Google is rumoured to replace the Nexus 7 with the slightly bigger Nexus 8 and according to reports, the vanilla Android slate will sport an 8.9-inch screen profile on release date and put together by HTC of Taiwan.

Billed as the next iPad from Google, the Nexus 8 is reportedly packed with high-end specs and features but there three key reasons to look beyond Apple's popular iOS tablet and take home the native Android tab instead.

They are provided below:

Nexus 8 is powered by Intel Moorefield chip

There are reasons to believe that in its upcoming tablet offering, Google would jump from Snapdragon to Intel. According to G4Games, the shift is very significant to end-users as the Intel Atom-based Moorefield SoC would bring enhancements that are not possible with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 CPU, for instance.

The Moorefield chipset is mightier and faster in all respects when pitted against Snapdragon plus one giant bonus - full support for LPDDR3 RAM that boasts of a dizzying 800MHz memory processing speed.

G4Games has estimated that in full battle mode, Intel Moorefield will easily outpace any devices that run on Snapdragon 800 chip. Incredibly, the same chipset is also seen to readily overwhelm the 64-bit A7 chip that powers the iPad Air and the iPad Mini 2, the tech site added.

Freshest Android recipe out of the box

It is no secret that Google is already cooking up its replacement for Android KitKat 4.4 and the consensus is a menu reveal will happen during the company's I/O Developers Conference that will kick off on June 24.

And there has to be a vessel for these new Android capabilities and the prevailing chatter points, of course, to a Nexus device that will get unpack in the immediate weeks or even days following the I/O gathering. The popular choice for this is the Nexus 8 as the Nexus 6 is allegedly set for a later unwrapping in the third quarter of 2014.

Affordable power and flexibility

To match what the two iPads can do, the 8.9-inch Nexus 8 is packaged as the mid-point of the competition - not too big and not too small. With the latest Android on board and Intel's supposed collaboration with Google, the device is destined to show off horsepower plus loads of productive and entertainment features.

And the best part is - the whole package will not break the bank as Digital Trends reported that sticker price for the Nexus 8 will be a little over the $300 mark, $350 tops or $50 less than the 16GB iPad Mini 2.

As stated, the Nexus 8 release date would come shortly after the Google I/O 2014 staging, positioning the device to go live on the Google Play Store between July and August.