Luke Hopewell of Gizmodo Australia has the scoop about the forthcoming ASUS-built/Google-branded Android tablet named “Nexus 7”. But he’s awfully quick to qualify the scoop: Of course, this could all prove to be an elaborate fake. We’ve seen them before and we’ll see them as long as there’s a rabid tech-loving public that will queue up around the block for value this good. I dunno, my money is on this being legit. It feels right. One thing though: Details are scarce on Jelly Bean, but the slides tell us that Google will handle operating system updates from now on, which could address the fragmentation problem. We aren’t sure if this statement means that Google will handle all handset updates from Jelly Bean onwards, or if it just means it will handle it for the Nexus 7 going forward. Based on the various arrangements with other manufacturers and telcos around the world, it’s likely to be the latter. We’ll know more come Google I/O. Don’t get too excited about that part — you’ll notice the docs don’t say a word about the Nexus 7 having cellular capabilities… In other words, who else is going to handle the updates for this device? I’m actually fairly excited to see this thing. It’s not an iPad competitor, it’s a Kindle Fire competitor. And the price is right. I just hope that for that right price, it will be solid. Not just okay (like the Kindle Fire), but good. We’ll see. High-res

Luke Hopewell of Gizmodo Australia has the scoop about the forthcoming ASUS-built/Google-branded Android tablet named “Nexus 7”. But he’s awfully quick to qualify the scoop:

Of course, this could all prove to be an elaborate fake. We’ve seen them before and we’ll see them as long as there’s a rabid tech-loving public that will queue up around the block for value this good.

I dunno, my money is on this being legit. It feels right.

One thing though:

Details are scarce on Jelly Bean, but the slides tell us that Google will handle operating system updates from now on, which could address the fragmentation problem. We aren’t sure if this statement means that Google will handle all handset updates from Jelly Bean onwards, or if it just means it will handle it for the Nexus 7 going forward. Based on the various arrangements with other manufacturers and telcos around the world, it’s likely to be the latter. We’ll know more come Google I/O.

Don’t get too excited about that part — you’ll notice the docs don’t say a word about the Nexus 7 having cellular capabilities…

In other words, who else is going to handle the updates for this device?

I’m actually fairly excited to see this thing. It’s not an iPad competitor, it’s a Kindle Fire competitor. And the price is right. I just hope that for that right price, it will be solid. Not just okay (like the Kindle Fire), but good. We’ll see.