News & Analysis
Teardown: Inside Google's Nexus 7 tablet
Allan Yogasingam
7/5/2012 6:45 PM EDT
Teardown: Inside the Google Nexus 7
Amazon shook the consumer electronics market last year when it introduced the first sub-$200 tablet, the Amazon Kindle Fire. Many were skeptical of the online vendor’s foray into electronics, but some saw it as a stroke of genius. By leveraging its vast library of online titles, Amazon set itself up to compete on content with industry leader Apple.
The Kindle Fire was an instant hit by combining Amazon’s library of e-books, music and movies with one of the lowest tablet price points featured quality technology. In the fourth quarter of 2011, IDC reported over 6 million units of the Kindle Fire were sold, making Amazon the No. 2 tablet maker with 16.8 percent of the overall market.
Hence, it was strange then that few companies tried to replicate Amazon’s model. Tablet manufacturers are still trying to compete with Apple, releasing products with specifications close to or better than the iPad. The result has been that few tablets under $400.
Perhaps only one company, Google, possesses the resources and the content to offer a tablet capable of taking on the Kindle Fire.
The first Google-branded handset, the Google Nexus One, was manufactured by HTC and was the first to be sold directly by Google to consumers. It served as the template for other Google devices like the Nexus S, the Nexus ONE and the Galaxy Nexus. With each product, Google partnered with an established device manufacturer, focusing its own efforts on the user-interface and optimizing its Android operating system for a particular device.
Google finally introduced its first branded tablet, Nexus 7, at its I/O conference last week (June 27) with a price tag of $199, meaning it will compete directly with the Kindle Fire. The Android OS, particularly Honeycomb, had long been used by iPad competitors. The Nexus 7 tablet also included the latest version of Android, 4.1, or Jelly Bean.
Like Kindle Fire, Nexus 7 offers specifications comparable to other tablets while also taking advantage of the rich library of applications that were available through Google’s Android Market. Featuring a 7-inch display, Nexus 7 also uses Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor while also sporting 1 GB of internal RAM and the option of up to 16 Gb of storage.
What's inside?
Since the Tegra 3 processor’s first design win inside the ASUS Transformer Prime, it has been steadily grabbing more socket wins. According to our IRIS database, Tegra 3 has at least five design wins, including a major win in the new Microsoft Surface tablet.
The 1.3-GHz, low power SoC was the first mobile applications processor to incorporate four cores each in the CPU and GPU. The Tegra 3 features "Variable Symmetric Multiprocessing" that uses a single low power core for tasks requiring less power consumption.
Front side view of the Nexus 7 communications board (click on image to enlarge).
Next: New vendors
Amazon shook the consumer electronics market last year when it introduced the first sub-$200 tablet, the Amazon Kindle Fire. Many were skeptical of the online vendor’s foray into electronics, but some saw it as a stroke of genius. By leveraging its vast library of online titles, Amazon set itself up to compete on content with industry leader Apple.
The Kindle Fire was an instant hit by combining Amazon’s library of e-books, music and movies with one of the lowest tablet price points featured quality technology. In the fourth quarter of 2011, IDC reported over 6 million units of the Kindle Fire were sold, making Amazon the No. 2 tablet maker with 16.8 percent of the overall market.
Hence, it was strange then that few companies tried to replicate Amazon’s model. Tablet manufacturers are still trying to compete with Apple, releasing products with specifications close to or better than the iPad. The result has been that few tablets under $400.
Perhaps only one company, Google, possesses the resources and the content to offer a tablet capable of taking on the Kindle Fire.
The first Google-branded handset, the Google Nexus One, was manufactured by HTC and was the first to be sold directly by Google to consumers. It served as the template for other Google devices like the Nexus S, the Nexus ONE and the Galaxy Nexus. With each product, Google partnered with an established device manufacturer, focusing its own efforts on the user-interface and optimizing its Android operating system for a particular device.
Google finally introduced its first branded tablet, Nexus 7, at its I/O conference last week (June 27) with a price tag of $199, meaning it will compete directly with the Kindle Fire. The Android OS, particularly Honeycomb, had long been used by iPad competitors. The Nexus 7 tablet also included the latest version of Android, 4.1, or Jelly Bean.
Like Kindle Fire, Nexus 7 offers specifications comparable to other tablets while also taking advantage of the rich library of applications that were available through Google’s Android Market. Featuring a 7-inch display, Nexus 7 also uses Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor while also sporting 1 GB of internal RAM and the option of up to 16 Gb of storage.
