October 29th can't come soon enough, when Google finally launches their Nexus 4 smartphone, the Nexus 7 32 GB tablet and their spanking new Nexus 10 tablet made by Samsung. Fresh details got leaked telling us more about the SOC inside the Samsung Nexus 10, which is Samsung's brand new Exynos 5250 based on ARM Cortex A15 cores and ARM Mali T604 GPU. Also in store is a 2560x1600 pixels resolution putting the iPad 3 to shame.
The Samsung Google Nexus 10 Tablet
Google surprised the world when they had released their Nexus 7 Tablet made by ASUS. The Nexus 7 tablet was Google's perfection of a product wrapped up in a 7" cocoon. Why do we call it perfect despite all it's flaws? Well, this is because of how well Google (and ASUS for that matter) managed the entire device from the build to the display to the powerful quad core Tegra 3 chipset, and of course Google's latest and greatest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS and put all of that in a stunningly low $199 price tag, making the Nexus 7 tablet a device for all. No longer was the best Google experience limited to those who could shell out $500 upwards. Google entered the market, and it did that right. That is partly the reason why people aren't all that excited with an iPad Mini.
Few months later, Google is ready again to take on the iPad with it's latest Nexus 10 tablet (TBA 29th October). The Nexus 10 tablet is being made by Samsung and them together with Google have left no stone un-turned to topple the iPad off it's throne. Don't think that's possible? Well let the specifications speak for themselves.
Nexus 10 Tablet Full Specifications
- Samsung Exynos 5250 Chipset
- 1.7 GHz Dual Core ARM Cortex A15 CPU
- ARM Mali T604 GPU
- 2 GB of RAM
- 10.1" display, WQXGA (2560x1600) resolution
- stunning 298.9 ppi pixel density
- 16 GB of internal storage
- 5 MP rear camera, 720p/1080p video (??)
- (??) Front facing camera for video calling
- Dual speakers
- Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
Let's analyze the spec sheet step by step.
Chipset & RAM
The chipset in the Samsung Google Nexus 10 tablet is Samsung's latest (and debut) Exynos 5250 chipset. Did we mention, it's the world's first ARM Cortex A15 based chipset (in a real world product implementation that too!). ARM's Cortex A15 cores will bring huge performance gains compared to previous generation. We expect the 1.7 GHz dual core to beat out the Cortex A9 based Tegra 3 chipsets as well as beat similar clocked Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipsets (the quad core Kraits will have a hand up).
The GPU is the new ARM Mali T604 which is said to pack more than 50% increase in performance compared to Mali400 cores while consuming less power. We would love to see how this GPU fares compared to the Adreno 320 GPU and especially the PowerVR SGX543MP4 in the iPad. It all depends on how many cores the Mali T604 is packing (1-8 cores). The powerful GPU will come in handy driving that pixel rich display.
The tablet packs 2 GB of RAM, which is now the new standard for next generation of flagship Android smartphones. We are happy to see the trend follow here too. This isn't really much of a surprise seeing that the LG Lexus 4 also packs 2 GB of RAM.
The chipset is built on Samsung's 32 nm manufacturing process (Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 is built on 28 nm).
Display & Design
The display is the most stunning part of this tablet. Spread across 10.1" is an ultra high resolution, iPad beating WQXGA (2560x1600) pixels resolution display. Being Samsung, we strongly believe that the display is of PLS (Plane to line switching) technology which isn't a bad thing. Expect super crisp text and browsing as well as viewing multimedia on this display. Pixels galore!
The design of the Nexus 10 tablet is borrowed from the Nexus 7. Think of it as an enlarged version with those same curved edges. Yes, that's the new Nexus 10. The Nexus 10 packs dual speakers too, Samsung style.
Storage & Camera
The Nexus 10 storage is limited to 16 GB internal (and non-expandable). The lack of a micro SD card slot is painful now. However, we expect Google to offer a 32 GB version as well, which should be enough for most users out there.
The tablet packs a 5 MP rear camera. We don't know if it's capable of shooting only 720p videos or 1080p videos as well (if it packs the same module as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus then we have 1080p video recording). A front camera enables video calling.
Operating System
This is one of the critical parts of the product. Remember Google launched their Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS with the Nexus 7 tablet? Well the Nexus 10 (and for that matter, the Nexus 4 as well) will come packing with Android 4.2, Jelly Bean. Yes, the new iteration of Android is not the next generation Android Key Lime Pie (which we believe will either be Android 4.3 or Android 5.0 now). Google has chosen to name the new OS Android 4.2 Jelly Bean itself. This is actually good news as incremental updates are something manufacturers update their smartphones and tablets to.
People who just bought an ICS powered smartphone and who have been promised Jelly Bean sometime next year wouldn't feel left out of Key Lime Pie was released next week itself (fragmentation Google, fragmentation).
Overall, the device looks to be a solid contender for one of the best 10" tablets out there (we know the Nexus 7 tablet is in it's own 7" segment). We eagerly await it's launch on the 29th of October, 2012.
Gallery
Go through the leaked images showing the Samsung Google Nexus 10 tablet.
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