Nexus 7-inch Tablet to be built by ASUS, delivered in May

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The best 7-inch hardware to date: Galaxy Tab 7.7

Google appears to be ready to go after the smaller tablet market, according to a report today. The next lead device will be a 7-inch tablet built by Asustek, and it will be delivered before Google I/O in June. The timing seems a little strange, and I would not be surprised to see it delivered at I/O—hopefully to all the attendees.

As more and more reports of this Google 7-inch product hit, it seems more and more real. I think Google has to go with a 720P display to beat Amazon’s Fire, which is eating the 7-inch tablet for lunch at the moment. Google also needs to keep prices below $200 to keep pace with Amazon’s product.

If you have had a chance to check out Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 7.7, you know it is a really nice form factor.

One thing to note about 7-inch 16:9 tablets compared to bigger 10-inch 4:3-ers is that they can be held with one hand from behind. So, they do not need that same huge bezel that most tablets currently employ. I would like to see a 7.7-inch tablet with the bezel of a Galaxy Note and lots of thinness all around.