Canadians who pre-ordered Nexus 7 tablet in the dark on shipping

Google's Nexus 7 tablet might be getting great reviews, including kudos for its affordability, but you wouldn't know it if you've pre-ordered the device (like I have) in Canada.

Despite some anecdotal evidence that the 8GB version of the tablet is shipping, Canadians (and others) who ordered the 16GB model through the Google Play store seem to be in the dark as to when they might receive the highly anticipated tablet.

Adding salt to the pre-order wound is that the tablet has made its way to some stores across the country in limited numbers, allowing anyone to just walk in and pick one up. One potential Nexus 7 owner was angry enough to start an online petition asking for Google to refund shipping costs.

[ Related: Google's Nexus tablet selling fast across retail chains ]

So what's the point of pre-ordering a gadget if you can't reap the benefits of getting it before others? I naively believed that a package would make its way to my doorstop sometime before the tablet would hit retail shelves and that I'd be able to show it off in advance of the masses getting their hands on one.

"Jimmy" posted this comment on Mobilesyrup.com that illustrates the frustrations of the pre-order crowd:

Meanwhile, the rest of us will have to wait patiently for a shipping notice while being content to read the the musings of folks who didn't get snagged by the pre-order trap.

[ Related: Google Nexus 7 a worthy iPad challenger ]