There has been considerable speculation about the future of Google’s Nexus lineup. Recent reports suggest that the company is working on a new program called Android Silver which will feature premium devices. We have also heard rumors about the possibility of Google not launching a Nexus 6 smartphone next year. Though over the past few months there has been much talk about an upcoming Nexus tablet and it looks like that tablet may have finally made an appearance. The HTC-manufactured “Volantis” is believed to be an 8.9-inch Nexus tablet.
As per the information received by Android Police, the Volantis has an 8.9-inch 2,048×1,440 pixel resolution display, an NVIDIA Logan 64-bit Tegra K1 processor with 2GB RAM, 8 megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization, a 3 megapixel front camera, front-facing stereo speakers and 16/32GB onboard storage options.
The Volantis will apparently have a zero-gap aluminum construction with 8.91″x5.98″x0.31″ dimensions, weighing in at 418g. Wi-Fi and LTE variants are expected. The source reports that internally this tablet is referred to as the Nexus 9 and that the leaked image isn’t exactly a final rendering of the tablet.
As far as the actual design is concerned the Volantis seems to borrow a lot of design cues from the Nexus 5 and 2013 Nexus 7 tablet. But then again the purported specifications don’t seem to fit. For example one can’t make out the front-facing stereo speakers and the casing itself doesn’t look like one that’s fashioned from zero-gap aluminum construction.
It is claimed that the HTC Volantis a.k.a Nexus 9 will be priced at $399 for the 16GB Wi-Fi variant. No official word as yet on when this tablet is going to hit the market but the report says it may pegged for an unspecified date in the fourth quarter of this year.