June 25, 2012, 11:51 AM — Google will launch its own sub-$200 7-in. Nexus tablet this week at its Google I/O conference in San Francisco, according to training documents viewed by Gizmodo Australia.
The report comes after a slew of rumors, including reports of a Google tablet called Nexus 7 that would run Android Jelly Bean, the next generation of the Android operating system.
Jelly Bean, or Android 4.1, was recently described as a modest upgrade from Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich.
A $199 starting price would put the Nexus 7 in the same category as the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook tablets. Both offer the same price and same screen size as the expecte Google tablet.
The most popular tablet by far, with more than 60% market share, is still Apple's 9.7-in. iPad, whose latest version is priced from $499.
The documents viewed by Gizmodo Australia say the Nexus 7 is built for Google by Asus, and runs a 1.3 GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor from Nvidia, and a GeForce 12-core graphics processor. The device will include1 GB of RAM and either 8GB or 16GB of internal storage.
The Nexus 7 will also have an NFC chip to run Google Wallet and Android Beam, the Android 4.0 tool used to for transfer data between NFC-ready Google phones.
The documents also describe a tablet with a screen resolution of 1280 x 800, a 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera and a nine-hour battery.
The report puts the 8GB model's price at $199 in U.S. dollars, and a the 16 GB version at $249. The report says the device will be release in Australia in July, which likely be about the same time or after a U.S. release, based on prior history.
Of interest to many Android fans is a comment in the documents that Google will handle all updates of Jelly Bean going forward, a policy that might only relate to the Nexus 7, Gizmodo Australia noted.
Android updates to many different models of smartphones have been a recurring problem for carriers and Google. At the June, 2011 Google I/O conference, Google announced the the Android Upgrade Alliance of phones manufacturers and carriers. The Alliance was created to help keep upgrades to various Android models on track.
