Nexus 7: Google’s Jelly Bean Quad Core 7 Inch Tab

Google’s I/O conference is underway and it looks like the company will be announcing a high performance, low cost Nexus tablet to compete with Microsoft’s Surface and Apple’s iPad.It was only a week ago Microsoft unveiled its Surface tablet, intimidating ally manufacturers who use Windows software on their PCs. With Apple’s dominating iPad and Microsoft’s hardware foray into the booming market, it appears Google will be unveiling its own self-branded tablet.

Rumours of a 7 inch Nexus tablet have been in the works for some time, but now, compliments of Gizmodo Australia, there’s photos of the tablet and specifications gleaned from a leaked training document.

Google has named it Nexus 7 and the 7 inch tablet will be powered by a 1.3 GHz Quad-core Tegra 3 processor, have a GeForce 12-core GPU, 1GB of RAM and be available in either 8GB or 16GB variants.

Although the IPS screen spans 7 inches, it promotes the same 1280×800 resolution as its 10.1 inch Android brethren. This is great for video playback and also improves how touch receptive the tablet is.

There is no rear camera, but on the front there is a 1.2MP camera which will come in handy when videoconferencing. In addition, the tab’s battery life is said to last for 9 hours.

The Nexus 7 tablet will be the first device to run the new version of Android 4.1, referred to as Jelly bean. Jelly Bean is more of an evolution of Ice Cream Sandwich, offering performance improvements and Google’s Chrome as the default web browser. Furthermore, the Nexus name infers the tablet won’t be bogged down by carrier or manufacturer custom skins, instead running an unaltered version of Google’s software and therefore benefitting from software updates first.

The tablet market has been steadily rising at the expense of local computer sales. According to the IDC, local PC sales in Q1 of 2012 have reached their softest in two years, coinciding with the meteoric rise in tablets. The category has proven a popular hit to consumers who consume content and scarcely create it.

Read: Oz PC Market Crashes

The document details the 8GB Nexus 7 tablet will cost $US199, with the 16GB costing $US249. Apple’s introductory iPad retails for $539 while Microsoft’s Surface tablet is expected to nudge the $1000 mark.

Unfortunately there’s no word on local pricing, but the tablet is expected to hit Australia in July.