Details emerged this week of an ultra-thin notebook in development by Google, codename "Bison", which will be a showcase device for its new "Andromeda" operating system. The new OS is said to bring together the combined strengths of Android and Chrome OS, but the new laptop isn"t expected to launch until Q3 2017.
The OS itself could make an appearance in some form at the company"s October 4 launch event, at which it"s expected to unveil a range of devices, including two new Pixel smartphones. And it seems that Andromeda could be made available on another new device that"s likely to arrive long before Bison.
Earlier this month, Evan Blass (better known to many as serial leakster @evleaks) revealed that Huawei is working on a new 7-inch tablet for Google. Despite Google"s plans to ditch the Nexus brand for its new smartphones, in favor of the Pixel moniker - matching its earlier Chromebook Pixel notebooks, and Pixel C tablet - 9to5Google says it"s pretty sure that the new Huawei tablet will be a Nexus, not a Pixel.
According to Blass, the tablet will have 4GB of RAM, and should launch before the end of 2016. The latest report claims that it will be a launch device for Andromeda, "perhaps a developer-focused device".
The report further speculates that the Nexus tablet could launch with a version of Android onboard, but that Google may offer a "developer preview" of Andromeda to allow users to install the new OS on the device when it becomes available.
Source: 9to5Google