, I am an avid reader and have been for most of my life. While I do prefer reading physical hardback copies of books in quiet, cosy, personal libraries, I don't like carrying around more than one or two books on me at a time. I hated lugging around textbooks from class to class in high school (there were no lockers), and that hasn't changed. So I've grown a small library of digital books and keep and read them on my portable devices (some less optimal than others).

As I have terrible vision, I find that e-ink or other non-backlit screens do not provide enough contrast for the optimal digital reading experience. The Nook and Kindle just aren't bright enough. The Nook Color and Kindle Fire provide enough contrast to be acceptable.

When the Kindle Fire came out I was a little bit skeptical, but having seen and used it in person, I became convinced that the 7" portrait style tablet form factor is ideal for reading. However, the software for the Kindle Fire is so terrible that it's not worth buying.

The Nexus 7 runs on stock Android, currently at version 4.1 (Jelly Bean). 4.1 is a huge upgrade compared to previous versions of Android. Until now, Google has been playing catchup to Apple's iOS. The release of 4.1 places Android on the same playing level as iOS. Software that actually works makes the Nexus 7 an incredibly tempting new device for reading.