Google unveils Nexus 7 tablet, available mid-July for $199

Google has officially announced the Nexus 7 tablet during its opening keynote at Google I/O 2012. As rumored, the device is manufactured in partnership with Asus, featuring a 7-inch 1280 x 800 display and a Tegra 3 SoC which itself comprises a quad-core CPU and twelve-core GPU. The device weighs in a mere 340 grams so it’s easy to carry around and will reportedly last for 9 hours of HD video playback.

Connectivity-wise you’ll get the mandatory Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but there was no mention of 3G/4G. You also get a front-facing camera for video conferencing and all the sensors you'd expect from a modern tablet.

The device will ship with the recently-announced Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system and is being pitched as the ideal tablet for music, movies, books, magazines, apps, and games. Google highlighted a few of these things on stage, including the new Google Play magazine app featuring tablet-optimized articles with interactive elements, as well as playing a short clip from TV series Parks and Recreation.

There’s a new home screen that puts your content front and center — much like the Kindle Fire does — and new widgets to help you find books, apps, games, songs and more in the Google Play store.

Also highlighted were Google’s Chrome browser for Android, a completely redesigned YouTube app for tablets, the latest version of Google Maps with new overlays showing relevant information about places, a “Compass Mode” that lets you see inside-the-business photos, and support for offline maps.

Lastly, Google gave a glimpse at the tablet’s gaming capabilities with a couple of titles before announcing the all-important price and availability: the Nexus 7 will begin shipping in mid-July and will sell for $199.

At that price Amazon is going to have a hard time competing with its Kindle Fire — at least for now, since an update to the Kindle is rumored for the end of July. Google is certainly hoping to steal some sales from the iPad as well but given Android’s track record in the tablet market we’ll have to wait and see how that goes. One positive aspect is that since this is a Nexus device Google shouldn’t drag its feet when it comes to updates.

Can Google Outshine Apple And Microsoft at Google I/O 2012?

Google will have its chance to show up Apple and Microsoft in the coming days when the search giant is expected to debut the next version of the Android mobile operating system and new Nexus-branded devices. Google's big show will happen during Google I/O, the company's annual developer conference, which includes keynote sessions on Wednesday and Thursday. The Google conference follows a flurry of announcements from Apple and Microsoft during the month of June.

Apple doubled down on new Macs and an iOS refresh, while Microsoft in two separate events debuted the next-generation version of Windows Phone and a new Windows 8 tablet, Surface. Now, it's Google's turn to convince users to stick with Android mobile devices and stay away from the lure of a revamped iOS and Windows Phone.

Nobody knows for sure what Google has planned, but here's a rundown of the highlights expected and wished for during Google I/O 2012.

Android 4.1/5.0 Jelly Bean

Google is expected to take the wraps off the latest version of Android at Google I/O, but rumors have not been particularly rampant about what features Jelly bean might include. Some speculation suggests Google may be getting ready to release its own voice-activated digital assistant codenamed Majel. The project is named after Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and a longtime Star Trek actor best known as the voice of the computer in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Majel would be similar to Apple's Siri.

Beyond going where no Android has gone before, a recent leak for an upcoming Nexus tablet suggests that Google may cut the carriers and manufacturers out of future device updates, according to Gizmodo Australia. So instead of waiting for Samsung or HTC to upgrade your Galaxy Nexus or One X to Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) or the expected Jelly Bean refresh, Google could send the update directly to you. There's no telling what that might do to your carrier specific overlay such as Samsung's TouchWiz or HTC's Sense, but if the report is accurate that's good news for Android fans hoping to stay on the bleeding edge of update cycles.

There is also some speculation that Chrome will become the default browser in Jelly Bean, following Google's release of the first Chrome Beta for Android in February.

One reason the rumor mill may not be buzzing all that much about the next version of Android is that Jelly Bean could be a minor update from Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. In fact, there are signs that Jelly Bean will be called Android 4.1 and not Android 5.0, which would suggest a more significant refresh.

A user on the xda-developers forum as well as the blog Droid Life spotted a mention on Google Play that the Galaxy Nexus would be the first phone running Android 4.1, Jelly Bean.

Nexus Fest

The Wall Street Journal in May reported that Google will launch Jelly Bean with new Nexus devices including smartphones and tablets from as many as five manufacturers. The Nexus line is the flagship brand Google uses to launch new hardware with every new version of Android.

There have been a lot of reports claiming that a new 7-inch Nexus tablet is on its way from Asus and Google. The device would cost around $250 or less, have a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processsor, and Android 4.1, Jelly Bean.

