Building Nexus 7 was 'like torture', took just four months
Google and Asus chiefs have revealed what it was like building Google's Nexus 7 tablet.
Asus and Google chiefs have revealed what it was like building the brand-new Nexus 7 tablet, explaining that the 7-inch Jelly Bean tablet was built in a mere four months, and under extreme working conditions.
Asus boss Jonney Shih told AllThingsD about Google's punishing demands. "Our engineers told me it is like torture," Shih said, explaining that his team was positioned close to Google, so that work on the quad-core tablet could continue 24/7.
Forty extra team members were added to the project as it went on, with Shih saying of Google, "They ask a lot."
Asus' hard work appears to have paid off, however, as the Google Nexus 7 is shaping up to be seriously compelling tablet. The 7-inch display has a 1,280x800-pixel count, while inside there's a quad-core Tegra 3 processor.
The all-new Jelly Bean software is more reason to get excited. A new feature called Google Now gives you information pertinent to your day as it's happening. Google Now learns when you commute and gives traffic information at that time, for example, and tells you when you'll need to leave home to make a calendar appointment.
A bumped-up frame rate should make menu animations look slicker than ever, and the Nexus 7 will go on sale for the bargain-bucket price of £160 for the 8GB option.
Google's Andy Rubin acknowledged that when people buy tablets, they're more interested in software, TV shows, apps, movies and magazines than they are in hardware. The price is certainly right, so we'll have to wait and see whether Google can deliver on the digital goodies.
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