Google Nexus 7 tablet is 7-inch quad-core HD movie, book and game machine

1 hr.

Wilson Rothman

Just as?Google's developer conference was getting started, details of the company's?rumored Nexus 7 tablet emerged. As previously reported, it is a 7-inch tablet powered by a Nvidia?Tegra 3 quad-core processor?that will run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and come in 8GB ($199)?and 16GB versions ($249). You can order today, but it ships in mid-July.

The display is true high-def ? 1280x800, so a bit better than 720p ? and there's a front-facing 1.2-megapixel camera and microphone?for video chatting, though there's no rear-facing camera. (That's okay -- do you really take pictures with tablets?) It also has a micro?USB port, GPS, near-field communication and both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. There's no mention of an SD card slot for expanding the memory, however.

Not surprisingly, it was built by (and even branded)?Asus, the manufacturer that had already?made the most headway with quad-core gamer-friendly Android tablets. (See our video on the Transformer Prime below.)

Clearly, at a starting price of $199, the Nexus 7 is positioned to compete with the similarly 7-inch?Kindle Fire, rather than taking on the 9.7-inch?iPad (and the 10.6-inch Surface tablet from Microsoft). And because, with all of those tablets, content seems to be the biggest incentive, Google is playing up the Play store, even granting early buyers $25 in Google?Play credit and "some great free content" including "Transformers: Dark of the Moon." Even if you don't think any of the "Transformers" films is truly "great," it is nice to see Google aggressively pushing content, even adding TV shows and magazines to their lineup. Tablet buyers need a reason to buy a tablet.?

Google has (presumably temporarily) made the above video private, along with the following links to the?8GB and 16GB versions on Google Play. They will be back up soon, though, so keep trying. Here are screenshots of those pages to tie you over in the meantime:

--?Via TechCrunch and The Verge

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