Google's brand new Nexus 7 tablet is now shipping to customers, which means that the inevitable has happened: Some enterprising souls bought a few, pulled out the video camera, and flung the tablets onto concrete to find out if they would break.
Yes, the folks at SquareTrade -- who have previously brought you such destruction-porn classics as "Samsung Galaxy S3 vs. iPhone 4S Drop Test," "New iPad vs. iPad 2 Drop Test," and "BlackBerry PlayBook Drop Test" -- are back with another one, and this time they are letting plummet a new iPad and a Nexus 7.
This sequel comes with a twist, however: In addition to dropping the brand new tablets onto cement, SquareTrade is also dropping them into a bathtub of water, to see how well the gadgets operate following total liquid immersion. Watch your back, David Blaine!
Below, you can view the gory, wince-inducing results. Put on your safety goggles and check it out:
It's not clear if there's a definite winner here (or, indeed, if one can declare a "winner" with such a small sample size of three drops). The Nexus 7 did fare pretty well after its swim, showing no real damage after going underwater; the iPad, meanwhile, lost sound. A clear victory for the Google Nexus 7 over the iPad, though, again, beware of small sample sizes.
Will the Nexus 7 also reign supreme in the sales category? The Google-Asus collaboration is selling pretty well at retail stores, according to a Reuters report, no doubt bolstered positive reviews and the low $199 price tag. Still, outselling the iPad might take a minor miracle: Apple sold almost 12 million iPads in its first quarter of 2012, and Wall Street analysts expect the company to sell around 18 million iPads in the second quarter of this year. Apple will announce its financial results on Tuesday, July 24.
Until then, we can revel in the entertainment that is the videotaped annihilation of new gadgets. And while these videos might be fun to watch, we urge you to be safe with your own tablet, and would advise you not to take a bath with your Nexus 7 any time soon.