Google's Nexus Tablet To Be Unveiled Next Week

zacharye writes "Google chairman Eric Schmidt revealed in December that the company was working on its first own-brand tablet, and the 'Nexus 7' slate will finally be unveiled next week during the Google I/O developer conference, according to multiple reports. The latest reaffirmation comes from DigiTimes, which has reported a number of details surrounding Google's upcoming tablet that will seemingly prove accurate."

Comments

7-inch?

[nurb432]

Smack in the middle of the market that currently B&N and Amazon hold. Seriously, 7" is e-book territory. They should have made an actual tablet. 8" or greater.

Re:7-inch?

[Daetrin]

I actually quite like my 7" Nook, i can actually stick it in my pocket if i'm wearing cargo pants/shorts. I'm not sure i'd be able to do that if it was much bigger though.

Also, i forgot to mention it above, but i suspect Google is probably quite interested in blunting the momentum of the Kindle Fire if they can. Amazon rolling their own version of Android and cutting Google out of the market and ad loop is perfectly legal under the licensing terms, but that doesn't mean Google is necessarily pleased with the idea.

Re:7-inch?

[ozmanjusri]

You're expecting far too much from the product people at GOOG.

Nick Wingfield, from NY Times, wrote, "With its new tablet, Microsoft will effectively be competing directly with its biggest customers. When asked whether Surface would damage those ties, Steven Sinofsky, the president of Microsoft’s Windows division, gently pushed a reporter in the direction of a stand of Surface tablets and said, "Go learn something.'"

Google's customers are not B&N and Amazon. It is in Google's interest to have many Android vendors, not just a few large ones, and their reference Nexus designs are intended to kickstart competition in the tablet world in much the same way as they have for mobile phones.

If you want to see the real competitive 7" tablet market, search for '7" Allwinner Android'. Go learn something.

Re:7-inch?

[symbolset]

I'm writing this reply on my Asus Transformer TF101. This thing is awesome. My only problem with it is I need to work it one-handed. I need the other hand to hold the flyswatter I need to chase the children away from it. I can't afford Transformers for all. $200 tablets? That I could do.

Re:7-inch?

[recoiledsnake]

Here is what I learned by Googling that seem to be key differentiators of the 7" Allwinner.

3. My A10 based tablet did not come with market, how can I install Market?

If you are using Gingerbread (Android version 2.3.X) use Tasselhoff's Script. it can be found here
2.3.x Topnotch Tablets A10 scripts download Page

If you are using Ice Cream Sandwich (Android version 4.0.3) use Lordsbm's script. it can be found here
Lordsbm's script for all allwinner A10 tablets

If you are using Ice Cream Sandwich for Android version 4.0.3 you might need to use a 4.0.3 variant to get market. http://www.sappasit.go.th/android/ner_ics4.0.3.zip
(Before flashing you might want to read Question 10 below for script customizations), Onda owners have provided positive feedback thus far for this script.

If you are using 4.0.3 plus and the newtech25 script does not work. The final options is the
XxLorxX Cleaned ICS Script
For most tablets newtech25 seems fine. The Cleaned ICS script should only be used if the above fails. Novo 7A owners have provided positive feedback for this script.

4. My A10 based tablet did not come with Google Maps/other google apps? Can I install it?

If you are using Gingerbread (Android version 2.3.X) use the Automod Script. it can be found here
2.3.x Topnotch Tablets A10 scripts download Page. Beware to _not_ use the build.prop from that script as it's compatability may not be good for all tablets. In that package you will find all the google apps in the apks subdirectory. copy them either into your tablets memory or on an sd card and install them.

If you are using Ice Cream Sandwich (http://www.sappasit.go.th/android/ne...r_ics4.0.3.zip
(Before flashing you might want to read Question 10 below for script customizations)

How is this competitive?

Re:7-inch?

[ami.one]

You are probably getting those hits from the few models whose manufacturer's were not preloading Google Play / Market due to initial issues. Currently, almost all good Allwinner A10 tablets have Google Play working and actually perform much better than Samsung Galaxy Tab etc.

I have got 5-6 of these A10 tabs from different manufacturers (for a retail project) and all except one are really good and cost below USD 100. Where they score above the branded ones are that all have a fully functional host USB unlike Samsung Nexus etc which advertise USB OTD but its really iffy. So you can connect a variety of peripherals and also run native ubuntu 12.04 nowdays. (earlier it was only the chrooted linux - see xda for details)

Offcourse, they don't have brand recognition and in fact some have such funny names embossed on them that you would feel embarrassed taking them out in front of anyone ! Allwinner A10 has done an excellent job in getting usable tablets for the low end of the market. The earlier ones like rockchip/via etc were completely unusable.

Re:good luck to google

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is that in the fall apple is releasing an ipad mini which will dominate the 7" space as well.

A MiniPad?

SO the 10" will be the ... MAxiPad?

I sure hope that Apple can keep their products .... fresh, Otherwise folks will lose interest - especially that time of the month when they release new products.

I seriously don't think Google will be cramping Apple's style, but considering the tech press, well, you never know what they say on their rags.

Then again, Apple does stay on bleeding edge technology.