The tablet market has been clearly split. There is the high-end, dominated from inception by the iPad. Then there's the evolving low-end, which has been led by the Kindle Fire, but is also party to offerings from Google (Nexus 7), Samsung (Galaxy Tab 7) and Barnes & Noble (Nook HD). As Apple prepares to enter the low-end with the iPad Mini, Google may now be looking to take on the iPad.
According to CNET, NPD DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shin has the lowdown on the tablet. Shin says the slate would carry the Nexus branding, and would be yet another collaboration between the search giant and Samsung (after the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus).
High-end
The device's killer feature would be its display: its 10.1-inch, 2560 x 1600 screen would be sharper than anything on the market, with its 299 pixels per inch (PPI) easily topping the 264 ppi in the 3rd gen. iPad. You can argue that, at a certain point, raising pixel density is overkill – but you may want to see the display before jumping to that conclusion.
Shin says that this will be a high-end tablet, with a price to match. Aiming squarely at Apple, Google and Samsung would be foolish to overprice it; US$500 or less for the base model sounds reasonable. With the iPad having no proven challengers at the high end of the market, the companies know that they need to dazzle. The potential success of Microsoft's Surface and other Windows 8 tablets only adds to the task before them.
No word yet on a release date (assuming Shin's sources are sound and the tablet exists), but it sounds like 2013 would be a safe bet.
What do you think: would a Nexus 10 be a true challenger to the iPad? Or would it go the way of the fallen XOOMs and Galaxy Tabs that came before it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Source: CNET
