Google Launches 'Nexus7' Tablet

Google has unveiled its own branded tablet named ‘Nexus7‘ at the Google I/O, the company’s annual event for developers, in San Francisco. Nexus 7 aims to challenge Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle Fire in the tablet market.

Nexus7 sports a 7-inch screen with a resolution of 1280×800 pixels. It is powered by quad-core Tegra 3 processor with 12 core Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). The device has a 1.2MP front-facing camera and it weighs 340 grams.

Nexus7 runs on the latest version of Android operating system, Jelly Bean. It features Wi-fi, Bluetooth and NFC but does not support 3G. The tablet has a 4,325mAh battery which offers upto 9 hours of HD video playback and 300 hours of standby.

The tablet is being manufactured by the Taiwan-based company Asus and it is now available on the Google Play store for pre-order. The tablet can be pre-ordered by people in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the UK right now. The device will be shipped in mid-July. The price of Nexus7 starts at $199 for 8GB storage version and $249 for 16GB.

Google has also announced Nexus Q at the I/O event. Andy Rubin, senior vice president of mobile and digital content, wrote in Google’s official blog, “Nexus Q combines the power of Android and Google Play to easily stream music and video in your home – all controlled by an Android phone or tablet.”