SHARE

Google Ignites Starter Tablet War with Nexus 7

The tablet wars took a new twist at this week’s Google I/O 2012 conference. The search giant revealed the Nexus 7, a $199 7-inch tablet built by Asus that runs Android Jelly Bean (4.1). With the Nexus 7, Google is following the trail blazed by devices like Amazon’s popular Kindle Fire. Also sporting a 7-inch […]

Written By

Pedro Hernandez

Jun 28, 2012

Datamation content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More

The tablet wars took a new twist at this week’s Google I/O 2012 conference. The search giant revealed the Nexus 7, a $199 7-inch tablet built by Asus that runs Android Jelly Bean (4.1).

With the Nexus 7, Google is following the trail blazed by devices like Amazon’s popular Kindle Fire. Also sporting a 7-inch screen and running a modified, media-centric version of Android, the Kindle Fire is the king of the “starter tablet” market.

Amazon is notoriously coy about releasing sales performance figures on its devices. Analysts estimate that Amazon sold up to 6 million of the $199 tablets in Q4 2011. Currently, several companies, including Barnes & Noble, Toshiba and Lenovo, are vying for a slice of the 7-inch market.

One competitor is a tablet maker has the industry buzzing for its conspicuous absence in the starter tablet space: Apple.

Apple’s iconic iPad continues to ride a wave of popularity — and fill the company’s coffers. IDC forecasts that iOS will make up 62.5 of the tablet market in 2012, a healthy increase over last year’s 58.2 percent share.

And if Apple launches an “iPad Mini” this year, all bets are off. Tom Mainelli, research director of Mobile Connected Devices at IDC, said in a recent statement, “If Apple launches a sub-$300, 7-inch product into the market later this year as rumored, we expect the company’s grip on this market to become even stronger.”

Apple remains mum on its 7-inch tablet plans, if any. Meanwhile, Google is taking advantage of Apple’s silence.

Currently available for preorder on Google.com, the Nexus 7 weighs 0.75 lbs., measures 7.8 inches by 4.7 inches and is 0.4 inches thick. The Wi-Fi-only device packs a 7-inch, 1280 x 800 IPS touchscreen, Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor and 1 GB of RAM. Google estimates that the tablet’s battery is good for up to 8 hours of continuous use.

Storage capacity options for the Nexus 7 boil down to 8 GB and 16 GB. The device carries an array of sensors common to multimedia tablets, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer and GPS. Nexus 7 also has an NFC chip for Android Beam, Google’s device-to-device sharing technology.

To show off the tablet’s affinity for entertainment, Nexus 7 will ship preloaded with the “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” movie, “The Bourne Dominion” e-book, songs and magazines. Buyers also get a $25 credit that is good towards Google Play, the company’s iTunes-like marketplace for apps, music, movies and e-books.

Nexus 7 ships in mid-July.

Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.

Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Driving Greater Equality

FEATURE | By James Maguire,
December 16, 2020
AI vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning

FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
December 11, 2020
Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think

FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
December 04, 2020
Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 18, 2020
Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA

FEATURE | By Guest Author,
November 10, 2020
Top 10 AIOps Companies

FEATURE | By Samuel Greengard,
November 05, 2020
What is Text Analysis?

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 02, 2020
How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 29, 2020
Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 23, 2020
The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media

FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
October 16, 2020
Top 10 Chatbot Platforms

FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
October 07, 2020
Finding a Career Path in AI

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
October 05, 2020
CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science

FEATURE | By Guest Author,
September 25, 2020
Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future

FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 25, 2020
Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2021

FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
September 22, 2020
NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
September 18, 2020
Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 14, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 13, 2020
IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI

FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 11, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality

FEATURE | By James Maguire,
September 09, 2020

SEE ALL
ARTICLES

Pedro Hernandez

Pedro Hernandez is a contributor to Datamation, eWEEK, and the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Previously, he served as a managing editor for the Internet.com network of IT-related websites and as the Green IT curator for GigaOM Pro.

Google Ignites Starter Tablet War with Nexus 7

Pedro Hernandez

Recommended for you...

Company

Categories

Google Ignites Starter Tablet War with Nexus 7

RELATED NEWS AND ANALYSIS

Pedro Hernandez

Recommended for you...

Company

Categories