Google planning Nexus 7 hybrid tablet with Jelly Bean and Chrome OS?

If this patent is anything to go by, transforming Windows 8 slates won’t be the only netbook destroyers by the time 2012 is out

It seems inevitable thatGoogle’s £160 Nexus 7 tabletwill end up in the pockets of every gadget fan who can’t afford an iPad. And so it should: the Nexus tab rocks a fine build thanks to Asus, gestures and tricks fromAndroid 4.1 Jelly Beanand an earlier release (in the UK) than its would-be rival, Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

But fickle as we are, our attentions have already turned to what Google is doing next. According to a patent unearthed byPatentBoltit hasn’t gone unnoticed in Mountain View’s big G towers that geeks are getting giddy about the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity’s detachable keyboard dock and thecolourful Microsoft Surface in-case QWERTYs.

And Google has been working on a hybrid of its own: a tablet that comes bundled with a virtual keyboard and trackpad touchscreen that can be twisted and rotated to give tablet and laptop-style form factors.

The device would also be able to run more than one OS – Android Jelly Bean and Chrome OS anyone? – and the keyboard would activate or deactivate depending on how you use the tablet.

If Google does have a hybrid trick up its sleeve, we’d suggest cornering Samsung or Asus to make it before everyone gets too busybuilding Windows 8 machinesready for the autumn.

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Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website. 

Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge.

Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones.

He’s also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home