Google Nexus 7 is a Tegra 3 Android tablet built by Asus with budget $199 price tag
The first solid details of the forthcoming Google Nexus tablet have been found in a leaked document acquired by Gizmodo Australia and it reveals a device which could pose a serious challenge to both the Amazon Kindle Fire and Apple iPad.
The Google Nexus 7 is being manufactured by Asus and will be the first tablet in the Nexus line-up. Gizmodo’s leaked training doc confirms the tablet is packing a 1.3GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor, 1GB RAM and 8 or 16GB storage. Its 7-inch IPS display will have a resolution of 1280 x 800 and the battery life is rated for 9 hours.
It will be the first device to run the Android Jelly Bean operating system, recently discovered to be Android 4.1 and not 5.0 as expected.
The price is said to be $199 USD for the 8GB model or $249 USB for 16GB memory. That’s just £127 for the 8GB Nexus 7 at current exchange rates, though we’re not expecting it to be that cheap when it finally arrives in the shops.
Straight dollar to pound conversion seems more likely but even £199 is an extremely competitive price point, in the range of budget models from the likes of Archos and easily undercutting the iPad. Amazon’s Kindle Fire currently retails for $199 in the US and is rumoured to be heading to the UK shortly after launch of the Amazon App Store later this month, however the Nexus 7 offers a significantly improved spec and doesn’t come lumbered with Amazon’s restrictive software.
The Google Nexus range is a series of reference devices running an unbranded Android operating system. The hardware has been built by various manufacturers including HTC with the Nexus One and Samsung's Galaxy Nexus.
Interestingly, Gizmodo notes that the Nexus 7 document says Google will “handle operating system updates from now on”. It doesn’t explain whether that means the big G will be taking over update duties for all Android devices or just the Nexus 7. The latter seems most likely given the vast array of hardware and networks around the world, but if it was the former this would be a massive change for Android users, who are usually stuck waiting many months for new software.
The Nexus 7 is to be officially revealed at the Google I/O conference on July 27 where the company is also expected to talk about Jelly Bean and other forthcoming Android updates.
