$250 quad core Tegra 3, 1280x800 IPS, rear camera, hdmi 7" ASUS Memo 370t 0.o

[Mi An]

So ASUS did their thing today. And I think nVidia, who has partnered with ASUS for promotion, went as well. If any info has come out about whether the 370t would either have it's own keyboard, or if you could buy an attachment that would let it dock to the standard transformer board, I can't find it. Ditto for a release date (as opposed to a release window).

Indeed, I can't find any new discussion or footage about it. I guess they wanted to keep the spotlight on padfone and the transformer line, but given that I was hoping the 370t would be the transformer mini, that explanation doesn't bode well for me.

[Mi An]

There are a number of stories about the release window in India narrowing to May (previous window: Q2). I have some difficulty explaining why I find that completely irrelevant information exciting. But I do.

[Mi An]

Rumors of a very inexpensive nexus tablet began to swirl not that long before the 370t debuted and the two are often mentioned in the same breath, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised by this rumor.
Rumor: Google’s $199 “Nexus tablet” to be made by ASUS, include quad-core Tegra 3 | Android and Me

The Rumor

Google has partnered with ASUS to release a 7-inch tablet that will become a pure Google Experience Device. The tablet will retail for $199, include a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, and ship with stock Android 4.x Ice Cream Sandwich.

The Sources

This rumor comes from two different industry sources that I spoke with in person at Mobile World Congress. They have provided reliable information in the past and I find them to be trustworthy. As with most of these rumor reports, the sources wish to remain anonymous.

One Android Insider’s take on the rumor

Consumers want cheap tablets and the $199 Kindle Fire has proven this. Amazon shipped an estimated 5 million units in Q4 of last year and it quickly became the best selling Android tablet.

The Kindle Fire is a great product, but it lacks all of Google’s mobile services including the Android Market. Some would think that Google would be happy with Amazon’s success, but our sources say that Google sees Amazon as a threat in the tablet market. Amazon replaced Google’s ecosystem with their own, so Amazon earns all the long-tail profits from content and services, while Google gets nothing.

There have already been multiple reports that Google would release a $199 tablet that features a 7-inch 1280×800 resolution display, enters production in April, and ships around June. The main details that have been absent include the OEM partner and the processor type.

ASUS previously announced their $249 MeMo 370T tablet at CES, which included a quad-core Tegra 3 processor. The tablet won several best of show awards and our sources say that Google was so impressed with the device that they approached ASUS to see if they could reduce the bill of materials and reach that magical $199 price point. Barnes & Noble reduced the price of their Nook Tablet from $250 to $199, so why can’t others?

Will the Nexus Tab be a stripped down 370t? Interesting difference with the subsidized phone market, where Nexus' are cutting edge. Or might Google itself decide to subsidize the device counting on android market app/book/movie revenues to break even, and it might simply be a rebadge of the same device.

[Varjak]

It sounds like it might not even be stripped down; but using Google's leverage (as Apple does), the imprimatur of the 'Nexus' brand and volume alone might make it possible to sell it at $200. Just a guess though.

[Mi An]

Rumor: Nexus tablet is a “done deal”, to retail for as low as $149 | Android and Me

“It’s a done deal,” said the supply chain source. We have already heard countless rumors that Google was working on “a tablet of the highest quality,” and this latest report give us further confidence it’s going to happen.

What’s most surprising about the latest rumor is to hear that the target price has been lowered to $149 and that the quad-core Tegra 3 processor is out. I’m going to assume these two bits are related.

It sounds like Google wanted to undercut the Kindle Fire, so they lowered the bill of materials by going with a processor that was cheaper than Tegra 3. We heard similar stories last year that Amazon had originally chosen Tegra 2 to power the Kindle Fire, but they went with Texas Instruments’ OMAP4 at the last moment because they got a better volume deal.

ASUS has a strong relationship with Qualcomm, so we might see a Snapdragon processor end up inside this “Nexus tablet.”

Many of our readers were excited about the ASUS MeMo 370T tablet as it stood, and I’m sure most will be upset to hear that it could be canned. Hopefully our source is wrong about that information. It could be that the MeMo 370T was slated to become the “Nexus tablet”, but Google wanted something cheaper so ASUS scrapped it and configured a lower spec’d device.

