Google’s new tablet comes with HD screen, updated Android

Google and Asus on Wednesday launched the new version of the Nexus 7 tablet. While the screen of the device remains 7 inches, it now sports FullHD resolution (1920 x 1200 pixels).

The tablet is also almost 2 mm thinner and weighs around 50 grams less than the old Nexus 7. It will be available in Wi-Fi and LTE versions. In India, though, 3G version is likely instead of LTE model.

The basic model of the tablet will cost $ 229 in the US. So far, there is no word on the availability of the tablet in India. An industry insider told TOI that it is not expected here anytime soon.

Other than the bump in the screen resolution and a slimmer design, the tablet has also received better internal hardware. It is powered by a quad-core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon Pro chip and Adreno 320 graphics chip. Hugo Barra, vice-president of Android product management, claimed the processor is around 80% faster compared to the chip that powered old Nexus 7. The graphics performance in the new tablet is up by 400% compared to its predecessor.

The basic model the latest Nexus 7 will have 16GB internal storage and 2GB RAM. The model with 32GB internal storage will also be available. Unlike the old Nexus 7, the new one has a primary camera that can click 5 mega pixel images. The front camera, which can be used for video chats, sports a 1.2MP tag.

Google also announced Android 4.3 - still called Jelly Bean - at the Nexus 7 launch event held in San Francisco. The new Nexus 7 is powered by Android 4.3. The new version of Android is also available for Nexus 4, old Nexus 7, Nexus 10 and Galaxy Nexus.

Android 4.3 is similar to Android 4.2 in terms of user interface. But there are a few new features. Of these, the most important are new set of settings for multi-user accounts and ability to restrict content for different users on a device, similar to what Windows allows.

Sundar Pichai, the head of Android and Chrome divisions at Google, said that Nexus 7 has been a huge success after it launched last year. It constitutes 10% of all Android tablets sold in the last year.

"So far over 70 million Android tablets have been activated across the world," said Pichai.

At the same event, Google also announced Chromecast, a tiny dongle that can connect to any TV that has an HDMI port and allows a user to stream videos from an iOS or Android devices onto the big screen.