Asus Nexus 7 Tablet Now Official

The first official image of the Asus Nexus 7 has been released at Google Play.

The specifications for the tablet are as follows:

• Android 4.1
• 7” 1280x800 HD display (216 ppi) back-lit IPS display
• Scratch-resistant Corning glass
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• 8/16 GB internal storage
• 1 GB RAM
• Quad-core Tegra 3 processor
• 12-Core GPU
• 1.2MP front-facing camera
• NFC (Android Beam)
• Accelerometer
• GPS
• Magnetometer
• Gyroscope
• 198.5 x 120 x 10.45mm
• 340g
• Bluetooth
• Micro USB
• Microphone
• 4325 mAh battery (up to 8 hours of active use)

Price starts at US$199 for the 8 GB version. US$250 for the 16 GB version.  You get a US$25 credit which you can spend at the Google Play store. Effectively, the Nexus 7 costs you as little as US$174.

Pre-order up today. The bad news, well it is just the US, Canada, UK and Australia for now.

The new Nexus 7 tablet does not have any ground braking hardware. It really is a platform used to highlight the new Android 4.1 features:

• Smoother UI. The Android UI now runs a 60 frames per second.
• Low system requirements. It is even being released for the single core Google Nexus S.
• Chrome Browser is now the default web browser.
• Offline voice dictation/voice typing
• Google Beam allows you to send photos and videos to another Android device. Pairing of the devices can be done by taping the two together.
• Improve notifications bar which allows notifications to be expanded to show more information.
• Improved search bar.
• Improve voice search.
• Features Google Now, which provided contextual search without having to search. Google Now give you relevant information based on time, your location, calendar and other information (a bit creepy).
• Smart app updates. Instead of downloading the entire app to update, you will only have to download the changes in the APK.
• App encryption to prevent app piracy.