Google just unveiled a new tablet computer called the Nexus 7 that seems aimed directly at Amazon's Kindle Fire. Google debuted the new tablet at its annual I/O conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.

Andy Rubin, senior vice president of Mobile and Digital Content at Google, described the Nexus 7 as "a powerful new tablet with a vibrant, 7-inch 1280x800 HD display." The Nexus 7 is powered by a Tegra 3 chipset, with a quad-core CPU and 12-core GPU. The tablet weighs 12 ounces, lighter than most tablets on the market. The Nexus 7 will retail at $199 and starts shipping in mid-July.

"Nexus 7 was built to bring you the best of Google in the palm of your hand," Rubin wrote in the official Google blog. "Hang out with up to 10 friends on Google+ using the front-facing camera, browse the Web blazingly fast with Chrome and, of course, crank through your e-mails with Gmail."

Content-Oriented Tablet

We caught up with Avi Greengart, who is attending the I/O event, to get his take on the Nexus 7. He told us Google is indeed aiming directly at the Kindle Fire.

"This is clearly a content-oriented tablet. When you turn it on the homepage has a My Library widget, so it's showing you the content on the device," Greengart said. "The only other widget is for a recommendation engine, so it has content discovery, clearly aiming at Amazon."

Greengart said Google was probably annoyed that the best-selling Android tablet -- the Kindle Fire -- doesn't use any Google services. Amazon has uncovered a market niche, he said, and Google needs to address that before Amazon puts a dent in its search or content revenues.

"Head to head with Kindle Fire first generation, there's no question that the Nexus 7 is better hardware. But I expect Amazon to come out with a new version before the holidays," Greengart said. "Amazon has much better distribution and a better brand for this sort of thing than Google does. One of the key elements of the Kindle Fire success is the Amazon Prime."

Jelly Bean Improvements

Google also announced the next iteration of its Android operating system: Jelly Bean. Rubin explained that Jelly Bean builds on top of Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. (continued...)

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