All posts tagged ‘Nexus 7’

Hands-On: Nexus 7 Tablet Is a Media Hub that Amazon Must Fear

Google and Asus have teamed up to build the Nexus 7 tablet, a rival to Amazon’s Kindle Fire. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

I’ve only been using it for about a day now, but the Nexus 7 is already the best 7-inch tablet I’ve ever tested. Without question, it out-classes the hugely popular Amazon Kindle Fire. It’s also a better-performing device than Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet and Nook Color, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, Toshiba’s Excite 7, and anything else out there in this size.

The Nexus 7 is manufactured by Asus but serves as a full-fledged Android flagship device. This means it runs a completely pure, unadulterated version of Google’s latest mobile operating system — Android 4.1, aka Jelly Bean. The hardware was designed by Asus and Google together, and it just can’t be matched in terms of 7-inch tablet value.

For one thing, it’s the world’s only quad-core 7-inch tablet, and it will sell for $200 with 8GB of storage and $250 with 16GB of storage. The Google Play storefront has the tablet on pre-order now for shipment in mid-July.

Inside is Nvidia’s Tegra 3 quad-core processor, a 12-core Nvidia GPU and 1GB of RAM. These internals give the Nexus 7 plenty of speed and processing power. When I first turned on the tablet, and logged into my Google account and began downloading content, swiping between different home screens was a bit stuttery. It wasn’t any worse than what I’ve experienced on other tablets, but I didn’t get the feeling the Nexus 7 was brimming with category-leading components.
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Amazon Reportedly Readying Launch of 10-Inch, Quad-Core Kindle Fire

Amazon is set to launch two new Kindle Fires, a 7-inch model and a 10-inch model. (Original Kindle Fire pictured above.) Photo: Jon Synder/Wired

Apparently, Amazon isn’t just working on the Kindle Fire 2 — the retail giant is also finally getting close to releasing its long-rumored 10-inch, quad-core Kindle Fire, according to a report from BGR. Amazon is set to launch both of its tablets in the coming month, offering improved build quality and materials.

The news of Amazon’s reported tablets comes hand-in-hand with Google’s Nexus 7 tablet announcement at Google I/O on Wednesday. The Nexus 7 tablet, which focuses on entertainment consumption, takes direct aim at the current Kindle Fire. And the form factor similarities between the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire are impossible to ignore.

From Wednesday’s announcements, however, it’s clear that the Nexus 7 trumps Amazon’s original Kindle Fire in hardware specs and overall build. Google’s tablet sports the same $200 price tag, but features a 1280 x 800 pixel display, Nvidia’s Tegra 3 quad-core processor, a 12-core Nvidia GPU, and 1GB of RAM. It also has a front-facing camera, and supports Bluetooth and NFC, none of which appear on the current Fire.

But Amazon’s tablets won’t be behind for too long. The company is bringing more tablets, with better specs, to the compete in the market. The 10-inch Kindle Fire model is expected to be come with a quad-core chip, a microUSB port, a front-facing camera, and an HDMI-out port. The new Kindle Fire 2 model will reportedly come with a higher-quality metal casing, as opposed to the the plastic of today’s Fire tablets.

“It’s really up a notch from the current Fire,” sources told BGR.

While other internal specs are still unclear, it would not be surprising if Amazon launched both tablets to be very competitive in specs and price with Google’s Nexus 7. According to reports, the tablets will launch in late July.

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Google’s Android Onslaught Takes on Kindle Fire, Apple’s Siri

Google’s Nexus 7 tablet, made by Asus, is built to take on the Kindle Fire. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

Google I/O’s day-one keynote could be fittingly tag-lined “Android Reloaded.”

On Wednesday, Google unveiled Android 4.1, aka Jelly Bean, complete with revamped voice features that make Android a clear rival to Apple’s Siri. Also revealed was the Nexus 7, a tablet tailored to purchasing and consuming books, magazines, music, movies and TV shows. It’s a clear bid to challenge Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

It’s patently obvious that Google knows who Android’s biggest rivals are.

Google also unveiled Nexus Q, a streaming-audio device that’s entirely dependent on Android and Google’s cloud services. We have an exclusive look at it here. For now, let’s dig deep into the new 7-inch tablet and mobile OS.

Nexus 7

The Nexus 7, built by Asus and designed in concert with Google, will be the first device to ship straight out of the box running Jelly Bean. The tablet, which we just received from Google and will have a hands-on with later, is impressive. It’s lightweight, it’s thin, it’s fast and it makes for a pleasant book- and magazine-reading experience. The home screen of the Nexus 7 features a “my library” widget that puts front and center all the content you’ve purchased from the Google Play online storefront.

Other widgets offer recommendations on apps, magazines and video that you might like — all these suggestions are based on what you’ve already purchased from Google Play. And, as always, all of your content is stored in the cloud to be streamed or downloaded at will. All of these Nexus 7 features deliver punch for punch what Amazon offers in the Kindle Fire, and at the same $200 price point.

But where Google and Asus one-up the Fire is in the level of hardware the Nexus 7 packs. Inside the device is Nvidia’s Tegra 3 quad-core processor, a 12-core Nvidia GPU, 1GB of RAM and a display sporting a 1280×800 resolution and 178-degree viewing angle. The tablet also supports bluetooth and NFC, and includes a front-facing camera — three features the Fire doesn’t have.
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