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GOOGLE HAS UNVEILED its brand new Nexus 7 tablet computer designed to challenge Apple’s iPad and be a window into its online shop for books, movies, TV shows and more.
The new tablet will be priced at less than half the cost of the market-leading iPad and broadens Google’s arsenal in its battle against Apple, Microsoft and others for Internet users.
The seven-inch tablet powered by the latest generation of Android software is being made for Google by Taiwan-based Asus and weighs about as much as a paperback book, according to Android team head Hugo Barra.
“We wanted to design a best-of Google experience optimized around the content available at Google Play,” Barra said during a presentation opening the Internet titan’s annual developers conference in San Francisco.
Nexus tablets were available for order in Australia, Canada, Britain, and the United States at the Google Play store at a price of $199 and would begin shipping in mid-July, Barra said.
The tablets come with a $25 coupon for Google Play content — Google’s answer to Amazon and Apple’s iTunes store for books, music, magazines and other content.
It has always been a goal of the Nexus program to provide you with the best-of Google experience the way Google envisions it.
Google also Introduced an Android-powered Nexus Q device for wirelessly streaming films or music to televisions or speakers.
Along with the new hardware, Google said it is beefing up its Google Play store to offer more entertainment.
“Google Play is your digital entertainment destination, with more than 600,000 apps and games plus music, movies and books,” a Google blog post said.
“It’s entirely cloud-based, which means all of your content is always available across all of your devices.”
In addition to movie rentals, Google will be offering films for sale.
“You can watch as much as you like. You can also purchase episodes of your favorite TV shows,” the California tech giant said.
Google Play will also be adding digital magazines from Hearst, Conde Nast and other publishers.
The company described Nexus 7 as “a powerful new tablet” which “makes everything, including games, extremely fast.”
It weighs 340 grams and has a front-facing camera.
Android platform developer Chris Yerga said Nexus 7 is also “a serious gaming device.”
Google at the same time said it was releasing a new version of its Android software for mobile devices, called “Jelly Bean,” which “builds on top of Ice Cream Sandwich,” the current iteration of Android.
“It makes everything smoother, faster and more fluid,” the Google blog said.
“The keyboard is smarter and more accurate, and can predict your next word. And voice typing is faster, working even when you don’t have a data connection.”
While Android has leapt to the top of the mobile phone market, Apple remains dominant in tablets, holding around 62 percent of the market to 36 percent for Android, according to research firm IDC.
The news from Google comes just a week after Microsoft took on Apple with a plan to release its own branded tablet called Surface later this year.
How do you think the Nexus 7 looks? Tell us in the comments section below
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Please support your local farmers over the large retailers
@A2 Poster: Thats a bit like saying please support your local corner shop. That did not work out well for well established reasons..
Larry Goodman and his likes have the government and big business in their pocket. It’s just going to take a lot more protests and the possibility of slurry pumped into Dáil Éireann although it’s full of slurry already.
@Bull McCabe: I’d have more support for your cause Bull if I could stroll down an auld river near yerself and catch a few trout without the likes of you telling me that this you’re land and dont let me see the likes of you here again. Just saying.
@Clint Sofie: Until something happens and the farmer ends up in court being sued.
And then you have the odd idiot leaving gates open, damaging fences, littering.
Add that to the rural crime wave of machinery and tools and you can’t fault the farmers for not being too happy with finding you on their land without their permission.
It doesn’t hurt to ask.
@Mill Lane: Dont think that asking Benjy for permission to stand at a hole of water for an hour or so is going to convert him to let the tax payer who pays his grants catch a few fish, with the greatest of respect ,MILL.
@Clint Sofie: And that’s the difference between thinking and doing….you won’t catch too many fish by thinking.
@Mill Lane: Give it up Mill, it is well known that farmers have killed over a half acre of land. THIS IS MINE AND NOBODY WILL CROSS THAT LITTLE PIECE OF GRASS, SO THERE.
@Clint Sofie: Well if you have such a low opinion of them… don’t go onto their land or buy a boat.
Simple really.
@Clint Sofie: And I’m sure you won’t mind if Bull and myself slip around into your back garden and enjoy an hour lying out in the sun. Just saying like….
@Molly1952: You would be very welcome and I would hope that you would also bring your family’s as well. My land is open to all.
@Clint Sofie: Oh and by the way, we will all end up with 6 foot of grass at the end of the day, no matter how much ya may crave for more of it wright now. The best of luck lads. We will all end up in the same place at the end of it all.
@Clint Sofie: Have to agree with you on that one…
@Molly1952: Good night Molly, or should I say good morning. Cheers.
How the government can’t make the retailers show up and yet they are the ones with the biggest mark up is beyond me
@Garreth Mc Mahon: the retailers are in the UK and other far flung places. 95% is exported. Irish retailers paying more would only be a drop in the bucket
Should banned import beef from South America & North America and need support Irish farmer
And for every €10 you spend on cow meat, you are directly supporting the slaughter of animals.
@Louise: thanks for that
@Louise: and for every €10 you spend on carrots you support the slaughter of innocent vegetables.
@Bull McCabe: and you are denying rabbits their staple diet.
@Louise: As a “normal” vegetarian I really do wish others would stop making stupid statements like this.
People have a fair idea the beef on their plate has been to the slaughter house, they don’t need to be told as they are not stupid.
Our meat free diets are probably no better for the environment, monoculture, pesticides, more diesel, more air miles ect. ect.
Choosing not to eat meat doesn’t give us the right to lecture people and those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
@Louise: The animals wouldnt exist if they weren’t there for meat. Who do you think is going to feed and house a herd of cattle or pigs for pets??
@Molly1952: Thats grand Molly and you are doing the animals a favour? are ya sure that the animals are not doing YOU, a favour.
@the journal. Please fix bugs for iPhone that makes your comment post twice because you have to repost to get it on comments
How the government can’t make the retailers show up and yet they are the ones with the biggest percentage in the price is beyond me
@Garreth Mc Mahon: free trade “”
That top poster is wrong. The retailer gets €3.30 out of every €10 of meat.
They are now looking for a €1Billion Brexit fund. Have they all lost the plot. For those who don’t know what €1Billion looks like, here it is. €1,000,000,000.
@John Hanrahan: too many farmers in this country. If they can’t compete, let them go bust. All the subsidies we give them outweigh the cost of ‘buying Irish’
So where have they published the figures for the claims they are making?
@Darren Byrne: The poster with the prices? I’m sure if it was wrong, the big retailers would have no problem coming out and saying so. But they are cowering away from it because they know it’s true.
Btw, beefplan has suicide prevention phone numbers and coping with depression numbers up on their website. This is a really serious issue for rural people, please don’t doubt them for no reason. It’s their industry, they know it, they know the figures. They shouldn’t have to prove that they aren’t dishonest.
@A2 Poster: I have no doubt that some of them are finding things hard. I have seen other people operate businesses and fail where others then follow and succeed. But my issue is when someone makes claims that just aren’t backed up by figures. Secondly they don’t say how much it costs them to produce that beef that they’re only getting 2 for every 10 spent.
Whats the average turnover/profit of a beef farm anyone?
@Thomas Maher: I would say it relies on economies of scale. The guy who started this only has 100 head of cattle. I’d imagine costs would be much less pro rata if you had 1000 head of cattle.
@Thomas Maher: last year I think teagasc stated it was 6000 € profit Including single farm payment. At the price it is this year I’d image the factory is after taking all the single farm payment and probably some of the off farm income as well
The Irish state and the EU appear to be determined to wipe out rural Ireland!
have your say