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Rumor: Google Debuting New Nexus Tablets and Phones at Oct. Event

Google has also planned its big announcements on the same day as Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 event. "Oops."

October 21, 2012

Google and Microsoft are going to be squaring off with competing product announcements on October 29. And if the rumors are true, Google's going to be wading a little into Microsoft's "smartphone turf" by possibly showing off a new Nexus phone, among other alleged Nexus tablet announcements.

And, of course, both of these large product announcements themselves hit all of one week after Apple's rumored iPad Mini event. It's a busy time for tablets and smartphones.

According to The Next Web's Matt Brian, an unnamed Google source has indicated that Google will allegedly be showing off two new iterations of its Nexus 7 tablet. Both are rumored to sport 32 gigabytes of storage, and one will throw support for HSPA+ connectivity into the mix – in other words, 3G, which will finally permit Nexus 7 owners to get more use out of their devices when they aren't near a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Google also might show off the rumored 10-inch Nexus tablet that it's allegedly working on with Samsung. The big kicker for that one is that the device's rumored 2560-by-1600 resolution, delivering around 300 pixels per inch, would best the 264 pixels-per-inch of the iPad's Retina Display, if true. The device – rocking the codename "Manta" – is expected to run Android 4.2, or Jelly Bean… again.

Finally, it's unclear whether Google will be showing off a new Nexus smartphone from LG but, if so, the LG Nexus 4 is alleged to sport a 1.5-Ghz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor along with two gigabytes of memory and 16 gigabytes of total storage. The smartphone, also running Android 4.2, will run on a 4.7-inch, 1280-by-768 screen, powered by a 2100 mAh battery. Expect to see an eight-megapixel camera on the device as well as a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.

Microsoft, in comparison, is expected to showcase the new Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 Windows Phone 8 devices, as well as the previously announced HTC 8X smartphone. The Lumia smartphones are expected to support LTE, but they'll be exclusive to AT&T's network. Additionally, the Lumia 920 will run a 1.5-Ghz dual-core Snapdragon processor and one gigabyte of memory, in addition to 32 gigabytes of storage, a 2000 mAh battery, and a 4.5-inch screen with a resolution of 1280-by-768.

The Lumia 820, in contrast, will feature a 4.3-inch screen and only eight gigabytes of total storage.

 

For more tech tidbits from David Murphy, follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@thedavidmurphy).