Google, Asus to Launch a $99 Nexus Tablet at CES 2013: Can it Pose a Threat to iPad Mini?

For quite sometime, there are talks about a budget tablet from Asus and Google - a $99 Nexus 7 with Android Jelly Bean operating system. While this speculation is yet to be confirmed, the tablet seems to have appeared in benchmarks.

Picasa, which has recently turned out to be a big source of upcoming smartphones and tablets has now leaked the rumored $99 Nexus tablet through the EXIF data of a few images that were uploaded with the model number ME172V, which was the same as the one seen in earlier leaks.

Rumored specifications

Going by the earlier reports, the unconfirmed $99 Asus Nexus tablet will run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean OS and feature a 7 inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, 1GHz WonderMedia processor, 400MHz Mali GPU, 1GB RAM, 1MP front camera and a micro SD card slot for expandable memory support.

Availavbility

Further, a few speculations claim that the device could be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show 2013 slated to be held in January, however, there is no substantial evidence for the same.

Threat to iPad Mini?

If Google comes up with a $99 (approx. Rs 5,500) Nexus tablet, it could definitely be a stiff competitor to Apple's miniature tablet - iPad Mini priced starting at Rs 21,900.

Speaking about the specifications, iPad Mini has a packs a 7.9 inch LED-backlit IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display with 1024 x 768 pixel resolution, which is not a Retina Display, 1GHz dual core Apple A5 processor, PowerVR GPU, 5MP iSight rear camera and 1.2MP front camera for video calling.

With iOS 6 platform, iPad Mini comes in three configurations - 16GB/32GB/64GB internal storage and 512MB RAM. The tablet comes packed with with a Lightning port, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth features. Further, the 3G and 4G supporting iPad Mini will be launched in mid-November. As claimed by Apple, iPad Mini is loaded with a 16.3 Whr Li-Po battery delivering up to 10 hours backup.