Anyone knows when it will be available at the ASUS reseller? I hope they get the 8GB version too, because in most countries it seems the 16GB is dominating the market.
Well I called ASUS official dealer in lebanon and it didn't know what i was talking about! He said that is galaxy samsung not ASUS! Haha really pathetic.
It's a sad/scary thing when the clients know more than the so called professionals. That tares it, LifeEngineer's story explains why this is now the mandatory dress code logo for Asus (or most tech places really) employees here in Lebanon.
Midnight wroteIt's a sad/scary thing when the clients know more than the so called professionals. That tares it, LifeEngineer's story explains why this is now the mandatory dress code logo for Asus (or most tech places really) employees here in Lebanon.
http://mediacdn.snorgcontent.com/media/catalog/product/s/t/standback_fullpic_artwork.jpg
Furthermore what really shocked me is that I told him that this is the new ASUS NEXUS 7 that was announced months ago! He didn't show any knowledge and he implied that I'm mistaken and that it's a samsung galaxy tab!

In addition, I called CLASS and he also didn't show any knowledge about it!!!

Damn! Where are those people living!?!? Don't they have an internet connection!!!? And they are called Professionals...
Monkey D. Luffy wroteIf at the "gomrok" they weren't such a**holes I would have bought all what Amazon/ebay has to sale xD
But unfortunately you have to pay at least a huge percentage of the price of your item TAX!
What huge percentage? Items that are labelled as "computer accessories" only have tax applied. There are no customs on "computer accessories". Items that are labelled as "electronics" have 5% customs in addition to the 10% tax. 1.05 * 1.1 = 1.155 meaning 15.5% extra max. If your item includes an invoice, then the price used for the customs to be calculated is the item price in the invoice shipped with the item. There would not price the item at the price they estimate (conjure?), according to what I know (I've tried it this month and last month and every once in a while for the last 4 years).

This is what the Nexus 7 costs to be shipped from outside:
Item price: $200 (add shipping in US here, something small. Let's say $200)
Arrived at Aramex PO Box (costs $35 to have your own PO Box in US, UK, and China altogether): weight of item is 340g (the tablet). With accessories, let's say they consider it 1KG (2 half-kilos): 10.2 for first half KG + 8.5 for additional half KG = $18.7
Customs, handling: $218.7 * 1.05 + 6$ = $235.635
Tax: $235.635 * 1.1 = $259.1985

So $259.2. If it's considered to weigh half a kilo, then you save yourself around $9.82. It becomes $249.38.

$395 is ridiculous.
Customs charge aramex for the whole container, you dont get an official customs receipt. You get an aramex receipt stating what the customs was according to their files, and for the last 3 years they have been charging me double, because they tell me the customs "estimated" my item at double the invoice price, supposedly because thats how the customs in Lebanon roll. Once I suspected aramex of doing this trick themselves, i stopped using their services.

Ah, and the vat ends up being on the double price pf the item and the double customs charge.

Moreover, aramex has a fixed charge of 10000 LL (clearance) on any package, I think this is the 6$ that you already added.

With the above taken into consideration, the price will end up being:

218.7 * 1.1 + 6 = 246.57$
246.57 * 1.2 = 295.8$

This has happenned to me countless times, I don't know if it was an isolated incidence (that went on for 3 years involving around at least 20 items i ordered) or if it applies to everyone.

I still suggest you order it from abroad, but try through another company. (UCS? DHL? ... I have no experience with them though)
@rtwo2008: oh well. That hasn't been my experience with them, however. I will try to get to the bottom of it.
I guess the smartest thing to do now is to wait!

I suppose these high prices will not continue for a long time!
It's like when the S3 or OneX were like 800 or 900 in the 1st week!

I guess the prices should drop to about 250!

I hope also that it goes even lower:
Look for example for the galaxy nexus which was prices a week ago for 399$ and was in lebanon also the same!
Or the S2 which is priced about 370 euros but is only about 410$ in lebanon!

