A Google exec who helped lead the team developing the Nexus 7 tablet sat down with CNET to chat about the Nexus brand and what it means to Google and its partners.
Patrick Brady, director of Android partner engineering, has two big launches to celebrate this month. The first is the birth of his daughter three weeks ago. And the second is the launch of his other baby -- the Google Nexus 7 tablet.
Patrick Brady, director of Android partner engineering, has two big launches to celebrate this month. The first is the birth of his daughter three weeks ago. And the second is the launch of his other baby -- the Google Nexus 7 tablet.
Patrick Brady, Director of Android Partner Engineering for Google.
(Credit: Google)
At the Goolge I/O developer conference here this week, Google took the wraps off its first ever Google-branded tablet made by Asus. The new 7-inch tablet called the Nexus 7 runs the latest version of the Google Android operating system Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. It's loaded with some impressive specifications, including an HD screen, front-facing camera, and quad core processor. And it's available for the competitive price of $199.
Brady helped lead the team that developed the Nexus 7 tablet. CNET sat down with him here at Google I/O to get some more details about how the Nexus 7 came about and what Google's strategy is for building these Nexus-branded devices. Below is an edited excerpt from our conversation.
Why did Google decide to build a Google-branded tablet?
Brady: We looked at the ecosystem to see what product categories were about to explode next, and we looked at tablets, especially the smaller lower priced tablets. We didn't think this category of tablet was living up to its potential.
We wanted to build something inexpensive, but not cheap. It had to have fast processors and great screen resolution that our developers would want to use it. And we were looking to build a device that could showcase our digital content. We've build the biggest ebook store and we've got movies in Google Play. We've added TV and magazines. So we really wanted the perfect device to consume all of this and thought the 7-inch tablet was a good size.
It was also important for us to make the product light and portable. It's only 340 grams. We wanted people to be able to take it the coffee shop and feel comfortable reading a book or magazine on it. It's roughly the same size and weight as a paperback book. And the reason why paperbacks are the size and weight they are is because they're meant to be portable. You don't want to lug around a big hardcover book.
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