The Google Nexus $199 tablet has been rumored for a while now, but we have a fresh theory regarding this device. Although the favourite company to manufacture the slate is Motorola, since it was bought by Google last year, it appears that ASUS may be favourite here, according to recent rumors.
I remind you that we’re dealing with a 7 inch device and the new info says that the tablet will run Android 4.x ICS on top of a quad core Tegra 3 CPU. The rumor comes from two different industry sources, so it seems pretty believable. The sources remain anonymous, although the reports say they spilled the beans at MWC 2012. It’s pretty clear why Google is pricing its product at $199, with the Kindle Fire getting huge traction out there at a similar price. Amazon shipped around 5 mil units in Q4 last year, quickly becoming the best sold Android tablet.
Google is afraid of the fact that Amazon replaced the Android ecosystem with its own, so it needs to make a statement on the tablet market. Back to the Nexus slate, this model will support a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, enter production in April and ship around June. ASUS already have an affordable 7 inch slate in its portofolio, the $249 MeMo 370T announced at CES, also packing a quad core Tegra 3 CPU. Could this be used as a starting point for the Nexus device? Other things to look out for when the new device comes are the integration of Google Drive, Google Music and possibly some Chrome features. Recently some info about a possible Google Play branding for the tablet came up, so this may end up being the official name of the tablet.
Google I/O 2012 attendees could get such tablets for free in June, but there’s a long time to go till then, so let’s be happy with speculations for now, OK?
