Credit: Google Inc.
We all know how good Google is at what they do. They are currently the undisputed leaders in the search engine field and the Android mobile operating system. Now they’re aiming their guns at Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet. Yep, Google has gumption power and can prove it in the battleground.
Last week Google’s camp announced their new tablet dubbed the Nexus 7 manufactured by Taiwanese AsusTek Computer with a 7-inch screen, IPS panel and a resolution of 1280×800 pixels coated with Gorilla Glass. Inside the hood you will find a Tegra 3 processor running at 1.3 GHz together with 1GB RAM memory and the option to select a model with 8 or 16 GB internal memory. The price tag for the first one is $199 and the latter sells for $250, well below the cost of an Apple iPad, and at the same level of Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble’s Nook.
The Nexus 7 will be launched running Android’s newest operating system flavor, 4.1 Jelly Bean. Jelly Bean will also come with the ability to share photos by tapping two phones together.
As its main dimensions the Nexus 7 is 10.45 mm thick and weighs only 340 grams similar to the weight of a paperback book. The capacity of the battery is 4.325 mAH which Google’s people say will offer about 9 hours of continued use.
This darling comes with a modest front-facing camera for taking photographs, albeit the quality is only 1.2 Megapixels, intended to be used for videoconferencing. It is a Wi-Fi only tablet with NFC technology and GPS feature, as well as the normal sensors.
The product will hit the shelves by mid July and will be distributed exclusively in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, although it is highly expected to reach other countries in the near future. That means that even as we speak, Panama is out of the picture. No problem, I already have my Kindle Fire, even though I’m not a fully satisfied user as you probably know.
Nexus 7 will also be the first device that ships with Chrome as its native browser—Chrome, despite being Google’s browser, hasn’t been available on Android until a beta version of it was introduced for Ice Cream Sandwich devices. Google has also overhauled Google Maps with more information and review features which can predict which restaurants you’ll likely enjoy. Offline maps will also be a hotly sought-after feature, and now that Apple and Microsoft are touting similar features, it’s an important bullet point to have.
It features tighter integration with Google Play, with content being front and center, similar to how the Amazon Kindle Fire functions. Due to this, Google Play now has a new 3D magazine app with tablet-optimized articles that render well on the Nexus 7′s screen.
Google is clearly making a play for potential iPad customers with this sleek, streamlined device, and with a price tag of less than half of the base model Apple tablet, the company may have a real shot at success. $499 gets you a 16GB iPad with a 9.7-inch Retina display, but if ultra-sharp screen resolution and playing in the Apple universe aren’t a big deal, the 7-inch Nexus slate will be much easier on your pocketbook.
Of course, it’s unclear how Microsoft’s Surface gadget will shake up the consumer tablet market. With a physical keyboard and Windows 8-esque software design, it seems like Android and iOS zealots will already have their minds made up between the iPad and the Nexus 7.
The waters are too murky now. They will be clearer after mid July. Let’s wait and see what happens when the dust settles down and the results are known. We the buyers will decide their success or failure. That’s the way it works. We the people have the last say. Good Day and happy blogging.
