News - Google rumoured to be working with HTC on 8-inch Nexus tablet

[HEXUS]

A very affordable, sub $100, Google Nexus smartphone is also said to be in the pipeline.

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[crossy]

Google is reportedly ditching ASUS and partnering with HTC for its new 8-inch Nexus tablet

Okay, so Google's planning to ditch Asus (who have a pretty good record in developing tablets) for HTC (who don't have any real track record, and seem to still be struggling to boot)? Doesn't strike me as a particularly clever move unless the idea is to "spread the love" and perhaps prevent HTC from switching over to becoming a Windows Phone only vendor. Last comment was because there's been consistent rumours that the new HTC One M8 may be available as a Windows Phone 8.1 device.

While I appreciate that Google wouldn't want to make Samsung even stronger, I would have thought that there's better choices out there. Sony for one, LG for another.

[CampGareth]

Okay, so Google's planning to ditch Asus (who have a pretty good record in developing tablets) for HTC (who don't have any real track record, and seem to still be struggling to boot)? Doesn't strike me as a particularly clever move unless the idea is to "spread the love" and perhaps prevent HTC from switching over to becoming a Windows Phone only vendor. Last comment was because there's been consistent rumours that the new HTC One M8 may be available as a Windows Phone 8.1 device.

While I appreciate that Google wouldn't want to make Samsung even stronger, I would have thought that there's better choices out there. Sony for one, LG for another.

An 8" tablet is supposedly a premium device though, and HTC are pretty darned good at making a metal device that feels premium. LG have already had the nexus 4 and 5 so they've had their chance, Sony... Do we even have a developer edition of a Sony phone? I thought that was a challenge because traditionally Sony isn't friendly to open source/collaboration (at least that's the impression I've got, probably just opinion and a wrong one at that). Samsung had their chance at the nexus 10 and while it had a premium price it was still plastic with low quality cameras and other peripherals, so I can imagine Google would be reluctant to go with them again, even though they do make great SoCs.

[crossy]

An 8" tablet is supposedly a premium device though, and HTC are pretty darned good at making a metal device that feels premium. LG have already had the nexus 4 and 5 so they've had their chance, Sony... Do we even have a developer edition of a Sony phone? I thought that was a challenge because traditionally Sony isn't friendly to open source/collaboration (at least that's the impression I've got, probably just opinion and a wrong one at that). Samsung had their chance at the nexus 10 and while it had a premium price it was still plastic with low quality cameras and other peripherals, so I can imagine Google would be reluctant to go with them again, even though they do make great SoCs.

I definitely wouldn't want Samsung to do any "Nexus 8" since they're fundamentally incapable of: (a) not putting in those Samsung "value add" features that actually cheapen a device; and (b) despite being reasonably well built, both Samsung devices I've got can look "budget" from the wrong angles.

As you say, LG's already done the Nexus 4 and 5 - both pretty well received devices from what I've seen. In which case surely it makes sense to see what they could do with a larger form factor?

Sony? Well, yes. No "Developer Edition" - but if Google want to continue the "Nexus" line then choosing Sony would be a great way to demonstrate that there's no favouritism going on. Plus, I'll argue that Sony are the closest to having that undeserved desirability halo that Apple enjoy. And while Sony's tablets haven't exactly set the world on fire, they did look good compared to similar priced devices.

Plus, picking Sony would be darned good for Sony themselves - I've heard consistent complaints that they've still not "got with the programme" and are being slow doing updates for their devices. Bit difficult to get a device that's updated quicker than a Nexus, so good to be able to counteract that "slow/no update" perception.

[billybear]

I imagine that the sub $100 Nexus will be a variant of the Moto E or just the Moto E itself. Just as when there were rumours of a LG made Nexus tablet, just turned out to be a GPE of the LG G Pad.