Gadgets, Nexus 7 | featured news

Hurricane Sandy may have stopped Google's Android event, but it couldn't stop the Google website. There will be no swanky event in downtown New York City, but Google's Android team has taken to a blog post to announce the latest Android devices, including the long-rumored Nexus 4 phone made by LG and Nexus 10 tablet made by Samsung.

Google says the Nexus 7, its hotly anticipated new tablet computer, is shipping to customers who preordered it this week, amid reports of heavy demand.

Right after the keynote address at the I/O conference in , loaned me a Nexus 7 tablet and, while a couple hours isn?t enough to put it through all of its paces, I have had a chance to try out several of its features. My first impressions are positive.

Google will sell a small tablet computer bearing its brand in a challenge to Amazon's Kindle Fire. The Nexus 7 is designed specifically for Google Play, the online store that sells movies, music, books, apps and other content - the things Amazon.com Inc. also sells for its tablet computer.