14 DAY TRIAL // After the Google I/O, lots of people were disappointed that the highly anticipated Nexus 8 tablet did not make an appearance. But industry watchers familiar with the matter assured us that Google and HTC will eventually launch the tablet at some point.
While we are waiting on that, Google seems to be cooking something else in The Nexus camp. A device going by the name Nexus Foo has been spotted making an appearance in the GFXBench database. And taking a look at its specs reveals a really mysterious device.
For starters, Nexus Foo comes with a larger screen than that of the Nexus 8 – one of the 10.3-inch variety. So, at first we could assume that the product is a tablet. But other details seem to indicate this is not the case.
For example, the screen has 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution but does not support touch. Under the hood, lies a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor, an aspect which makes us think of tablets again, given the fact the Nexus 8 is expected to arrive boasting a Tegra K1 CPU out of the box.
But the oddest detail of them all is that the device is supposedly running Android KKWT, which is the build number of Android Wear. Moreover, the device brings support for OpenGL ES 2.0, often associated with Android Wear.
Most Android phones or tablets with Android 4.3 or 4.4 onboard make use of OpenGL 3.0 and Android L will bump things up to OpenGL 3.1.
Furthermore, the Foo is equipped with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, but has no accelerometer, barometer, GPS, compass, gyroscope, light sensor, NFC or proximity sensor.
Based on all the information available on the Benchmark website, it could be argued that Foo seems to be more of a laptop. But the presence of Android Wear in the equation throws everything off balance.
It’s impossible to assume Google is working on a huge wearable with a 10.3-inch display unless it plans on selling in on an alien planet populated by giants.
Google has been known to launch odd products from the Nexus lineup. Remember that back in 2012, the search giant rolled out the Nexus Q – a round-shaped device marketed as “the world’s first social streaming media player”?
So, is Google planning a new, completely atypical Nexus device that’s to wow us all? That might be a possibility.
On the other hand, keep in mind that Benchmark websites are often filled with all kinds of device prototypes which sometimes don’t really have anything to do with reality. This might be the case with this Doctor Jekyll meets Mister Hyde device over here.