As you have likely heard, Google has entered the tablet market with this month's launch of the highly anticipated Google Nexus Tablet 7, which is also called the Nexus 7. This 7-inch tablet was made by ASUS for Google, so you have two big name companies joining forces to produce this tablet. Inside you have an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz with 1GB of RAM running Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). Besides being designed by Google and having some solid hardware, the Nexus 7 has something else going for it - price. The Nexus 7 is available for $199 with 8GB of memory and $249 for a 16GB version.

Undoubtedly tired of watching OEMs make little headway in their uphill struggle against Apple's iPad, Google executives took the stage at this year's Google I/O developer conference to announce a branded seven-inch tablet of their own: the Google Nexus 7 by Asus.

The Nexus 7 is Google’s boldest attempt yet to create a hit Android product of its own. It’s also a blatant attempt to capture the massive popularity of small 7-inch tablets like the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet, which have been some of the only tablets to sell well outside of the iPad. To do battle in the small space, Google has pulled out all the stops.

The Nexus 7’s success was predicted by some who said it was the right balance of high-quality components and affordable pricing. And although Google is enjoying its success, sales of its chief competitor, the Amazon Kindle Fire, have been becalmed. The company’s Kindle Fire was once the 7-inch tablet market’s best option. Now, it’s a distant second. And slowly but surely, the Nexus 7 is stealing all of the Kindle Fire’s sales. 

The good news is that very little has been sacrificed along the way, unlike with Amazon's initial offering. According to Android boss Andy Rubin, Google's profit margin bears the brunt of any sacrifices made, both from selling hardware at cost but also from tossing in generous perks such as a $25 (or £15) Google Play credit for every Nexus 7 owner.

Nexus 7 Tech Specs & Google Nexus Tablet Picturers: