Google yesterday jumped head first into the Tablet wars with the announcement of its new 7 inch tablet. The seven-inch Google Nexus tablet, which goes on sale in three weeks, will cost $199 in the US. The extremely competitive pricing may well lure Apple fans away from the iPad, which starts at $399.

The Nexus packs a high-definition screen, the latest quad-core processor, runs the latest version of Android, and has a battery life which can handle nine hours of continuous video playback.  It weighs 340 grams

The firm hopes the tablet will take on Apple’s iPad, along with Microsoft’s Surface tablet which was revealed last week, and current Android tablets including Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

Two versions will be available, one with 8GB of storage for $199 and a second with 16GB for $249. By comparison, Apple’s new iPad, which has a larger 9.7 inch screen, costs $399 for a 16GB version.

Speaking about the launch of the Nexus 7, Google’s Hugo Barra said “Its always been a goal of the Nexus programme to provide the best experience. We wanted to design a best of Google experience.” The Nexus 7 is made for Google Play, which supports music, movies, apps and books, similar to the Apple Store and Amazon’s online multimedia products.

The firm hopes the smaller size of the Nexus 7 compared to the iPad will make it more popular. Google said one million Android devices are activated every day, and users will receive the latest version, depending on which phone they have, from as early as next month.

Google also said over 600,000 Android apps are now available in its Play store, which will also begin selling films, TV shows and magazines.

The firm said the new version of its Android software, codenamed Jelly Bean, was far quicker that previous versions. “Jellybean has a ton of improvements, we have touched every corner of Android,” said Mr Barra. The new version introduces a number of new gestures, including the ability to ‘throw’ apps and pictures off the screen to delete them.

It also has a speech typing app similar to Apple’s dictation feature, but one capable of working when the phone does not have an internet connection. Speech can also be used to search for web pages and information about topics.

A new feature called Google Now is able to work out where users are and show them information – for instance, if they stand at a bus stop, it will show the next arriving bus, or show traffic information if a user is driving to work.

It can also work with a diary to warn users if they will be late, and what buses to get to arrive on time. Scores in major sports are also displayed, and Google can even work out which team you support from which searches you have made.

The nearly 6000 developers in attendance at the three-day I/O will leave with the just-announced Nexus 7 tablet and Nexus Q home streaming device, as well as a Galaxy Nexus smartphone. The products would cost nearly $850 to buy at retail.