New Nexus 7 rumor mill kicks off

ByJim Miller
1st generation Nexus 7
1st generation Nexus 7

FINAL UPDATE: (July 24) The new Nexus 7 FHD was released today.

UPDATE (July:) See the latest video of the rumored New Google Nexus 7 2.

The rumor mill for the 2nd generation Nexus 7 has kicked off now that Reuters have just quoted two anonymous industry insiders who claim that a new Nexus 7 will be launched in July.

High quality tablet models are usually updated quite often, so the unofficial news comes as no surprise. What is more interesting of course is the specific claims.
In order for Google to try and keep even the 2nd generation Nexus 7 in the top five tier for Android tablets, the new Nexus 7 is said to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, have a higher resolution display than the current 1280×800 pixels it has, as well as feature a thinner bezel.

All of these feature upgrades are in 2013 viewed as mandatory in order for a tablet model to stay competitive.

But even with these upgrades, Google's next 7-inch tablet is up against more than 15 other new tablets coming out this year, all with 7-inch displays. And these are tablets of what is considered more or less “quality brands”. With the inclusion of budget tablets, the list grows even further.

And then there are a few 8-inch tablets coming out soon too. So we really can't wait to see what Google will cram into their new Nexus 7 in order to stay competitive.

UPDATE (May):
The latest rumor now is that the 2nd generation will be a Nexus 8, up one inch in other words. With a 1920×1200 resolution, and a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor, a Adreno 320 graphics processor, a 3 Megapixel rear camera, and 2 Megapixel front camera.

– Tom Bowen