Gizmodo Australia recently obtained what it claims is a training document that describes the new 7-inch tablet. The purported device would have 1280-by-800 resolution, include 8GB or 16GB storage, 1.3 GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor (the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201 also uses a 1.3GHz Tegra 3), GeForce 12-core GPU, and 1GB RAM. Gizmodo's leaked device would also include near field communication for Google Wallet.

It's not clear how many Nexus devices (if any) Google would present during Google I/O. In 2011, Google introduced Ice Cream Sandwich during the developer conference, but didn't follow up with the first Android 4.0 device until October.

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt in December said the company was working on a tablet.

Google Cloud

Google is all about offering online-centric services, and during Google I/O the company may introduce a new cloud computing platform to compete with Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), according to GigaOm. This announcement would be more interesting to developers since we're talking about the ability to rent virtual servers to run server-side apps.

But a Google-branded EC2-type service could help support new and interesting online businesses. EC2, for example, is used or has been used by many services you rely on every day including Dropbox, Instagram, Netflix, Quora, and Reddit. If Google does get into the virtual server game, let's hope they don't have a catastrophic outage as Amazon did in 2011.

Project Glass

Some critics are hoping for a sneak peek at Project Glass also known as Google Glass, the search giant's augmented reality glasses. But the Google co-founder Sergey Bring recently said Project Glass wouldn't hit store shelves until at least 2013.

Sergey Brin Demos Google Glass:

It could be an interesting Google I/O this week, but will the search giant debut enough interesting new things to compete with iOS 6, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, a new Retina Display Mac from Apple, and Windows Phone 8 and the Windows 8-based Surface from Microsoft? Only a few days until we know for sure.

The Google Android Tablet: Coming Soon?

Watch out, iPad: Google may be getting into the tablet game. In a move reminiscent of its recent step into mobile phone design, Google is reportedly working on its own custom Android-powered tablet.

Most of the specifics are still unknown -- what features a Google tablet would include, for example, or who would manufacture it -- but if there's one thing we can count on, it's with whom a Google-made tablet would compete.

Google Android Tablet: What We Know

The Google Android tablet news comes by way of a story published in The New York Times on Sunday. The story, a piece about upcoming competition to Apple's iPad, states that Google is currently "exploring the idea" of creating its own tablet computing device. The gadget is described as "an e-reader that would function like a computer."

The info, according to The Times, comes straight from the big dog's mouth: Google CEO Eric Schmidt is said to have divulged the Google tablet scoop while chatting with friends at a recent party in L.A. Other insiders supposedly confirmed the concept.

"People with direct knowledge of the project -- who did not want to be named because they said they were unauthorized to speak publicly about the device -- said the company had been experimenting in 'stealth mode' with a few publishers to explore delivery of books, magazines and other content on a tablet," The Times reports.

Envisioning a Google Android Tablet

Knowing the principles of the Android operating system, one can make a few educated guesses about what a Google Android tablet could be and how it might compare to Apple's iPad. First and foremost, it'd likely be a far more open device in terms of customization: While Apple tends tomaintain a tight grip on its user experience, Android-based devices typically allow users to configure the interface to their likings and replace stock components as they choose.

The same principle applies to applications: Compared to Apple's highly controlled approach to app development and approval, Google's Android Market for apps allows anyone to submit and publish programs without scrutiny. Android-powered devices -- with the exception of those that run on AT&T -- also let users download apps from unofficial third-party sources. One would imagine these qualities would be among the basic tenets of a Google-made Android tablet.

Along those same lines, a Google Android tablet would likely provide support for Flash -- something Apple has long forbidden on its mobile computing devices. The existence of an open app marketplace could also mean immediate support for tethering, as we've seen happen via third-party utilities on Android phones. And, of course, any Android tablet would presumably provide feature-rich apps for Google services such as Gmail and Google Voice, something Apple also does not permit.

As for the device's form, Google has previously published conceptual images of how a Google-centric tablet might look. Those concepts, however, revolved around the idea of a Chrome OS-based tablet, so they may or may not apply to an Android-based design.

Google Android Tablet: A Reality Check

It's fun to imagine what a Google Android tablet could do, but don't let some of the headlines out there fool you: From what we know so far, there's no reason to believe a Google-made Android tablet is an "imminent" or even a certain thing.

Read back over what the info provided byThe New York Times actually states: Google is "exploring the idea" of building a tablet device. It is "experimenting" with possibilities. Despite some bloggers' tendencies to fill in the blanks with big words, there's no indication that this is a done deal, let alone something that's likely to occur at any moment.

We do know, however, that a slew of new tablets is on the way for 2010, and many of them are expected to be powered by Android. So whether or not Google ends up building its own tablet, numerous new options will soon be headed our way. The iPad may have been the first serious contender, but it won't be the only one for long.