Rumours surrounding a HTC built Nexus 8 being released this year in place of a third generation Nexus 7 are continuing to mount, with Digitimes reporting that Google has approached the Taiwanese manufacturer to build an 8″ tablet to be released in the coming months.
The report suggests that HTC, rather than Asus will be making the tablet, as Google looks to revamp the design of the tablet. Google was apparently looking to involve HTC in the development of the original Nexus 7 tablet, but HTC was too mired in their own efforts to promote their flagging smartphone business to take on the designing and building of a Nexus tablet.
Asus is also reportedly none too keen to be involved in the building of the next small form-factor Nexus tablet, with Google looking to relegate Asus to a mere manufacturer, with Google themselves handling the design.
The report also suggests that the Nexus 8 could be a very laid back launch, with Google apparently satisfied that the Nexus 7 has succeeded in inserting Android tablets into the consumer marketplace. This rumour has apparently begun speculation that the Nexus 8 could be Google’s last tablet release.
The Nexus 7, both Gen 1 and Gen 2 have been incredibly successful for Google. Although the Mountain View company has always declined to share numbers for their Nexus line, an Asus executive did claim that the numbers were approaching a million units per month when speaking about the launch of the original model. Those sorts of numbers are difficult to ignore, so it’s hard to imagine Google halting a successful line such as the Nexus 7…or Nexus 8 if that’s what they choose to produce this year.
I’d personally like more HTC and less Google if this tablet is real. – Metal body – Boomsound speakers – IR blaster – 5mp front facing camera (would be perfect for tablet video calls over hangouts) – Stock android (would prefer Sense 6 over stock android though) I’d honestly prefer Sense 6 over stock android. I finally no longer have a Galaxy Nexus, and now that I have a HTC One, I can firmly say that stock android feels really stale and boring compared to Sense. Both in features and aesthetics. Sense 6 is just as fast/fluid as stock android,… Read more »
I need a new 10 or 9 inch tablet. My Xoom Cry’s in pain when ever I use it.
Damn, still no news of the Nexus 10 2014.
i’m sold for boom sound speakers on 8″ with thinner bezels
If I upgrade my Nexus tablet again my gf is gonna kill me.
Just put $20-40 aside every pay day. Then let her know.
Hmmm perhaps. I’ve always thought a Nexus 8 would be perfect so long as it retains the chassis size of the Nexus 7. Despite the unsightly bezels of the current N7, they make a lot of sense in terms of usability and comfort. I suspect they’d be lost if an 8 inch display was integrated into the current form factor. Unless the rumoured Nexus 8 is a game changer in some fundamental way I’ll probably hang on to my 2013 N7. It’s still performing extremely well – especially since I switched to the ART runtime. This change makes it feel… Read more »
I upgraded my Mum’s 2012 Nexus 7 to 4.4 and it still runs quite slow. Must be some hardware issues there.
I’m pretty sure the 2012 N7 did indeed have some hardware issues. I believe it was to do with the speed of its RAM over time but don’t quote me on that. The 2013 Nexus 7 is a big jump in performance. I’ve owned both and the difference is night and day.
Have you tried switching the runtime to ART on the 2012 N7? It made a big difference even on my already fast 2013 version.
No I haven’t. But I don’t want to play around with it. It’s her tablet that she got for a present. She hates it when I mess around with it because she knows I just go crazy hahaha.
My parents are the same!
I reckon it’s worth a try when she’s not looking though. You can always change it back if there’s no difference.
I would, I’m just worried about ART incompatibilities.
I was worried about that too. However, the only app I have installed that was incompatible was SBS on Demand – but an update came out just a few days ago that fixed it. In my experience 99% of apps are compatible as developers are quickly getting on board.
Anyway, worth thinking about but I understand your situation.
Alright thanks mate, might try it later on today.
Hi Sean! I’ve got ART on my Nexus 5 and Dalvik on my N7 – just so that I can compare the Apps inter-operability, and I’ve had no problem at all with any apps.
Thanks mate, I might try it out today. I don’t have high hopes though.