All posts tagged ‘Asus’

Nexus 7 vs. Kindle Fire: What a Difference $19 Makes

Amazon’s Kindle Fire is $19 cheaper to build than Google and Asus’ Nexus 7, according to an estimate by the research firm IHS iSuppli. Photo: Peter McCollough/Wired

The Google-designed, Asus-built Nexus 7 is currently the best 7-inch tablet money can buy, but it isn’t the most profitable. Its biggest rival, Amazon’s Kindle Fire, is about $19 cheaper to produce.

While $19 might not seem like much, it adds up quickly when tablets are sold in the millions, as Amazon has done with the Fire and as Asus and Google hope to do with the Nexus 7.

The 8GB versions of both tablets sell for $200. But while the 8GB Nexus 7 has a manufacturing cost of $159.25 to build, the 8GB Kindle’s is just $139.80, according to a production cost estimate of the two slates based on product teardowns by the research firm IHS iSuppli. (The 16GB version of the Nexus 7 is far more profitable — it sells for $250 but costs just $166.75 to manufacture.)

But for less than $20, you get a lot more tablet in the Nexus 7. The major cost differences between the two devices are tied to the Nexus 7′s most distinctive hardware advantages over the Fire — its display, its CPU, a front-facing camera and a near field communications chip, said Andrew Rassweiler, a senior principal analyst at iSuppli.
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Review: Google’s Nexus 7 Tablet

The Nexus 7 delivers the finest experience we’ve seen yet from an Android tablet. Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

Note to all tablet makers not named Asus: This is how you make a 7-inch tablet.

The Nexus 7, the first tablet to wear Google’s Nexus brand, sets a new standard for smaller slates, proving that just because it isn’t as big as Apple’s iPad doesn’t mean it can’t be just as useful, as fast, or as fun. If you’ve been on the fence about Android, or tablets in general, this is the tablet you’ve been waiting for.

If you’ve been on the fence about Android, or tablets in general, this is the tablet you’ve been waiting for.

While the Nexus 7 isn’t a full-on iPad-killer, it far out-classes anything else offered in the 7-inch category, and most 10-inch tablets too. The Nexus 7 does this by offering smartly designed, powerful hardware and the best Android tablet experience to date. For those who only use their gadgets to surf the web, check e-mail, play games and update their social media feeds, the Nexus 7 might be an even better choice than an iPad, given how much easier it is to carry around.

But the feature that will probably be the most enticing to consumers is the price. The Nexus 7 sells for $200 with 8GB of storage. That’s the same price as the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet at the same storage capacity. If you want a bit more room to download HD movies, music, games and apps, you can get the 16GB version for $250. At these prices, the Nexus 7 is frankly a steal when you compare it to what else is out there at the same cost.

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Nokia Accuses Google’s Nexus 7 of Patent Infringement

  Google’s new Nexus 7 tablet might infringe of some of Nokia’s patents. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

Google and its partners are knee deep in patent disputes. And this time, instead of a certain Cupertino company, it’s Nokia on the offensive. Less than a week after Google unveiled its new Nexus 7 tablet, Nokia has made claims that the Nexus 7 infringes on some of its patents.

The news came only days after Apple won not one, but two injunctions against Samsung Android devices. Both the Galaxy 10.1 tablet and the Galaxy Nexus, Google’s flagship smartphone, may face U.S. sales bans.

The Nexus 7, however, won’t necessarily face injunction. Nokia has yet to file any suits against Google or Asus, the OEM responsible for manufacturing the Nexus 7. Nokia is much more likely to request that Google and Asus pay the appropriate licensing fees than bring either one to court.

“Nokia has more than 40 licensees, mainly for its standards essential patent portfolio, including most of the mobile device manufacturers,” a Nokia spokesperson told Wired in an e-mail. “Neither Google nor Asus is licensed under our patent portfolio. Companies who are not yet licensed under our standard essential patents should simply approach us and sign up for a license.”

It’s unclear, however, which of Nokia’s patents the Nexus 7 infringes. The Inquirer reports that it could have to do with patents regarding IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standard. The Nexus 7 comes in a Wi-Fi only model, without cellular data options.

Google and Asus did not respond with comment by the time of publication.

Considering the financial hurdles Nokia currently faces, it makes sense for the company to leverage its 30,000-strong patent portfolio. This could be the beginning of Nokia’s patent mining efforts, as it waits for Windows Phone to pay off.

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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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Windows 8 Tablets and All-in-One PCs Revealed in Detail at Computex

The dual-screen Asus Taichi doubles as an ultrabook and a tablet.

After months of curiosity, speculation and spec leaks, the first honest-to-goodness Windows 8 devices have finally been announced. At the Computex trade show in Taipei Monday, Acer and Asus introduced a large suite of Windows 8 tablets, all-in-one PCs, and hybrid ultrabooks.

The announcements follow last week’s Microsoft release of the final beta version of the Windows 8 operating system, aptly named Windows 8 Release Preview. The complete, shipping version of Windows 8 should be available around October.

As for the Windows 8 hardware announced at Computex, some pieces will launch this fall, others will arrive in 2013. Details are still scant, but we should learn more about specs and features closer to each device’s launch.

Asus Taichi

Apparently you need two displays on a single device to achieve tablet and notebook zen. The Taichi line of convertible notebooks, available in 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch models (one’s pictured above), remain as light as Asus Zenbooks, but sport a double display: One faces the QWERTY keyboard for notebook use, and one sits on the top of the lid for when you just want a tablet experience.

Each FHD/Super IPS+ display is 1920×1080 pixels in resolution, and there’s also a camera paired with each screen as well. Inside, you’ve got Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7 processors, 4GB of RAM, and SSD storage.

One of the benefits of merging a tablet and notebook is that you don’t lose out on peripheral connectivity. The Taichi has ports for mini VGA, micro DVI, and USB 3.0, as well as staples like a headphone jack and power port.
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