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| Image credit: CNET |
ASUS announced their $249 MeMo 370T tablet at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, which ended up winning several awards. Since then, we have not heard much from ASUS regarding their show stealing tablet. Sources around the Internet state that Google was extremely impressed with their cost effective tablet and approached ASUS about becoming the device manufacturer for Google’s own up and coming tablet.
Details surrounding the 370T are scarce, but we do know a few tidbits. The 370T comes with 1GB of RAM, at least 16GB of storage and is powered by Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor. It comes with a 7-inch 1,280×800-pixel IPS screen that blows away the competition. The 370T weighs in at a mere 0.88 pounds. Other details include a Micro-USB port, a microSD port, and a Micro-HDMI port. Lastly, the tablet boasts the same great 8MP camera found on the Transformer Prime.
Consumers want a powerful 7-inch tablet. This was proven by Amazon shipping 5 million units of their $199 Kindle Fire in just one quarter. Part of the success of the Kindle Fire was due to Amazon’s ecosystem backing it. Android’s leader, Andy Rubin was recently quoted saying he wants to win the tablet race and Google was planning to do something about it. Rubin said, “2012 is going to be the year that we double down and make sure we’re winning in that space… we’re going to do a better job at making people understand what ecosystem they’re buying into.”
This past week Google announced the re-branding of their ecosystem, naming it Google Play. This new product branding would encompass Google Music, Google Books, Google Video and of course Android Apps all under one unified roof. Now Google can market new Android products and services as being backed by one all inclusive digital media service instead of multiple thrown together services. This seems like a shoe in for marketing Google’s rumored hardware device as the “Nexus Tablet with Google Play” and allow them to now fully compete with the Kindle Fire and it’s accompanying media services.
