Yet another industry giant enters tablet space-- Google reveals the Nexus 7 at the I/O Developer Conference, a 7-inch Google-branded device carrying an other fresh announcement, Android version 4.1 (aka Jelly Bean).
However, unlike the high-end Microsoft Surface, Google's take on tablets (a co-development with Asus) appears more humble. With a $199 price point, the Nexus 7 aims for the lower end of the market where the Amazon Kindle Fire currently dominates.
The 7-inch display handles 1280x800 resolutions with a 178-degree viewing angle, while the tablet carries a Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 12-core Nvidia GPU and 1GB of RAM. It also supports bluetooth and NFC connections and includes a front-facing camera.
The second biggest I/O announcement is the latest Android version. Code named Jelly Bean, Android 4.1 includes a number of improvements aimed at polishing what already lies within version 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).
The most major addition is "Project Butter"-- a modification allowing Android to run the CPU, GPU and display in parallel in order to speed up the UI frame rate to 60fps.
Jelly Bean also includes a yet unnamed rival to Apple's Siri voice assistant, with improved Google-powered voice search and offline voice typing. First available only in US English, Google promises it will add more languages (including 18 new ones) "soon."
Further input improvements include gesture control, allowing users to navigate the UI by swiping.
Apps also get encryption-- Jelly Bean receives apps with a device-specific key.
The Nexus 7 is the first device running on Android 4.1, and the Galaxy Nexus, Motorla Xoom and the Nexus S will receive it as an over-the-update sometime in July 2012.
Watch Introducing Nexus 7
