Nexus 7 Review of News: Fires Kindle vs iPad Mini, Store Stories, Release Date & Offline Maps

Google will be entering into the tablet market very shortly with the Nexus 7 which could be in retail stores as to at this Thursday.  Google is already accepting preorders and billing it as the new $199 tablet from Google and other online retailers are entering in the fray.

The 8GB Nexus 7 model is showing now that it ships in 1 to 2 weeks(which was previously 3-4 weeks) and for a limited time, includes $25 of credit to spend in the Play store.  In the U.K. shoppers can get theirs as on July 19.

Another indicator that the Nexus 7 is coming soon is that Google is advertising on its search page "No cell service? No problem. You can take Google maps wherever you go with new off-line maps."  Since the Nexus 7 is Wi-Fi only the offline mapping feature is needed. If you have GPS on the device, the blue dot will still work without a data connection so you know where you are. And what do you know the Nexus 7 has GPS while the Kindle Fire does not...

Eric from PhoneDog shows that its coming in mid July and a near perfect size for reading.  He particularly liked the Google Voice search.

Office Depot is currently able to presell in-stores the Nexus 7 16GB version and that may be available in store son Thursday July 12, noted an anonymous screenshot. The Office Depot website shows "Coming Soon." Staples is expected to ship the Nexus 7 between July 12 and July 17 with free shipping.

By buying your tablet in the store you will save on shipping but still have to pay sales tax. Some online retailers such as B&H Video are not charging shipping or sales tax for the 16GB that is expected on August 15.

The most important thing to remember about the Nexus 7 is that it is Wi-Fi only and not compatible with a wireless carrier.

Leaks also show an iPad mini that looks to be around 7 inches and have two speakers to will compete with the Nexus 7.  although only rumored, we suspect that the iPad mini will not be as cheap as the Kindle Fire or Nexus 7.  However, without an announcement there is no way of telling if the iPad mini will be competitive price-wise. If you are currently an iPhone or Mac user, you will more than likely prefer the iPad Mini.

So if you are waffling between these three tablets what should you do?  If you are a big ebook reader and buy things frequently on Amazon, you may want to wait for a new deal from Amazon because previously, the first Amazon Kindle costs more to make than what it sold for. Amazon will more than likely throw in some special ebooks and apps around Christmas time.

If you don't currently have a tablet and already understand Android and are salivating for Android 4. Jelly Bean, this could be your chance to grab a tablet.

New features of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean include voice actions, expanded notifications, larger Android Beam files, resizable widgets, tablets look more like Android smartphones and a better keyboard.

 If you are a bargain hunter, you may want to wait prices may be reduced in the six months.  We doubt however that Google will ever blowout their tablets like HP did with the TouchPad for $99.99.  As far as the best ever deal on a nine inch tablet it's still the HP TouchPad aka ImmortaPad with MacConnection and PCConnectionExpress are showing refurbished 32GB Wi-FI HP TouchPads in stock for $209 with free shipping which is the cheapest we’ve seen, recently.