14 DAY TRIAL // Google is done letting others mess with Android, especially in the tablet department. It's been waiting for more than a year now for hardware makers to come up with something people like and, more importantly, buy. Ironically, it was Amazon that made the first Android tablet sell in droves.
The problem, for Google, was that Amazon created its own Android offspring and ousted the Google Play Store along with every other Google app.
Google, like Microsoft has had enough, and took matters into its own hand. There have been plenty of rumors of Google working on its own tablet. Most likely we'll find out about it in a few hours.
On paper, the Google tablet, created by Asus, is a monster due to the combination of specs/price. It's got a Tegra 3 quad-core processor clocked at 1.3 GHz, 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage in the standard configuration. It also packs a 7-inch 1280x800 IPS display and all of this for only $200, €160.
If the details turn out to be correct, and there's a very high likelihood that they will, it may very well be the first Android tablet, running actual Android, to sell in huge numbers.
The price is the same as the much lower-spec'd Kindle Fire, while the specifications put it in the territory of devices that sell for a lot more.
Google partners have every right to be worried. But even more worried should be Amazon. In fact, rumors say that the Kindle Fire 2, or whatever it will be called, is coming by the end of next month. The new device is getting a spec bump, the screen will definitely be updated and quite possibly the processor.
The price is likely to stay the same, and the same as the upcoming Google-branded device. At the same time, the existing Kindle Fire will probably continue to be sold, but at a lower price spec, like $149, €119 a new low for mainstream Android tablets.