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Topic: Tablets

Latest Google Asus Nexus tablet rumors: Quad-core Tegra 3 inside, to be given away at I/O conference

Summary: The so-called Google Asus Nexus 7 may be using a quad-core Tegra 3 processor from Nvidia and be handed out to developers at the company's upcoming conference.

Sean Portnoy

By for Laptops & Desktops |

The churning of the rumor mill has picked up pace for the rumored Google tablet. The device, supposedly the same 7-inch form factor as the Amazon Kindle Fire and manufactured by Asus, has been much discussed over the past few months, but new information has emerged ahead of a possible launch at the end of June.

The so-called Google Asus Nexus 7 tablet has popped up in the benchmarks from Rightview. According to info from its PowerBoard tool, the slate is using a quad-core Tegra 3 processor from Nvidia, running at 1.3GHz, along with an Nvidia ULP GeForce GPU that powers the 1,280x768 screen. It was running Android 4.1 JRN51B, a.k.a. Jelly Bean, unlike the Kindle Fire, which the Nexus will be priced to compete with if the $199 rumored price tag sticks.

Google might launch the Nexus 7 at its upcoming I/O conference starting on June 27, and Fudzilla is reporting that the company will be handing out free copies of the device to developers at the event. If true, that should no doubt help app development for this Nexus and other Android tablets.

With the Android tablet market not particularly settled beyond the Kindle Fire (which goes to some lengths to hide its OS roots), and Apple not releasing a 7-inch iPad -- at least, yet -- Google still has a chance to be a serious player in the slate race, unlike its lackluster experience with Nexus smartphones. Could this finally be Google's breakout hardware product? Expect plenty of more rumors in the upcoming month.

Topic: Tablets

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13 comments
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  • That name is a mouth full...

    Pagan jim
    James Quinn
    Reply Vote

  • Can't wait....

    If it is like the Memo 370t and also has usb, microSD, and HDMI, it will sell out!

    Just give the people what they want at a reasonable price.
    Anderoid
    Reply Vote

    • And it has to have

      Of course unlocked 3/4g wouldn't hurt!
      Anderoid
      Reply Vote

  • Will completely change the tablet market...

    This is the most significant tablet launch since the original iPad.

    One thing that worries me though, is that they seem to be releasing Jelly Bean too soon. ICS has yet to reach critical mass. I would have thought they would hold the Jelly Bean release till Sept/Oct.

    http://www.tech-thoughts.net/
    sameer_singh17
    Reply Vote

  • Chan Luu Bracelets

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    veaxwj
    Reply Vote

  • Hmmm....

    A 1024x768 screen would imply a 4:3 aspect ratio, rather than the 16:9 aspect ratio of most 7" tablets. I kinda doubt that will be the case. 16:9 is a very comfortable aspect ratio for a 7" tablet, as the thing then resembles the dimensions of a paperback novel. At a 4:3 aspect ratio it would strike me as too squarish. It would also likely lead to compatibility issues with some apps.
    dsf3g
    Reply Vote

    • thats 1280 X 768...

      ...which is still only a 5:3 aspect.
      Scubajrr
      Reply Vote

      • Ah

        Ah, my bad. I misread the resolution.

        But that's even more puzzling, since I know of no devices that use a screen with that resolution.

        Still, 15:9 is pretty close to 16:9
        dsf3g
        Reply Vote

    • Resolution and aspect ratio are not the same thing

      and you cannot infer one from the other.
      .DeusExMachina.
      Reply Vote

  • Not a chance!

    Some poster above even wrote that this is the most significant tablet since the iPad tab release.

    I wonder what most people here smoke but this tablet has no chance at tablet revenue and profit marketshare. Not even in the single digits.

