Earlier this month, we’ve covered a couple of seemingly connected rumors regarding what is currently being referred to as the Nexus/Google tablet. The first rumor (chronologically speaking) hit the blogs when AndroidAndMe claimed to have insider information regarding the upcoming Google Nexus tablet, which would supposedly be manufactured by ASUS. Around one week later, a Digitimes report followed up along the same lines, though with a few extra details.
Summing up the previous Google Nexus tablet rumors
Up until now, rumors seemed to indicate that Google was planning to release a quad-core Nexus Tablet that would be manufactured by ASUS and would be priced between $200 and $250. Judging on the rumored specs and on Google’s track record of basing its Nexus smartphones on existing devices from OEMs, it seemed like the Nexus tablet could be based on the 7-inch ASUS MeMO 370T.Fueling the speculations, ASUS has unveiled the MeMO 370T (running Ice Cream Sandwich) at CES, in January, but the Taiwanese didn’t even mention the device at MWC in early March.
New rumor: the Nexus tablet will be dual-core, priced at $149?
Today, AndroidAndMe reported yet another rumor, this time allegedly coming from a supply chain insider, claiming that the ASUS MeMO 370T was cancelled, and thus won’t reach the market in the state we’ve seen it at CES.However, the source suggested that the MeMo 370T will suffer several modifications (downgrades, really) before being re-branded into the Nexus Tablet, explicitly mentioning that the quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor will be replaced with a dual-core Qualcomm processor. AndroidAndMe’s source did not mention it specifically, but I’m guessing (and sort of hoping) he was talking about the Snapdragon S4, although the S3 cannot be excluded. However, there’s some good news — the dual-core Google Nexus would supposedly be priced between $149 and $199!
Android fans, cross your fingers!
To put it bluntly, if this rumor turns out to be real, it’s very much a double-blow administered to the Android community. Not only we’d be denied a quad-core Nexus Tablet, but we’d also be denied a quad-core Ice Cream Sandwich tablet (I’m talking about the ASUS MeMO 370T) that – priced at $249 – would have kicked some serious butt. On the flip side, a $149 Google tablet would be incredible, no matter how you look at it.What do you guys think? What would be better: a quad-core Google Nexus for $200 or a dual-core Nexus tablet for $149?
