14 DAY TRIAL // There’s been much talk lately on Google’s plans for this year. It looks like the search giant is ready to enter the hardware business with its own branded device, the so-called “Nexus Tablet.”
Moreover, the company also plans to release the next version of Android, dubbed Jelly Bean, sometime in Q3 2012, but both rumors have yet to be confirmed.
According to the folks over at Android and Me, citing trustworthy sources close to the matter, Google teamed up with Asus to launch a 7-inch tablet, which will be a Google Experience Device, just like the Motorola XOOM.
The tablet’s 7-inch display is said to support 1280 x 800 pixels. Multiple reports point to a possible official announcement in April and a market release in June.
Furthermore, the said slate will be equipped with an Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor and it will be initially shipped with stock Android 4.x Ice Cream Sandwich, but it might get the Jelly Bean update by the end of the year.
The strong relationship between Asus and Google has also been recently confirmed by Benson Lin, Asus corporate vice president, who told TechRadar that “Asus is very close to Google, so once they have Android 5.0 I think there will be a high possibility that we will be the first wave to offer the Jelly Bean update.”
Although Google’s “Nexus Tablet” won’t be the first device to run Android 5.0 Jelly Bean, it’s likely to be the first to get it in case Asus and Google will release it on the market.
The same sources cited by Android and Me, confirm that Google wants to enter the Android market with a powerful device priced very low. This is why the company decided to offer the “Nexus Tablet” for a suggested retail price of 199 US dollars (150 Euro).