ASUS and Google have been busy lately, but we’re all still waiting to see what exactly they’ve been working on. With the new second-gen Nexus 7 not arriving at Google I/O as expected, we’ve now been seeing multiple reports on the slate, but still no sighting. After an unknown 7-inch ASUS tablet listed as the K008 with Android 4.3 cleared the Bluetooth SIG last week, today it’s passing through the FCC.
Oddly enough now we’re a bit confused because the device today is listed as K009, not K008. It also shows as having the older Snapdragon S4 Pro (like the Nexus 4) on board and not the newer Snapdragon 600 or 800 like previous rumors. Then it’s also being reported as rocking a 5 megapixel rear and 1.2 front set of cameras, and happily this slate will come with 4G LTE.
Now that this has finally stopped by the FCC we’re moving it up to “official” but the details still aren’t fully know so we’ll continue taking reports and rumors with a grain of salt. We’ve also seen the original Nexus 7 clear Bluetooth SIG with Android 4.3, so clearly there’s some odd things going around with both tablets, and the next version of Android.
We’re happy to see 4G LTE, a rear camera, and a 32GB model all being listed here, so this is certainly a better tablet all around over the original. We just wish a better processor was on board, but that could be to help hit that low price point that made the Nexus 7 so successful. Latest supplier reports suggest the second-gen Nexus 7 is coming in late July and will run you $229 for the 16GB model. Until Google and ASUS make it official we’ll just wait patiently and keep looking for more details.
Who’s interested even with the slightly outdated S4 Pro quad-core processor?
SOURCE: NotebookItalia
I want one either way. Will be a nice upgrade with the 2gb RAM. 1gb works, but it’s not enough anymore…
I’ll be saving my pennies for the ASUS Transformer Trio instead…
According to numerous articles and reviews, the S4 Pro wipes the floor with the Tegra 3, so this tablet should still be better than the original. I have held off getting a N7 because of the reviews of the weak Tegra 3 and the fact that my Tegra 2 Acer A500 was starting to struggle with the newer games. I’m looking forward to the S4 Pro version.
The snapdragon s4 pro is one of the fastest soc’s on the market with 4 cores divided into a total of 200 sub cores based on krait architecture. The snapdragon 600 has 300 sub cores certainly but a quad core 1.5 GHz krait is nothing to sneer at. It is still a brilliant chip. Besides, look at something like the iPhone 5. It is one of the fastest devices on the market and it sports a dual core 1.2 GHz cortex A9 chip (krait is much much faster). That’s because its software is very efficiently written. IOS makes the most of its power. Android is less efficient. But take the nexus 4, I happen to own one and it is blazingly fast. The software is stock Google made by Google. The software is the smoothest android experience in my opinion. I put it up against a Samsung galaxy s4 (snapdragon 600) and the entire ui was faster and more fluid on the nexus 4. Software integration with its hardware is key. That’s why apple does so well with lesser hardware. So to wrap up, yes OK the chip is a few months old and has a bigger faster brother. But android 4.3 could still make it the fastest nexus out there. No phone should even need a quad core processor. Again look at iOS. The iPad mini has a 1ghz dual core A5 chip that is now two years old. The next big thing in phone and tablet speed shouldn’t be from the hardware but from the software side of things. I’m perfectly satisfied with the chip. I hope android 4.3 makes the best of it. Performance should be stellar. And well written software has many more advantages than a simple speed bump. It can increase things like battery life for instance. I believe the new nexus 7 will be a buy.
Love the Nexus 7 very much , no lag , great size for travel and is so useful . Great little gaming tablet as well. Nice screen , snappy performance . All good . The cons .. needs bigger battery , better speakers ,and yes better camera would be nice !
But truthfully ,still I would buy another in a heartbeat !!
It really needs a Micro SD card slot. My music collection alone would swamp onboard storage. Not to mention the space HD video’s need…
I don’t even care if the new nexus 7 comes with a camera at all… I’ll never use it. But hey if it’s there… Bring it on!
Never buy anything from ASUS. The 1st gen Nexus 7 has a well documented problem with the screen cracking yet ASUS ignores this and blames it on customers mishandling. Something is wrong with the design. ASUS may or may not have fixed it on the 2nd gen Nexus 7 but they do not stand behind their product.
I’ve had my “launch” nexus 7 that I purchased less than a month after it came out and haven’t had any issues as of yet, besides lag with the past update..