Everyone here at Ausdroid loves a good Nexus rumour. Today another one has surfaced from a couple of different sources. At this stage it seems a given that the next Nexus tablet will be made by HTC. The rumour today is not about the device per se but about the accessories associated. Two days ago there was the tweet from the folks who seem to have taken over from EvLeaks, @upleaks:
https://twitter.com/upleaks/status/505721207312752640
They all seem standard fare except for the last one, the keyboard folio. If you’re like me you will have admired the folio cases that come with a Microsoft surface device and wish that we had something similar for our Android devices. Well, it seems that we have to wish no longer. Rumours may not always come to fruition but today the dedicated staff over at Android Police received a leak which not only detailed a sketch of the keyboard folio but also some specifications.
The keyboard folio will apparently have the standard cover flap that folds up to support the tablet while using the keyboard. When not in use the tablet will sit atop the keyboard with the segmented cover flap covering the screen. The folio is expected to arrive with Bluetooth 4.0 capabilities to allow it to connect with the tablet, as well as an NFC chip to allow quick pairing between the tablet and folio. The folio is also believed to have an on-board 450mAh battery to power the keyboard which seems to be charged via a standard microUSB port located within the hinge on the side.
The dimensions of the folio is 228 x 320 x 5 mm. The keys are 3mm high with the key pitch being 1.5mm. While not massive this size seems relatively comfortable to me, especially for a highly portable device, where there are often trade-offs. According to Android Police’s source there is a standard QWERTY keyboard along with “Android function keys”. Given this size of the folio Android Police were able to do a mockup of the size of the HTC Nexus tablet compared to the Nexus 7.
As can be seen the folio seems to confirm other rumours which have said that the HTC Nexus tablet’s display would a 4:3 ratio. This could possibly be a push for a device aimed at productivity rather than consuming media. While rumours are just that, rumours, this seems to be a fairly detailed rumour so while the confidence in it is high it is still not set in stone until the product surfaces. With a 4:3 ratio and a keyboard folio Google may well have a winner in my opinion, once they stick ChromeOS on it.
