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Google, Asus to hook up on 7-inch Android tablet, says report

Google will partner with Asus on a 7-inch tablet. Another in a string of reports on the rumored tablet.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
Brooke Crothers
Asus Eee Pad MeMO 370T 7-inch tablet, announced at CES.  It is slated to be priced at $250
Asus Eee Pad MeMO 370T 7-inch tablet, announced at CES. It is slated to be priced at $250. Nvidia

Yet another report is claiming an imminent 7-inch Google tablet. And add Asus to the mix as that company will make and co-brand the device.

Google and Asus will unveil a 7-inch co-branded tablet PC as early as May, said DigiTimes in a report dated March 9.

NPD DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim told CNET last month that the tablet will have a 1280x800 resolution 7-inch display and production is slated for April. The initial production run is between 1.5 million to 2 million units, Shim said.

And another report earlier this month said at least one model will retail for $199, run stock Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and use a quad-core Tegra 3 processor from Nvidia.

The last part is interesting because at CES Asus announced the 7-inch Eee Pad MeMO 370T, which is slated to sell for only $250. That also uses the Tegra 3 processor.

On paper, this would be a step up from the $199 Amazon Kindle Fire, which, by comparison, has a 1024x600 display, runs Android 2.3, and uses a Texas Instruments dual-core OMAP 4430 chip .