What's inside?
Since the Tegra 3 processor’s first design win inside the ASUS Transformer Prime, it has been steadily grabbing more socket wins. According to our IRIS database, Tegra 3 has at least five design wins, including a major win in the new Microsoft Surface tablet.
The 1.3-GHz, low power SoC was the first mobile applications processor to incorporate four cores each in the CPU and GPU. The Tegra 3 features "Variable Symmetric Multiprocessing" that uses a single low power core for tasks requiring less power consumption.
Front side view of the Nexus 7 communications board (click on image to enlarge).
Next: New vendors
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fc_twn
7/5/2012 9:54 PM EDT
It's strange to find no e-Compass inside.
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ssfae
7/6/2012 4:49 PM EDT
So what kind of touchscreen does out have? Saw mention of the Elan components for a resistive touchscreen. Is this really a resistive screen with the life limitations and only single touch? Capacitive touch is certainly the expected norm in phones and tablets.
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Frank Eory
7/17/2012 5:15 PM EDT
I suspect that somebody got some bad info about the Elan parts. The entire internet would be in an uproar if Google released this new "Kindle Fire killer" but crippled it with a resistive touchscreen.
The Nexus 7 indeed has a capacitive touchscreen. A big hint is the fact that the LCD is covered with glass.
Those two Elan parts don't show up on Elan's website and the only Google search hits for those part numbers refer to articles about the Nexus 7 teardown.
But a quick glance at Elan's website reveals that they do make capacitive touchscreen controllers -- and they don't appear to offer any resistive touchscreen controllers.
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rick.merritt
7/6/2012 12:51 AM EDT
It still amazes me that today what is more powerful than the 386 motherboards I looked at when I first got into this business is routinely fitted onto a couple small dogleg boards that wrap around a display.
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A_nut
7/6/2012 1:00 PM EDT
more powerful?
386dx40 = 10 mips
tegra 3 = 10000mips
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docdivakar
2/28/2013 1:41 PM EST
Rick, you may cease your amazement now... not sure about the quality of Google's tablet but my Lenovo Ideapad K1 died just a month after its 1-year warranty expired! It is true the tablets these days cram a lot of computing power but their reliability leaves a lot to be desired.
In comparison, my HP 17inch laptop that is nearly 10 year old still works like a champ!
MP Divakar
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elctrnx_lyf
7/6/2012 2:11 AM EDT
good photos .. looking forward to see this product in India soon.
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tecoholic
7/6/2012 2:13 AM EDT
google site says only 1 gb ddr3 ram ?
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Allan_Editor
7/6/2012 11:44 AM EDT
@tecoholic - it's 1 GB of DDR3 DRAM. There are 4 2Gbit chips on the Nexus 7 board.
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chipmonk
7/6/2012 12:37 PM EDT
Allan : Could you pl. confirm the type of DRAM on board the Nexus 7. Is it really DDR3 per your comment above or are they still using LP DDR 2 like other Tablets ? Perhaps you can provide the Part No. as well, Thx.
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Allan_Editor
7/6/2012 1:44 PM EDT
Hello Chipmonk, it is DDR3. We were surprised that Google didn't go with a PoP version of the Tegra 3 and integrate LPDDR2. In this case, they are using 4 Hynix H5TC2G83CFR DDR3 DRAM chips.
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david.may
7/9/2012 1:46 AM EDT
putting a LPDDR2 PoP version on there rather than the better DDR3 would have slowed down the data throughput would it not, so im glad they went DDR3 its still a single channel right ? and so not perfect for gaining extra free speed, at least until the real Wide IO ram makes an appearance.
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chipmonk
7/10/2012 1:45 PM EDT
a belated thx. from your photos it appears that the 4 Hynix DDR 3L chips are on both the front and back of the motherboard - 2 a side. Unlike PoP config they are not on the SoC but offset from them as in the iPad3. Like the A5x the Tegra 3 too seems to require a Heat Sink - the consequences of cramming too many Graphics cores with a 45 nm, non HKMG process perhaps ?
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Sanjib.Acharya
7/6/2012 12:44 PM EDT
The price of looks very attractive for a tab with a quad core processor, 1GB DDR3 and other features. This is going to be a big hit!
