The Google Nexus 7 tablet officially announced

We suspected it was coming and now Google has officially taken the wraps off its new competitively priced tablet, the Google Nexus 7.

Built by Asus, we’re looking at two variants, an 8GB version at a cut price US$199 and a 16GB version priced at US$249. The Nexus 7 has a 1280 x 800 IPS display, 1.2-megapixel shooter on the front, and a quad-core Tegra 3 CPU, 12-core GPU, 1GB of RAM and 4,325mAh battery inside — Asus promises about 9 hours of video playback and 300 hours standby time. There’s also Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth onboard. All of this Google goodness runs on Jelly Bean Android 4.1.

There’s also a US$19.99 cover available for the Nexus 7, but it’s pretty standard fare, don’t expect a keyboard built into it.

Finally, if the crazy price isn’t enough, Google is throwing in a US$25 credit to spend in the Google Play store.

At launch the Nexus 7 will be available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia at first and it ships mid-July.

Check out the video for a closer look at the Google Nexus 7.