HTC-made Nexus 9 said to be highlight of October 8 event

sincity · September 15, 2014

Asus will reportedly be out of the Nexus tablet business with the unveiling of Google's long-awaited followup, setting the stage for a new generation of Android slate manufactured by HTC that could be introduced early next month.

PhoneArena today reported (via 4GNews) that an unnamed source at an HTC manufacturing facility in Brazil has supposedly spilled the beans on the company's next tablet, which is said to be the followup to last year's Nexus 7 refresh.

The so-called Nexus 9 (or is that Nexus 8?) - appropriately named for its rumored nine-inch, 1080p HD display - could make its debut at an October 8 media event, and the report claims the tablet "is also expected to use the Tegra K1," Nvidia's latest mobile processor powerhouse.

The apparent Tegra K1 confirmation comes straight from a Nvidia legal filing made public last week, which specifically mentions the existence of a Nexus 9 "expected in the third quarter of 2014."

Totally tubular

Google and HTC appear to be deviating from the Nexus 7 playbook with the Nexus 9, possibly including "a new 'tube-shaped' waterproof camera" with a 16MP sensor that could be used to entice current GoPro owners.

While we can't exactly imagine anyone wanting to take their tablet on an extreme sports outing, apparently this so-called "smart lens" features a wide-angle view capable of being controlled from a smartphone app on either Android or iPhone.

Such wireless connectivity will reportedly be possible using either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, and HTC is also said to be planning a selfie-centric smartphone which could be launched at the same event.

Other rumored specs include 3GB RAM (instead of the initially whispered 4GB), 16GB onboard storage with the option to add 128GB more via micro-SD and a 64-bit version of Google's forthcoming (and still officially unnamed) Android L operating system.