Google Nexus 7

Google calls the Nexus 7 a “no-compromise Android tablet,” and has given it a price that should have competitors shaking: An 8GB model is $199, and a 16GB model $249. The entertainment-geared Nexus 7 “was built for Google Play,” and to prove it, for a limited time, Google is offering buyers a $25 credit to spend in the Play store.

The Nexus 7 measures 7.8 by 4.7 by 0.4 inches, weighs nearly 12 ounces and, as its name suggests, has a 7-inch 1280 by 800 high-definition display. Also on board are a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera, near-field communication (NFC) technology for sharing content through Android Beam, a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, volume controls and software keys, and of course, the Jelly Bean OS. It is now available for preorder, and Google says it will ship in two to three weeks.

Though it ships with Ice Cream Sandwich, the Galaxy Nexus will be the first smartphone to run Jelly Bean. It features a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED (active-matrix organic LED) display, 5MP and 1.3MP cameras (you know where), a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and measures 8.94mm thin. The iPhone 4S, for comparison, has a 9.3mm profile.

The Galaxy Nexus is, for now, the only smartphone in the Google Play store. It’s available unlocked and contract-free, is compatible with more than 200 GSM carriers, including AT&T and T-Mobile, and as of June 27 had its price reduced to $349, from $399.Â

Available on the AT&T network, the Samsung-made Nexus S shipped with Gingerbread, Android 2.3, but has been confirmed to receive Jelly Bean. This smartphone features a 4-inch display, a 1GHz Hummingbird processor and a dedicated graphics processing unit (GPU), which speaks to its prowess as a game console.

Mid-July-ish, Motorola’s Android-running tablet, the Xoom, will receive an over-the-air Jelly Bean update, which should, if even in a small way, help it compete against the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Unless, of course, the Tab is next in line—which has not been confirmed but is hardly unlikely.

YouMobile has reported that the Samsung Galaxy S III will receive the Jelly Bean update in the fourth quarter. One hardly needs such a report, however, to guess that the GS III will make the short list. Samsung expects to have sold 10 million of these phones by the end of July.

Also by July’s end, the Galaxy S III will be available from five U.S. carriers and in at least 29 countries. Though it’s feature-packed and hardly needs an extra incentive to offer, it’s hard to imagine it won’t be among the first phones to receive the update.

HTC has officially announced, “We are excited about Android Jelly Bean and are planning to support it across a variety of our devices.” A priority will certainly be the One X, available on the AT&T network. While the Samsung Galaxy S III has been named the summer’s “it” phone, some reviewers prefer the One X.

The Evo 4G LTE, a sleek update on the kickstand-equipped Evo 4G of yesteryear, is another very likely HTC candidate for Jelly Bean.

T-Mobile was the first U.S. carrier to support Android. Struggling for market share behind Verizon, AT&T and Sprint, respectively, updating its One S—its version of AT&T’s One X—to Jelly Bean could help attract new subscribers.

Jelly Bean arrives as Google has activated more than 400 million smartphones. At I/O, the company shared that it’s now activating more than 1 million Android devices each day.