Wondering what Googles flagship I/O Conference announcement this week should look like? Wonder no longer. Its a 7-inch Tegra 3 tablet running Android Jelly Bean, and its set to hit Australia from July.
Today Gizmodo Australia has viewed a training document detailing exactly whats going to be in the new tablet and how much its going to cost.
As rumoured, Googles going to announce a 7-inch, Nexus-branded tablet called the Nexus 7. According to the leak, its built by Asus, with a 1.3Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, GeForce 12-core GPU and 1GB of RAM with two different storage variants: 8GB and 16GB.
The Nexus tablet will also feature NFC and run Google Wallet (probably only in the US) and Android Beam.
The screen is an IPS display with a 178-degree viewing angle, running a resolution of 1280 by 800. The device will also sport a 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera. The battery will also give you 9 hours worth of operation.
The 8GB model will set you back $US199 and the 16GB will cost $US249. No word in the document on local prices.
The leaked document also says that the device will be the first to run Jelly Bean, the new version of Android. Details are scarce on Jelly Bean, but the slides tell us that Google will handle operating system updates from now on, which could address the fragmentation problem. We arent sure if this statement means that Google will handle all handset updates from Jelly Bean onwards, or if it just means it will handle it for the Nexus 7 going forward. Based on the various arrangements with other manufacturers and telcos around the world, its likely to be the latter. Well know more come Google I/O.
Update: The document says that the Nexus 7 will run Android Jelly Bean, but makes no mention of the version number. We understand that the device will be version stamped with Android 4.1, rather than leaping ahead a generation and stamping it as 5.0. Wired had suggested after spotting a leaked benchmark that this would be the case.
Rumours about Google working on a Nexus-branded tablet with Asus have been swirling for a while. Even as far back as May, a report emerged of a super cheap Tegra 3-powered device was coming at the Google I/O developer event, which is now only days away.
The first clue was when Asus demonstrated the awesome cheap and wonderfully cheerful Eee Pad MeMO 370T at this years Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, before delaying the unit indefinitely.
Since then, rumours about a home-grown tablet from Google have been few and far between, but this is the first time weve seen anything official regarding specs.
Apple has already played its announcement cards around iOS 6, Microsoft has announced Surface and Windows Phone 8, and Google risks being left behind without its own bespoke tablet product. June is one hell of a month to be following whats new in tech.
Priced at sub-$US200, the Googles Nexus 7 will become Amazons biggest problem post-launch, threatening the market share of the hugely successful Kindle Fire. The Fire runs a highly modified version of the Android operating system and prevents users from wandering outside the customised Amazon environment. The Nexus brand, however, has always been associated with the purest form of the Android operating system Google has to offer, meaning that its likely going to be a better experience. Google is also banking on the fact that the screen is better than the Fires, with a higher resolution and 10-point touch capability.
Of course, this could all prove to be an elaborate fake. Weve seen them before and well see them as long as theres a rabid tech-loving public that will queue up around the block for value this good.
Well bring you the news as we hear it about this tablet, and if it really is the Nexus 7, Im looking forward to this years Google I/O.
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