Nexus 7 Tablet and Nexus Q Media Player Outed Ahead of I/O
by Jason Inofuentes on June 27, 2012 12:06 PM EST- Posted in
- Android
- Trade Shows
- I/O 2012
- Nexus 7
- Nexus Q
- Android@Home
Android Police broke this story, discovering assets for the Google Play Store that confirm earlier rumors that Google would be revealing a 7" Nexus branded Android tablet at their developer conference, I/O. Our Brian Klug is at the event and will be covering the keynote here. Pricing is not confirmed, but early speculation has it that the device will be priced at just $199, and feature a Tegra 3 SoC. From the leaked image, it's somewhat apparent that the new device, dubbed the Nexus 7, will be sporting Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean).
Alongside the Nexus 7, Google will expand the Nexus brand to media devices, it seems. Other assets found on Google servers indicate that a media player called the Nexus Q will also launch. The device is uniquely shaped for a device in this space, as just a sphere with a flattened bottom, and looks devoid of any on-device controls. Google actually previewed a similar device at I/O last year, in demonstrating their Android@Home home control initiative. The fact that these assets were found on the Play Store's servers could indicate that the initiative is finally making it to market.
Again, we'll have more as this story develops.
[Update] The Nexus Q website has launched and it covers some interesting details of this device, including pricing ($299). The hard specs are that this is basically a Galaxy Nexus sans screen. The OMAP 4460 we know and love is inside, along with 1GB of RAM, 16GB of NAND and connectivity is standard phone stuff (microHDMI and microUSB) complimented by less pedestrian ports like TOSLINK, ethernet and banana jacks for speakers. There's much more across the jump, but I'm jumping into a different keynote now, so follow along with Brian and we'll update later.
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mevans336 - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Who wants a 7" tablet with limited resolution?Spunjji - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Who wants a 9.7" 4:3 ratio tablet with limited resolution?...oh, wait. Quite a lot of people did.
B3an - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
Now now kids..They're all equally crap and useless :)
*Waits for Surface*
nathanddrews - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
We love our Iconia A100 7" tablets. Resolution is just fine for the size and distance I hold it from my face. The ICS update made it even better! That said, I can't wait for an i5 Surface tablet!ImSpartacus - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
I agree. WVGA is fine on a $200 7" device.Curiously, a 7" 1280x800 device nearly has the ppi of a 10.1" 1920x1200 device.
While I would love to see 1920x1200 7" devices (and 2560x1600 10.1" devices), the resulting 323 ppi would push the device (far) above the $200 mark and out of the impulse purchase zone. Maybe next year.
steven75 - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
4:3 is much preferable to 16:9 on a tablet. That means you can use it *comfortably* in either orientation, and it matches the dimensions of a sheet of letter paper or a typical magazine perfectly.Impulses - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
It also means you waste a ton of screen space during media playback.Spunjji - Thursday, June 28, 2012 - link
For a start, this tablet is 16:10. Subtle difference perhaps, but then the general ballyhoo surrounding the change from 16:10 to 16:9 in PC monitors suggests otherwise. If you have trouble holding a 16:10 tablet, your problems extend beyond the tablet itself.16:10 also enables you to have a nice 1:1.4 ratio page in the middle of the screen with software controls above/below. 1:1.4 being the ratio of the A4 page, also known as the world's paper standard.
I can make arguments like this all day long, but in the end it's personal preference and yours does not have some magical objective force making it preside over others'.
Dribble - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
The top selling non-apple tablet by a long way is 7 inch, with limited res and costs $200.Romberry - Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - link
1280x800 on a 7 inch tablet isn't exactly low resolution. Since I don't read with my eye a half inch away from the screen, I expect that resolution will be passable. People caught up in marketing speak may not agree, but what the heck...