    Apple has an ecosystem. It gives a clean ui experience, is built on 20 years of work on a FreeBSD/Mach derived kernel/userland os and though not beating Microsoft or IBM in software design skills provides decent SDK access for moderate development ramp up and deployment. Though it places an emphasis on taking cut from developer because it thinks it is the mediator between developer and end user. And its ecosystem includes DRMed access to music, movies and clean web content via Safari. And it took Apple a decade to go from iTunes to iPad though Steve J envisioned the Apple Newton like iPad way back in 2000 or 1998 actually. That is a real decade of work.

    Amazon has some ecosystem which is still in budding phase but plays on its strengths from internet warehousing and retailing. It played the mediator between seller and buyer and that now includes tv shows, movies, e-books, music etc. And what it lacks in platform, it did conveniently make up for it with a copy-cat of Android's earlier os. But that is still secondary to its goals which is to provide a touch tablet to help expand Amazon's cloud presence in the consumer area. And so it will win and so it will be significant since the business strategy is coherent and incremental. Amazon has been on this for almost 6 years with Amazon Instant Video, Amazon MP3 and recently with Amazon Cloud Drive. So it has experience to incrementally improve on this.

    Microsoft needs no explanation. It is a seasoned platform provider like IBM. It has a lot of software design smarts like IBM. In fact, Justice department started going after Microsoft initially because of its partnership with IBM till 1991 or 1992 from 1989 if older people can remember. But the point is - it shares the same software smarts DNA as IBM. And it also was and still is a consumer platform provider via the ubiquitous PC. And it has been trying to create a seamless pc/tablet experience ala Apple with Win8. The apps all reviewed so well here on Zdnet look good for basic consumer usage matching Apple ui experience quotient. And so it stands a chance and that too a serious one of getting Apple like revenue and profits or parts of them with its Win8 tablets. Even the business model looks similar but different at the same time. I am sure the 5 years of work put into Win8 will take them somewhere from 2012 to the next year. More scope lies in expanding new businesses built around Metro consumer and enterprise apps that work well with pc and server applications which is all brand new. And it seems to be getting started on creating a content ecosystem with news providers, music and movie providers and e-book providers ala Apple and Amazon.

    Now coming to Google - all of Google's work so far has been in creating a Java clone (yes) for the last 6 years and which platform is non-standardized across hardware form factors. App and other ui experience is inconsistent. Platform management is non-simplistic and actually there is no content either - except for Youtube which is way overpriced compared to iTunes or Amazon on-demand services. $3.99 for a Tintin and $1.99 for Sherlock Holmes. I mean what are they smoking! They should let me know so I can experience the same disconnect from business reality. Google has no music service either. And the OS improvements are minimal from version to version. And most importantly - there is no revenue or profit for OEMs from the Android channel. Nothing. This simply explains that the Google tablet is DOA and an epic fail.
    calahan
    Reply Vote

    • Really?

      I'm pretty sure Google music counts as a "music service"https://play.google.com/music/listen
      The movie rentals on the Google play are also the same price as my cable provider's on demand movie service some are even cheaper. Some people would say UI inconsistency isn't a bad thing because it give's you more choice.
      UsernameTBD
      Reply Vote

    • all that long tirade to say that you're a MS fanboy

      and yes, is the most significant tablet development after the iPad. If there is a company that can challenge Apple (as seen in smartphones), that company is Google. MS? We already can witness the inverse halo effect in motion, also called "Microsoft Kiss of Death", basically every company partnering with MS run into oblivion (Think Novell, think Palm, & the latest, Nokia of a long list). Not very good if you are grounding a new, untrusted platform. So I see for the next few years, the market split in 2, Android & iOS taking around 90% of the market, the other 10% disputed by the wannabes (WebOS, Win8, BB)
      theo_durcan
      Reply Vote

  • Just put a Google sticker on the Transformer .... ASUS can't sell them

    Contrary to fandroid dilutional believes, ASUS only manufactured 80K Transformers and they still have more than 50% in inventory. (that fact came out in the Hasbro vs ASUS legal case)

    So just put a Google sticker (to hide the ASUS logo) and hope that idiots would buy them.
    wackoae
    Reply Vote
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