As the day winds down, we’ve been witness to what is known as “the rush,” a veritable onslaught of news about a particular product that had heretofore remained relatively obscure.
The Nexus 7 sequel has been on the docket for a long time, and rumoured specifications have been floating around for months — a 7-inch 1280×800 display, a quad-core Snapdragon 600 SoC, 2GB RAM, a 1.2MP front-facing camera, 5MP rear camera, Android 4.3 — but nothing has been confirmed.
Today, not only did we get an invite to a “breakfast” conference being held next week with Android head, Sundar Pichai, but Engadget got their hands on an internal OfficeMax document stating that the “new Google Nexus 7” is also launching next week. Coincidence? Probably not.
The device is expected to launch at $229 USD for the 16GB model, increasing to $269 for the 32GB version. Not the $199 we saw the original debut at, but this is a much more powerful machine (and, you know, inflation).
Then Android Central got photos and video ostensibly showing off the new Nexus 7 hardware, replete with specs similar to what was previously rumoured, the only change being the inclusion of 4GB of RAM (unlikely) and a slower Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC (more likely). And, of course, it will be manufactured once again by Asustek.
The new design appears to mimic its predecessor insofar as a bland, plastic tablet can mimic another bland, plastic tablet. The Nexus insignia on the rear is similarly placed as before, as are the various buttons, rockers and ports. There are two speakers on the device, which will provide stereo sound playback and hopefully be an improvement over the original. The design is also slightly more squared-off than last year’s model, but we can’t be sure if what we’re seeing is a prototype or a finished product.
Google is also expected to launch Android 4.3 next week, a small but important update to the current software. The existing Nexus 7, as well as the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 should receive the new version in the weeks following the announcement.
Source: Engadget, Android Central
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