Did I miss the BOM cost? Is there an estimate of BOM cost available? I think the margin should be very low like the same for Amazon's Kindle Fire...and it is mostly targeted to eat Apple's share by selling more of Google's Apps.
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Allan_Editor
7/6/2012 1:45 PM EDT
Hello Sanjib, in an earlier story, we estimated the BOM costs of the device to be $184.
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david.may
7/9/2012 2:00 AM EDT
is that $184 BOM estimate based on a 1000 pcs or more BTW ?
its still very good for a £159 for 8GB and £199 for the 16GB version in the UK price, released in retail just as the 2012 Olympics start there.
not to forget there's all that new free Virgin media cable/ wireless underground connectivity now put in place ready for the massive games visitors there too so no problem getting any web content and streaming etc you please with it.
even if the UK goggle shop content isn't great right now as the content providers don't seem to want to take your 2012 Olympics games money and actually pay for their online content there.
oh well the end users will be happy anyway a quad core and you can provide your own content, cant stop the net.
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david.may
7/11/2012 8:12 PM EDT
oh BTW allan how did you arrive at the $184 price that 1000pvs again perhaps ?, when http://allthingsd.com/20120711/googles-nexus-7-costs-152-to-make-ihs-isuppli-teardown-finds/
find such a diference in BOM in isuppli's "$152 to Make" price.
there's a very large price difference there
OC lower is better if your not compromising the components cost and so getting lower data throughput.
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PJames
7/6/2012 7:14 PM EDT
Does someone have some clarification on WiFi module... is this B-com or Azurewave?
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t.alex
7/8/2012 1:02 AM EDT
Can the battery last long ?
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tthappy
7/9/2012 12:20 PM EDT
Good question for this article.
Battery management is big challenge for smartphone or tablet.
My Samsung Galaxy-R can only last for about 5-6 hours if I listening musics,watching moives and using google maps for navigation.
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t.alex
7/13/2012 10:26 PM EDT
Even iPhone nowadays is not known for long lasting battery.
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GREAT-Terry
7/9/2012 3:23 AM EDT
Is Maxim already dominating the PMU in tablet market? It seems Apple also use Maxim PMU in the iPAD.
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tthappy
7/9/2012 12:23 PM EDT
Apple always use dialog PMU SoC for iphone or ipad.
I don't know why they change the PMU vendor.
It's not good idea for doing this.
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Robotics Developer
7/9/2012 2:39 PM EDT
It seems that Google has a good entry with the Nexus 7 tablet. I would like to take one for a test drive to see how fast it is and what the battery life is like under normal usage.
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PoseTech
7/10/2012 3:52 AM EDT
I believe Nexus 7 comes with a camera. Do you know who supplies the camera module?
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kinnar
7/10/2012 7:47 AM EDT
It is a very good piece of hardware, since Google is not revenue centric from hardware, it would be better if they had kept this an open source hardware so that it can be better replicated thought the world.
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kasami08
7/14/2012 6:30 AM EDT
IT'S ABOUT TIME WE SEE A REPLACEABLE BATTERY!
UNLIKE THE IPAD YOUR STUCK WITH A ONE TIME USE INTEGRATED BATTERY PACK. ONCE THE BATTERY DECADES AND DOESN'T HOLD A CHARGE ANYMORE YOU WOULD EITHER HAVE THROUGH THE IPAD A WAY OR SHIP IT TO APPLE FOR A VERY EXPENSIVE REPAIR. WHY WASTE MONEY ON AN OVERPRICED IPAD THAT ONLY HAS A ONE TIME USE BATTERY, THAT IS LAME!
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t.alex
7/21/2012 3:00 AM EDT
iPad and iPhone battery can maintain its quality after years I using. But i I think it is better idea to have replaceable battery.
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Andre BRAZ
7/17/2012 4:33 PM EDT
What about the MEMs ??? Are they from ST ?
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hm
7/17/2012 9:14 PM EDT
Will Google have Nexus9 or 10, 9/10 inch tablet that directly competes with Apple?
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sranje
3/20/2013 3:34 PM EDT
Small tablets (7") will all very soon have LTE phone connectivity -- hence integrated (BB+AP) processors.
It would be great if OEM would negotiate affordable data plan so that a user after opening the mailing box can just activate (if he/she wants) phone connectivity. I hope the next iPad Mini, Nexus 7, Kindle Fire will all do that.
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