Google unveils new Nexus 7 tablet, Android 4.3

56 minutes ago

During an event in San Francisco on Wednesday, Google unveiled a brand new Nexus 7 tablet, Android 4.3, and more.

"Today, we are going to talk about two things," Sundar Pichai - senior vice president of Android, Chrome and Apps - explained as the event began. The first is an Android device which addresses the growth of tablets, the second is a Chrome device.

Pichai surrendered the stage to Hugo Barra, vice president of Android product management, to take care of the Android portion of Wednesday's announcement. Barra explained that the new Nexus 7 is a few millimeters thinner and narrower than the prior model. "It's a much more comfortable grip," he said. The new 7-inch tablet has a better screen than ever as well. It has gone from offering 1280 x 800 pixels in the prior model to 1920 x 1200 pixels in the new one and from 216 pixels per inch (ppi) to 323 ppi. The tablet has a 1.2-megapixel in the front and a 5-megapixel camera in the back.

The new tablet will ship with Android 4.3, the newest version of Jelly Bean. While Android 4.2 introduced multi-user functionalities, Android 4.3 adds "Restricted Profiles." This feature allows apps to be restricted on a user-level so that apps can behave differently based on the active user. Android 4.3 will also support Bluetooth Smart, which is a low-energy Bluetooth standard.

While Android 4.3 will ship with the new Nexus 7, it will be pushed out to the last-generation Nexus 7, Nexus 4, and Galaxy Nexus beginning on Wednesday. The HTC One and Samsung S4 which are sold with the "Nexus Experience" will receive Android 4.3 at a later time.

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