Google unveils new Nexus 7 with Android 4.3 on board

Google unveils new Nexus 7 2 with Android 4.3 on board
The new Nexus 7 is officially here

After a pretty substantial leak earlier today, Google's new Nexus 7 is officially official and it's the first device to come rocking Android 4.3.

The new Asus-made tablet is 2mm thinner than its predecessor - and the two companies have reduced the side bezels so the new Nexus 7 is nearly 6mm narrower despite the 7-inch screen being the same size.

That spells a much more comfortable grip, Google told press at its event today, but we'll be the judge of that when we get our hands on it ourselves.

Full HD

The rebooted tablet also comes with full HD resolution (1920 x 1200) which is a pretty solid improvement on the original Nexus 7's 1280 x 800 offering. Google says this makes it the highest-resolution 7-inch tablet around.

Google is also pretty keen for you to use the tablet to watch more movies than ever before so, as well as the full HD screen, it has incorporated stereo speakers and Fraunhofer's virtual surround-sound system for mega audio action. There's also an HDMI output for getting involved with the big screen.

When it comes to the camera, the new Nexus has a 5MP snapper round back and a 1.2MP front-facer to boot.

A quadcore 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor is powering the whole thing along and the RAM has been upped to 2GB. That's double, fact-fans.

An unlocked 4G LTE model will be available, with NFC bringing up the rear on the connectivity front.

As for battery, Google says you'll get nine hours of HD video playback from the thing, or 10 hours of web browsing.

When, where, how much?

The new Nexus 7 US release date is July 30 for the Wi-Fi model with the 4G edition to follow 'soon'.

The UK, Australia, Canada and other territories will get the tablet in the coming weeks.

As for price, there are three models to choose between: the 16GB Wi-Fi edition will be $229 (around £150 / AU$250), the 32GB Wi-Fi edition $269 (approximately £175 / AU$292)and the 32GB LTE model $349 (about £230 / AU$380).

No official word on UK and Australian pricing yet - we'll keep you posted.

News Editor (UK)

Former UK News Editor for TechRadar, it was a perpetual challenge among the TechRadar staff to send Kate (Twitter, Google+) a link to something interesting on the internet that she hasn't already seen. As TechRadar's News Editor (UK), she was constantly on the hunt for top news and intriguing stories to feed your gadget lust. Kate now enjoys life as a renowned music critic – her words can be found in the i Paper, Guardian, GQ, Metro, Evening Standard and Time Out, and she's also the author of 'Amy Winehouse', a biography of the soul star.