Intriguing and scary rumors. I liked thinking they'd be the same make and possibly even use the same accessories. Sounds like the nexus tab is going a different direction. If they really plan to undercut the fire, one wonders whether an sd slot is gone, the high res with better dpi is gone, the camera, hdmi etc. $150 would be awesome for a lot of folks, to be sure, but that makes it harder for ASUS to sell the 370t at $250, as I'm sure they were counting on volume to pull it off, volume that might get partially cannibalized.

Either way, I expect a very interesting summer for Android tablets.

[Mi An]

There's a slew of stories claiming Nvidia's CEO is predicting (as of march 27thish) $200 tegra 3 tablets will hit this summer. The all seem to link back to this NYTs tech blog post: Hints of a $199 Tablet and 3-D Chromebook - NYTimes.com

Comments by Nvidia’s chief executive, and one of its customers, indicate the company’s efforts will also lower the price and raise the performance of some products months from now.

The key Nvidia chip in tablets that run on Google’s Android operating system is called Tegra, which came out in a third major version last November, and is now making its way into the market. Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, figures that the chip incorporates enough cheap commodity components that, once these cost savings take hold, Android tablets will by this summer cost as little at $199.

“We took out $150 in build materials, things like expensive memory,” he said. “At $199, you can just about buy a tablet at a 7-Eleven.”

His remark is so chopped up, you kinda have to take the blog's word that that price point is actually a reference to tegra 3. More real context would have been nice.

Assuming they didn't butcher his statement though, this bodes well for the 370t, or something very much like it, actually coming out.

[Drillbit]

Asus has a strong relationship with Qualcomm? It would surprise me since they manufacture very little Qualcomm products. That must be HTC. Asus makes motherboards, notebooks and graphics cards that often have nVidia chipsets; thus they would have a very strong relationship with nVidia, much similar to Acer as well.

The most important thing about reducing the cost of the tablet would be to remove the back camera. I mean, hardly people use tablets to take photographs. Keep the front camera however, since they are much more likely to use it for video talk.

[Mi An]

I don't recall a front camera ever being in the rumored specs or on demos. For my purposes, I'd actually prefer the back camera, but I would have assumed that what you say is true and most would have preferred a front cam, so I was a little surprised at the layout.

[Drillbit]

Front cams are used for things like Skype. For a Google tablet, that would be essential for Google+ Hangouts. G+ Hangouts work surprisingly well and easy; they just work. Its a killer feature I would expect to grow in popularity.

I don't regard back camera to be that important because I hardly remember people doing photography with tablets. The tablet size doesn't make it convenient as a photography tool like a smartphone.

[Mi An]

Google Nexus Tablet Details Revealed: Built by Asus, NVIDIA Tegra 3 On Board (Exclusive) | TechnoBuffalo

By Todd Haselton on May 24, 2012 in Android
We’ve just received details from a trusted source about at least one piece of hardware that Google is going to unveil during its Google I/O conference, which kicks off in San Francisco on June 27th.

Rumors have long been swirling that Asus and Google have teamed up to produce Google’s first Nexus tablet, which will allegedly offer a 7-inch screen. We’ve confirmed with a trusted source that Google will indeed unveil the Asus-built Nexus tablet during the conference and, better yet, will give a unit out to each of the developers attending the conference. We’re hearing conflicting reports on whether or not the developer device will come pre-loaded with Android 5.0 Jelly Bean, but that’s also a sign that Google is getting ready to deploy the new OS in June. Here’s where things get a bit more interesting, however.

First, let’s connect the dots a bit. NVIDIA recently said that its “project kai” tablet strategy includes a goal to develop a tablet priced under $200. Well, our source has confirmed that Google’s Nexus tablet will include NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 3 chip. That, then, seems to back up early rumors that the Nexus tablet will carry a $200 price tag.

So what else is in store for Google I/O? That much is still unclear. We’re expecting Google will announce multiple manufacturing partners for its next Nexus smartphone, and recent rumors suggest five new Nexus-branded phones will launch on November 5th to mark the 5th anniversary of Android. TechnoBuffalo will be in attendance, so stay tuned for more news from the show.