Tablet Wars Heat Up with Google's Nexus7
By: Bridget Carey, CNET.com for CBS News
Updated: June 28, 2012
It's time to say hello to the Kindle Fire's greatest nemesis: Google's 7-inch Galaxy Nexus tablet, called the Nexus7.
Unveiled at Google's developer's conference, its a much more powerful tablet than the Kindle Fire and the Barnes and Noble Nook -- and you can get it for the low price of $200. The Nexus will have the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, it'll have a quad-core processor, and it's got a front-facing camera. Because really, how often would you use a back facing camera on a tablet?
But you gotta have more than just hardware to compete with the Kindle - so Google also unveiled new features in it's entertainment hub, Google Play. Now you can purchase movies and television shows, and you can get magazine issues or subscriptions. The Nexus7 is taking pre-orders now in the Google Play Store and will ship in mid-July.
But don't expect Amazon to sit back and take this quietly. In the next month,
We could see the Amazon Fire drop its price, and some reports say a new Kindle Fire 2 will come out at the end of July, and it too could have a camera.
The new Android 4.1 Jelly Bean system will be faster with improved notifications and widgets. There's also something called Google Now. It gives advice for your live based on your
location, calendar and your habits. If you have an appointment on your
calendar, it tells you when to leave your house, based on the route, traffic and mode of transportation you usually take.
It even updates you on your favorite sports teams without you telling it what teams you like. It just knows what teams you like based on what you search for. A little weird. Siri got a bit of a slap, too.
Ask your phone a question, and it'll pull up the results very fast and speak the answer to you.
Google also is coming out with a home theater device to take on Apple TV. Its a sphere is called the NexusQ, and it taps into the content stored in your Google Play Cloud. It can stream the audio and video you own to your home theater,
And your friends can also play the DJ and pull in songs from their accounts. It's a bit more pricey than you might expect -- it's $300 -- and it'll be shipping mid-July.
And if you were curious about Google's Project Glass, the camera-enabled headset stole the show.
Stunt men wearing the glasses live streamed a Google hangout video while skydiving onto the roof of the event, and stunt bikers zoomed across the roof, someone rappelled down the side of the building -- all this to show how a wearable computer can add some new perspectives.
It's still a prototype, but people at the event could sign up to be the first to preorder them for $1,500 to help shape the development of the eyeware. The first versions will ship next year.
(Bridget Carey, CNET.com for CBS News)
Unveiled at Google's developer's conference, its a much more powerful tablet than the Kindle Fire and the Barnes and Noble Nook -- and you can get it for the low price of $200. The Nexus will have the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, it'll have a quad-core processor, and it's got a front-facing camera. Because really, how often would you use a back facing camera on a tablet?
But you gotta have more than just hardware to compete with the Kindle - so Google also unveiled new features in it's entertainment hub, Google Play. Now you can purchase movies and television shows, and you can get magazine issues or subscriptions. The Nexus7 is taking pre-orders now in the Google Play Store and will ship in mid-July.
But don't expect Amazon to sit back and take this quietly. In the next month,
We could see the Amazon Fire drop its price, and some reports say a new Kindle Fire 2 will come out at the end of July, and it too could have a camera.
The new Android 4.1 Jelly Bean system will be faster with improved notifications and widgets. There's also something called Google Now. It gives advice for your live based on your
location, calendar and your habits. If you have an appointment on your
calendar, it tells you when to leave your house, based on the route, traffic and mode of transportation you usually take.
It even updates you on your favorite sports teams without you telling it what teams you like. It just knows what teams you like based on what you search for. A little weird. Siri got a bit of a slap, too.
Ask your phone a question, and it'll pull up the results very fast and speak the answer to you.
Google also is coming out with a home theater device to take on Apple TV. Its a sphere is called the NexusQ, and it taps into the content stored in your Google Play Cloud. It can stream the audio and video you own to your home theater,
And your friends can also play the DJ and pull in songs from their accounts. It's a bit more pricey than you might expect -- it's $300 -- and it'll be shipping mid-July.
And if you were curious about Google's Project Glass, the camera-enabled headset stole the show.
Stunt men wearing the glasses live streamed a Google hangout video while skydiving onto the roof of the event, and stunt bikers zoomed across the roof, someone rappelled down the side of the building -- all this to show how a wearable computer can add some new perspectives.
It's still a prototype, but people at the event could sign up to be the first to preorder them for $1,500 to help shape the development of the eyeware. The first versions will ship next year.
(Bridget Carey, CNET.com for CBS News)