We are in the grey market! I hope prices reach 200$ or even lower! :-D
i think that the price will only reach 250$ .. lower than 200$ is impossible
I just remembered a small issue. Let's say you get a foreign Nexus 7 (quite likely it seems). Better to consider this before we start installing and registering the unit. In order for it to be arabic font capable, what's the detailed jellybean version that should be on it? Honestly I'm not even sure this applies to tablets as it does for phones. For all I know this could be a cellphone issue only.
Arabic is supported natively on all ICS and JB android versions!
This is regardless of whether it is a phone or a tab!
That's what i know at least!
Natively supported means that it can be read on all ICS and JB versions. But that does not mean that it would have Arabic language installed in the Default keyboard. That's all.

"Ti3reeb" as they like to say here, is simply installing a ROM made for an Arabic region. This would give you Arabic in the default keyboard.

Now with Gingerbread, there was a point for "ti3reeb" because GB did not natively support Arabic. Now with ICS and JB, just download a keyboard (like SwiftKey or Swype) and you're good to go. It is probably going to be faster and more efficient than the stock keyboard anyways.
Regarding the price, guys you can't take 200$ as the benchmark, don't let the lebanese sellers trick you. 200$ is the base price if you order it "yourself" from a retail store in USA etc...

That retail store in USA bought it for much less from the manufacturer then added his profit and shipping cost (from china?) which resulted in the item retailing at 200$.

A lebanese retailer will "not" buy quantity from an american "retail" store at 200$ a piece, he will buy from the original manufacturer at much much less.

Edit: lebanese, including me, have gotten used to doing everything ourselves. That's why we always compare "the seller price" vs "the price of ordering it ourselves from a usa retail store" . We dont mind ordering from a retail store and shipping it and paying customs etc.. The sellers have caught on to that and have developed a strategy to fight this.
regarding the arabic thing,the nexus 7 is a nexus device (obviously),those devices differ from others,Google don't use a custom firmware for each region,they use one and only universal firmware so all nexus devices have the same firmware,as for jelly bean it support arabic,with arabic keyboard and even you can make the device language arabic,so that won't be a problem at all.
Midnight wroteI just remembered a small issue. Let's say you get a foreign Nexus 7 (quite likely it seems). Better to consider this before we start installing and registering the unit. In order for it to be arabic font capable, what's the detailed jellybean version that should be on it? Honestly I'm not even sure this applies to tablets as it does for phones. For all I know this could be a cellphone issue only.
jellybean supports RTL languages by default for both reading and writing.
i think we can all agree that pcandparts is a good store to buy from. The price is nice and it get delivered to your house.

So what you say we send them each a question like "do you have google nexus 7, if not any intention of getting the product", something related to that, or we can send them one email containing all the people who want the product.

so what do you think guys?
rtwo2008 wroteI found this tablet by the way:

http://www.amazon.com/NOVO7-II-Dual-Core-Android-Capacitive/dp/B008CL14N6/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1343855638&sr=8-8&keywords=Ainol+novo+aurora

It's pretty close to the google nexus, cheaper (this is 16gb for 143$ compared to nexus 16gb 249$), has an expansion slot, little lacking on resolution (1024 x 600 vs 1280 x 800), nexus is quad core compared to the aurora dual core.

Might be worth a look.
But it will arrive to you @ ~ 200$ if you order it on amazon right?!
Thanks for all the replies on the language issue. On my galaxy s2 (back when I was green in all things android), I never thought to look, and immediately linked it to all other accounts, installations, and so forth, till I found out all my arabic letters are seen as separate and unlinked to each other to make words. There are stopgaps, like the mirsal app, but I have far too much installed to start over. Still, it's good to see the Nexus 7 won't have this issue.

As for comparing it to other pads, the bottom line is still the basic question: "what do you want to use it for?"
Everything hinges on that question. The screen size/resolution, storage, weight, processor and ram.

And pc&parts has always been a reliable provider. Could be worth a shot.
i just sent pcandparts an email.

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