After countless rumors and leaks, the Google Nexus 7 tablet is finally official. The Nexus 7 is made by ASUS and sports Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and Google says that the device is "built for Google Play." The slate features a 7-inch 1280x800 display, quad-core Tegra 3 processor, front-facing camera and the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC trappings. Google says that the Nexus 7 will get 9 hours of battery life during video playback and 300 hours of standby. The Nexus 7 will also be the first device to come with the Chrome browser preinstalled. Interested customers can order a Nexus 7 starting today, with pricing set at $199 for the 8GB model and $249 for the 16GB version. Orders are expected to ship in mid-July. Each Nexus 7 will come with a handful of goodies, including a $25 Google Play Store credit and a copy of the Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie.
Google also took the wraps off of the Nexus Q, a device that can be controlled by an Android phone or tablet and integrates with Google Play to stream a user's music or video. The Nexus Q is powered by an OMAP 4460 processor and also features micro-HDMI and micro-USB ports, dual-band Wi-Fi, ethernet, optical digital audio, NFC and Bluetooth. Google touts the Nexus Q as a social streaming device, meaning that other users can connect to a Nexus Q and add their own Google Play music to the Nexus Q's queue. The Nexus Q can also stream videos (including YouTube clips) when connected to a TV. Nexus Q is priced at $299 and is available for pre-order from Google Play today, with orders shipping in July.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has been available in the Google Play Store for some time now, and was actually the first device to be sold in the store's Devices section. That hasn't stopped it from sneaking its way into the news today, though, as Google has given the unlocked HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus a price cut. Originally set at $399, the Galaxy Nexus is now available for purchase from Google for $349. Not a bad deal.
The final product shown off by Google at I/O today was Project Glass. The camera-packing glasses were first introduced back in April, but today we finally learned when non-Google folk will be able to give them a go. Google revealed that I/O attendees will have the opportunity to pre-order the Glass Explorer Edition. The pre-order is only open to U.S.-based developers attending I/O, and interested devs will have to shell out $1500 for the prototype device. The pre-orders are expected to begin shipping out to in early 2013.
