Google Nexus 7 with LTE Lands in Japan, Italy on Sept 2013; U.S., Other Markets Release Date Still a Mystery
Notwithstanding the hiccups plaguing its initial rollout, another version of the 2013 Nexus 7 edition is hitting store shelves in select markets but likely will skip key destinations for some time, the United States including, a new report said.
The iPad Mini rival with LTE radio signal is expected to reach the Italian shores in September while Japanese consumers are likely to get the gadget at around the same time, Gotta Be Mobile said in a report.
The Nexus 7 Wi-Fi only, like its predecessor in 2012, has become an instant hit as tablet shoppers delight on its powerful specs - headlined by a quad-core Snapdragon 600 CPU and a Retina-like screen resolution - and its solid price point, starting off at $230 or $30 more from the previous build.
For the edition with cellular chips, the asking price is $250, which also comes with a more generous 32GB of internal storage but minus the memory expansion that has been the hallmark of Android devices.
Another Nexus 7 come-on is its vanilla Android, which is Jelly Bean 4.3 for this year's serving. However, the same advantage over other Android gadgets is causing major headaches to initial buyers.
Complaints of touchscreen and GPS malfunctions in numerous tech sites were so persistent that Google eventually acknowledged the anomalies, which the tech giant insists is software-related and should be corrected by a firmware update.
At the same time, the Android maker promised the immediate dispatch of an upgrade that will erase the supposed glitches. It was packaged as a security patch that will be gradually deployed for access by Nexus 7 owners worldwide.
It is unclear if the Nexus 7 with LTE is already updated with the latest firmware and therefore free of the issues that have been bedevilling the early adopters.
The sure thing for now is, LTE or superfast wireless broadband on Nexus 7 is reserved for Italian and Japanese consumers for now as GBM noted on its report that Google Play is yet to update its 'Coming Soon' status for the Nexus 7 LTE variant.
That means buyers in the United States, Australia and the rest of Europe will have to wait a few more weeks before they can place an order on the Play Store. Google has no definite release date for the LTE version, saying only on the Wi-Fi edition's debut that the former is coming out in weeks' time, a claim that was made late July 2013.