Google's Nexus 7 tablet was a hot commodity when it launched around this time last year and has sold well ever since. But as we all know, technology moves at a very rapid pace and the hardware in the Asus-built slate is certainly showing its age today.
Many hoped to see a refresh at this year's Google I/O conference but it never happened. An updated device, however, is very much in the pipeline according to one Asus rep that allegedly spilled the beans about the slate to an enthusiastic user during a customer support chat.
The customer service rep claimed the new Nexus 7 - codenamed K009 - will ship with a 7-inch LED panel operating at 1,980 x 1,200 resolution and will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core CPU. The rep further noted 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a 5-megapixel rear camera / 1.2-megapixel front camera and a 4,000mAh battery.
The slate will run the yet-to-be-announced Android 4.3 operating system and will include dual-band Wi-Fi, NFC and LTE radios. All of this is scheduled to launch before the end of this month, according to the Asus rep.
Whether or not these specs actually pan out remains to be seen but if they are indeed legit, the Nexus 7 refresh looks to be a solid machine - especially if Google retains the same pricing as the original tablet. I guess we will know one way or another within a month's time.