Google Nexus 7 home network tablet for gamers

The Google Nexus 7 was unveiled earlier in the week at Google I/O with a new operating system and features. But is the Google Nexus 7 home network tablet for gamers? (Images credit: Google)

The Nexus 7 weighs in at 12 ounces or 340 grams and has a 7 inch screen, runs Android 4.1 called jelly Bean. According to Fox News and Hugo Barra, director of product management for Android -

The Nexus 7, which was built for the company by Asus, has a 1,280 x 800 display, a chipset from nVidia with a quad-core CPU, and a 12-core graphics processor. “That’s basically 16 cores,” he noted. Few modern computers exceed four cores.

Google demonstrated several neat features of the Nexus, including improved mapping features thanks to a built-in gyroscope and accelerometer, a Google Play magazine app that works like a newsstand, and a variety of games that take advantage of the device's powerful graphics hardware.

Users of the Google Nexus 7 home network tablet for gamers will also find a front-facing camera, WiFi, Bluetooth and NFC connectivity. Google is promising that with the device you can get 9 hours of video watching and 300 hours of standby time with a fully charged battery. It does not feature 3G connectivity perhaps to make it more affordable. The Google Nexus7 will operate at 60 FPS, and “will be able to predict where your finger will be before you touch the screen”! The tablet will even allow for sharing photos with another Jelly Bean device by tapping them together, and a similar method used to pair a Bluetooth device.

Google also appears to be touting the tablets e-reader and video play back abilities. The e-reader abilities can be especially handy with magazines given its interactive functions. However with its 12 core GPU the Google Nexus 7 home network tablet for gamers is a real option. For games with great graphics and first person shooters the Nexus 7 may well be worth your consideration. Google demoed a game called Horn and Madfinger's Dead trigger all of which performed quite fluidly. Take a look at the introductory video below.

Is the Google Nexus 7 home network tablet for gamers a real alternative I guess only time will tell. It certainly may be an alternative when on the go and is probably going to be a strong contender against the Amazon Kindle Fire given its price point of $199, but only with a whole raft of games being made available on Google Play will the Google Nexus 7 home network tablet for gamers be a real alternative as a far as tablets go.

via Posterize

Google Nexus Q home media streamer networking homes

After waiting with abated breath at Gooogle I/O the Google Nexus Q was finally released. The Google Nexus Q home media streamer networking homes for an Android based entertainment solution in the living room is what you can expect. However given the price tag of $299 one has to wonder whether it is really worth it given the other home media streamers currently available on the market priced at around $99.

The Android-powered Google Nexus Q base station allows users to seamlessly share media from their smartphone or tablet with their home entertainment center. The device is sized around that of a softball with a matte plastic finish to its shell. The Nexus Q is not a stand alone device and does require one or more Android OS devices to provide access to Google Play content. Any Android 4.1 device on the same Wi-Fi network can share content with the Google Nexus Q. So it is possible to create a collaborative playlist of songs for example in real time. Support we are told will be extended to Andorid 2.3 devices and up but only media from Google Play will be sharable. Google at some point all third party apps to share wireless output but there is no word at the moment.

Check out the video on how it works below -

The front face of the Google Nexus Q features a large rotating dial that controls volume output and which can be tapped for quick muting. On the rear there are inputs and outputs including micro HDMI, optical audio and speaker output. When playing music for example the Nexus Q uses a ring of LEDs along the side to mimic whatever colors are being used in the music visualizer on screen. During the demo the device was displaying bright reds and blues in realtime. When a new song was selected, the on-screen interface showed all the relevant album information, including cover art, artist, and more by way of details. On the inside the home media streamer has a 1GB LPDDR RAM, 16GB NAND flash memory, OMAP4460 (dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU and SGX540 graphics core) and has wireless abilities - WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth and NFC. Altogether the device weighs 2 pounds or 923 grams.

We have to admit it while the release of the Google Nexus Q home media streamer was pretty cool, the price tag is bit of a shock. We aren't sure whether many people would actually go for the Nexus Q given the price points of other home media streamers that are just as good if not better. So will the Google Nexus Q home media streamer networking homes be a reality and will it really gain a entry into living room entertainment? Well without other features to beat out its competitors or exclusive content deals we think it is going to be pretty tough. What are your thoughts on the reality of the Google Nexus Q home media streamer networking homes?

via Posterize