Early reviews of Google's first Android tablet have been so positive, many are calling it the first real iPad competitor--so much so that Apple might be gearing up its own Nexus 7 killer for the fall. Size, weight, price and, yes, even the OS have industry experts singing its praises, including Apple stalwart Walt Mossberg, who went so far as to call it "a better choice than the iPad for people on a budget."

But it looks like Google's race to the bottom with Amazon (the display costs just $10 more than the far smaller iPhone), has had some unfortunate side effects. Aside from the usual touch-responsiveness issue that plaque just about every Android device on the market, it seems that there are some physical hardware issues as well. To put it bluntly, the display stinks.

First, there were isolated reports of "ghosting" (artifacts sticking around after the image on the screen is long gone), then people began complaining about shoddy build quality that caused the display to separate from its rather ample bezel. Finally, disappointment seem to crest when "horrible backlight bleeding" pictures began to surface.

But now there's science to support what everyone's thinking. Dr. Raymond Soniera, President of DisplayMate technologies, has put the Nexus 7 through its paces and found that even if yours isn't faulty, it still misses the mark:

"So, what's the problem? The Intensity Scale (often called the Gray Scale) is way off. The display's Brightness fails to increase sufficiently for bright image content, causing bright image detail to be compressed and lost. ... On some cheap displays this is done intentionally by the manufacturer because the compression actually makes them appear artificially bright. Here I think it's probably just incompetence by the manufacturer, which is too bad because they messed up a really nice display."

To make matters worse, Dr. Soneira says Google "messed up the factory calibration. This affects all displayed images, but it is most noticeable on any form of photographic image, including videos. ... In short, the display produces washed out images and colors in spite of the fact that it has a display with excellent color saturation and contrast."

Of course, results will inevitably vary between tablets, but Nexus 7 owners looking for a replacement model might be out of luck there, too--it looks like they're all sold out.