Just days after Google announced its Nexus 7 tablet during its I/O conference, reviews are already in. The company’s new Android tablet will launch at $199, and is already being considered a steal within the tablet market, which has seen little competition in the last few years. Google’s device will look to compete directly with Amazon’s similarly priced Kindle Fire and Apple’s iPad 2, the world’s most popular tablet by far.
The Nexus 7 is manufactured by ASUS, designed around a 7-inch screen and weighing in at just 0.74 lbs. The back of the device is housed by a soft material that was reported to feel more like taut leather than metal or plastic. The device has a 1280 x 800 LCD display, with 216 ppi.
In technical specs, the Nexus utilizes a quad-core Tegra 3 CPU, clocked at 1.115GHz when running on four cores. A $50 price difference separates the models with either 8GB or 16GB of built-in storage, both of which are equipped with 1GB of RAM. Unfortunately there is no microSD slot for those looking to expand the storage space. The Nexus also contains a number of standard features, including Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, a GPS chip, a 1.2 megapixel fron-facing camera, and much more.
One of the largest factors in the success of the Nexus 7 will be the reception of the new Android 4.1 software update, dubbed Jelly Bean. Those familiar with smartphones or other mobile devices running the Android operating system will be right at home with the new version. For those who are new to Android, the Jelly Bean iteration is steadily approaching the feel of a complete computer operating system. New changes such as a predictive text system will simplify use for customers picking up an Android device for the first time.
Google is currently taking preorders for the Nexus 7, with consumer versions of the tablet expected to ship in just 2-3 weeks. Online review source The Verge put forward a great review of the product, ranking it not just as a top tablet for its price, but a top tablet in the increasingly large market.
