SAN FRANCISCO—As expected, Google Inc. used the occasion of its Google I/O developer event here Wednesday (July 27) to launch a 7-inch media tablet, made by Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc., which will be available in mid-July starting at $199.
The Nexus 7 features an Nvidia Tegra 3 chip set, including a quad-core CPU and a 12-core GPU, along with a 1280 x 800 HD display, said Hugo Barra, Google's product management director for Android. The tablet offers a front facing camera, supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Near Field Communications and weigh just 330 grams (less than 12 ounces), about the weight of an average paperback book, Barra said.
Nexus 7 is power thrifty, supporting up to nine hours of video playback and up to 300 hours of standby time on a full charge, Barra said.
Google was widely expected to introduce a small form factor tablet at the developer event.
Nexus 7 will run version 4.1 of Android, codenamed "Jelly Bean," which was also announced by Google Wednesday. The latest version of Android includes a smoother and more responsive user interface, a home screen that adapts to fit content, a predictive keyboard feature that suggests the next word before a user begins typing it and more interactive notifications, according to Google.
Google also announced an Android 4.1 platform development kit for Android hardware developers, in addition to a software developer kit.
Rounding out Google's major announcements Wednesday, the firm launch Nexus Q, a spherical shaped streaming media device which connects to stereo speakers and televisions to wirelessly stream music and video from Android handsets or tablets to be played on large speakers and screens. The device is priced at $299 and expected to start shipping in two to three weeks, Google said.
Prior to the announcements, Vic Gundotra, said there are now 400 million Android devices, up from 100 million a year ago. About 1 million Android devices are being connected each day, he said.