Google is gearing up for a giant tablet showdown with the industry leader Apple's iPad Air this 2014 and the former's latest bet is a wider and slightly bigger Nexus 8.

Though it remains unclear if the Nexus 8 is different from the planned 8.9-inch vanilla Android slate, DigiTimes offered what it described as the headline and likely confirmed features of the iPad challenger.

In upsizing the screen size of the next Nexus tab, "the Internet giant is starting to shift its focus to large-size tablet applications," said the same DigiTimes report.

The reading from analysts is, Google aims to chip away significant market shares from Apple by marrying the selling points of the 7.9-inch iPad Mini and the 9.7-inch iPad Air and packing them together on the still portable Nexus 8 with a viewing panel that is the middle-ground of the Air and Mini.

The same DigiTimes report mentioned four features that Google hopes will convince tablet shoppers to give the Nexus more than a second look. They are briefly discussed below:

8.9-inch screen profile

The Nexus 8 will reportedly boast of an 8.9-inch screen - that is if the 8-inch display earlier attributed to the sae device would not materialise. DigiTimes, however, has speculated that the chance remains Google will replace the Nexus 7 with a slate that sports a screen that is stretched a tad from its predecessor.

For now, 8.9-inch on Nexus 8 means a more immersive gamin, web browsing and movie viewing for fans of native Android tablet.

2K display resolution

The upcoming Nexus "8.9-inch tablet features a display resolution of more than 2K," according to DigiTimes. This suggests that the Nexus 8 is fully capable of overwhelming the iPad Mini 2 and the iPad Air, which identically tote Retina display panels.

Ready accessibility at $300

The same report predicted that the Nexus 8 will hit store shelves worldwide with a $300 sticker price, which should for the basic configuration with the specifications still unknown. If true, the device is poised to become an instant hit by undercutting the iPad Mini 2's starting price of $400.

Worth mentioning too is the high likelihood that the Nexus 8 will out-specced both the iPad Air and iPad Mini 2.

Finally, Android 5.0

Even before Jelly Bean 4.3 and KitKat 4.4 became hot topics, build number 5 has been whispered about but it remains part of Google secrets to date. Per DigiTimes, Android 5.0 will power the next Nexus tablet to life. In this serving, it is possible that Goggle will pull Key Lime Pie from the archives and allow the Android world to take a bite.

Android fans are more or less assured that a new mobile OS is coming out via the Google I/O Developers Conference in June 24 and 25. In such case, then the same event could serve as the Nexus 8 release date this 2014.