Lucky Android fans could get their Nexus 7 tablets as soon as July 13th

Android fans who preordered Google's flagship Nexus 7 tablet through the Google Play store could get a nice big treat in the mail as soon as Friday. DroidMatters reports that Google has started shipping Nexus 7 preorders and some customers could see their tablets arrive as soon as July 13th. The site discovered that some tablets were arriving on Friday through a posting on the XDA-Developers forum showing an order sheet for the Nexus 7 with a scheduled delivery time of July 13th between 2:15 pm and 6:15 pm. DroidMatters speculates that other retailers will start shipping their own Nexus 7 preorders now that Google got the ball rolling.

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Nexus 7 tablet receiving Android 4.1.1 update

Android 4.1.1 just made itself available on the AOSP servers yesterday, and evidently it's wasting no time in heading towards the world's first Jelly Bean tablet. The ASUS-built Nexus 7 is now receiving the update — a 12.6MB download that boosts the version number to 4.1.1. Our in-house unit isn't pulling down the new edition just yet (nor is our Galaxy Nexus), so it seems to be one of Google's typical phased releases. At any rate, Android Central is reporting that the code “improves performance and responsiveness system wide,” while also adding Google Wallet to your app library.

Nexus 7 tablets now shipping to pre-order customers

 
To those of you who've pre-ordered a Nexus 7 tablet and you've been holding your breath waiting for it to arrive at your doorstep, well it looks like the wait is finally over. According to a post on the official Nexus Google+ account, it looks like the very first Android Jelly Bean tablet will be arriving at some of your doorsteps today. The Nexus 7 is officially shipping out to pre-order customers, so some of you might be coming home (or staying in and waiting by your doorstep) for a big surprise.

The Nexus 7 has been well received by many blogs (including ours) so we're just as excited as you are about the tablets finally shipping out. For those of you who get your hands on it today, do drop us your first impressions in the comments below, we'd like to know what you think about it.

Hot start for Nexus 7: Major chains report quick sellouts

Reuters reports that some major retail chains have been running out of Google Nexus 7 tablets on the device's first day of availability. According to Reuters, customers have already ripped all the Nexus 7 tablets out of GameStop's inventory while both the Sam's Club and Walmart websites list the device as out of stock as well. While GameStop would not specify the exact number of Nexus 7 tablets it had ordered, a company spokesman told Reuters that it ”blew through the first two allotments,” meaning GameStop won't have any more Nexus 7s to sell until a third allotment becomes available in August.

Google's Nexus 7 tablet hits the iFixit teardown labs

We can always count on iFixit to get down and dirty with its spudger and the latest tablet tech, and we're not going home empty handed today. The latest victim happens to be Google's recently announced Nexus 7, which has achieved a “repairability score” of 7 out of 10 (the Kindle Fire squeaked one notch past with an 8), with many accessible components including a replaceable battery and standard Phillips screws. While the site's ultimate goal is to illustrate the delicate process of opening our gadgets while leaving them unharmed, the good folks at iFixit never fail to entertain us in the process, with two dozen high-res photos of the Nexus 7′s innards littering the 21-step repair guide. The most disappointing discovery appears to be the display, which is permanently affixed to its Corning glass covering, but given the tablet's $200 price tag, replacing such a component is not likely to be a cost-effective proposition. There's plenty more to gawk over, but you'll need to head to iFixit to, well, get your fix.

Microsoft Surface tablet hands-on

Microsoft's mystery event is finally over and considering the flurry of leaks that piled up ahead of this evening's press conference, we can't say were entirely surprised by the announcement of the company's first own-brand tablet. BGR was on hand reporting live as Microsoft took the wraps off the Surface tablet, a 9.3 millimeter-thick magnesium slate intended to set the stage for Windows 8 and Windows RT. We managed to fight our way through the crowd for a quick hands-on look, and Microsoft's new tablet shows some serious promise. Hit the jump for more and be sure to check out our hands-on photo gallery linked below. First, there's the design of the device itself. Microsoft has tried to make Surface into a Swiss Army Knife type of tablet that features both a kickstand and a snap-on keyboard. The good news is that neither of these features are terribly obtrusive as the kickstand just slides right back into the tablet and the keyboard can be either snapped off or flipped over like a book. There are two types of keyboards that Microsoft is selling with the device, called the Touch Cover and the Type Cover. The Touch Cover is a pressure-sensitive pad that can pick up on your keystrokes and is only 3 millimeters thick. The Type Cover is more of a traditional keyboard with fully embossed keys that press down and is slightly thicker at 5 millimeters. I have to admit that the Touch Cover felt somewhat alien to me at first when I was playing around with it, but that could be due to the fact that I didn't have a lot of time to play around with it - Microsoft was really herding reporters quickly through the line. The Type Cover did feel quite natural as a keyboard should, however, so at the very least, there should be one strong option for people who prefer traditional keyboards. The tablet's 10.6-inch display screen looked gorgeous, although Microsoft was being weirdly evasive when asked what the exact screen resolution was. The tablet's “VaporMg” casing is extremely solid, and the tablet feels very strong in your hands. Despite being 9.3 millimeters thick, the Windows RT version of the Surface is in no danger of bending under pressure. In terms of software, Windows RT brings some cool new capabilities to the tablet form factor, including the ability to run two apps on the same screen simultaneously. One Microsoft rep, for instance, demonstrated how to have Outlook email on one half of the screen while having sports scores on the other half. And of course, the home screen on both versions of the Surface tablet features Windows 8′s Metro UI that is significantly more intuitive, colorful and user-friendly than past editions of Windows. So what's the bottom line here? Well, Microsoft didn't let me spend nearly enough time with its Surface tablets to write a comprehensive review and since the devices are still a long way from being released, I'm going to assume that's because Microsoft is still putting a lot of finishing touches on them. But what I saw looked really intriguing, and Microsoft has at least in concept created a tablet computer that can also double as a PC. While this alone certainly won't be enough to help Microsoft compete with the mighty Apple iPad, it does breathe some much-needed life into Microsoft's mobile product line.

Image taken by Google Nexus Tablet appears in Picasa

Excited about the rumored 7" Google Nexus tablet that might be making its way to the upcoming Google I/O Conference happening later this month? As Google's developer conference is drawing near, it looks like more and more news about the company's very own tablet manufactured by Asus are leaking out. The latest leak is an image purportedly taken by the Google Nexus tablet that appeared in Google's image sharing service - Google Picasa, according to the EXIF information at least.

There's nothing special about the picture though, no image of the actual tablet has been revealed – it's only a lousy and boring image of partition ceiling and lights; I've never been fond of cameras found in tablet devices anyway. This new leak suggests that the tablet could really be on its way to the conference. Feel free to check out the image on Picasa, it's still up and available on the photo sharing service by Google, do you think it's the real deal?