Forget about the new iPad for a second. Buried under the torrent of iPad news (yes, we know its screen is drop-dead awesome) is reported "confirmation" that Google is building a 7-inch "Nexus tablet" with Asus that will possibly be cheaper than the $200 Kindle Fire and come with the next version of Android.
The "confirmation" (and we suggest you treat it as a highly suspect rumor until Google officially confirms the news themselves) comes from Android and Me.
According to Android and Me, an anonymous "senior employee at a supply chain company based in the United States" has told the tech blog that Asus is scrapping plans to release the 7-inch MeMo 370T Android tablet that it unveiled at CES. Instead, it's using that tablet as a template for Google's official tablet.
The tentatively dubbed "Nexus tablet" will reportedly dump Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 processor in favor of what could be a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. Pricing is said to be much lower than the $250 price point that Digitimes reported last week — coming in at a possible $150 to $199 price.
At such a low price, the Google tablet would essentially undercut the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet's $200 to $250 pricing, setting it up to be an "impulse buy" for many consumers who haven't hopped on the tablet bandwagon.
On the software side, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will apparently be replaced with Android 5.0 Jelly Bean.
If Android and Me's source is to be believed, the Asus/Google tablet is a "done deal."
Let us know what your thoughts are on the latest Google tablet rumor. I'm skeptical as to what features a $150 tablet would bring to the table (probably no cameras and very limited storage). Google is likely going to use its tablet as a storefront to serve apps and content from its newly re-branded Google Play store, much like how Amazon and Barnes & Noble already do with their Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet slates. LINK
Via Android and Me
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