Google just conjured up its platonic ideal of an Android tablet: killer specs, the most pristine possible software and a $249/$299 price in Australia. Will this be the Android tablet that finally makes Android tablets exciting? Is Amazon going to lose?
The Nexus, a slim, trim piece of gear packed with the latest Jelly Bean release of Android, falls mostly in line with what we were expecting: built by ASUS, the Nexus holds a 1.3Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, NFC, and 1GB of RAM with two different storage variants: 8GB and 16GB. That’s a damn good level of muscle behind a 7-inch, 1280×800 screen, measuring 198.5mm x 120mm x 10.45mm.
It’s also clear from the price — $249 for the 8GB model and $299 for 16GB — that this thing is aiming squarely to extinguish the Kindle Fire. So far, it’s the only tablet that isn’t an iPad that’s managed to make large groups of people care in the real world, owing, yes, largely to the fact that it’s cheap. If Google can manage to not only sell a cheap Android tablet, but an Android tablet that doesn’t scare off mums and non-geeks, the Nexus hit the ground with serious momentum — it’s sure as hell kicking the Kindle Fire’s arse in about every other category.
Google is gunning for Amazon Prime too, now that Google Play offers pretty much every medium short of signal flare. This is how many are going to be persuaded (or not) to buy a Nexus over a fire — not crazy specs and wobbly tablet gaming. Watch and listen to whatever you want — that’s the draw. Magazines, books and TV shows all admittedly look great in Google’s demo — it’s done a terrific job with the interface — but so far, Google Play doesn’t provide the unlimited pipe of AmazongPrime. Maybe the beefy guts inside will make up for that.
How much of this wil filter through to Australia is yet to be seen. We’ll let you know as soon we get those details. [Google]