Asus Nexus 7 Tablet Specs, Price and Release Date

Asus Nexus 7 (Photo: Picasa)

The tabled and as-yet unannounced Google Asus Nexus 7 Tablet may have taken one step closer to its long-awaited release date this week, as the device reportedly made its first appearance on popular benchmarking site Rightware.

Eric Schmidt of Google had of course promised the arrival of a pure Google tablet before the close of Q2 this year, which would suggest that a Asus Nexus Tablet release date announcement will be made by the end of the month – if his word is kept to, of course.

Asus Nexus 7 Tablet Specs

Featuring what appears to be three colors (white face, black/grey back), the tablet has the familiar Google logo right in middle of the backside. Looking quite a bit like a massive Galaxy Note, the tablet looks to be held in more of a portrait mode as opposed to landscape. 

Notice that speaker at the top of the screen? Surely we are not the only one who thinks this thing might double as a phone. Either way, we'd use Google Voice and install Groove IP on the first day.

Should the listing prove authentic, the Google Nexus Tablet aka the Asus Nexus 7 tablet will boast a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor and herald the arrival of Android 4.0 Jelly Bean.

The tablet will likely appeal to tech enthusiasts because unlike the Kindle Fire, a Nexus tablet would be able to access the full Google Play app market, and would run the latest version of Android without any modifications.

Asus Nexus 7 Tablet Price

An Asus representative confirmed Google will announce a Nexus-branded and Asus-built 7-inch tablet at the end of the month with a sub-$250 price tag.

The representative, who wished to remain anonymous, revealed the news to Android Authority during last week's Computex trade show, but offered no other details about the tablet except that “it will be awesome.”

While we can't independently confirm Android Authority's report, we do know that Google has hinted at its own tablet since December. That's when Eric Schmidt said the company would “market a tablet of the highest quality” within six months. Google later showed interest in competing with budget tablets such as Amazon's Kindle Fire.

Asus Nexus 7 Tablet Release Date

We reported the possibility of the ASUS building a 7-inch Nexus tablet earlier, but that rumor just jumped a notch with an unnamed rep confirming to Android Authority that it is indeed working with Google on a quad-core tab. 

Though the mole wasn't willing to divulge more specifics, previous speculation points to the Tegra-based MeMO 3270T with Jelly Bean, the next iteration of Android. The publicity-shy source also confirmed the device would be coming at the end of June -- putting it within reach of Google's upcoming big event.