It is said that Google is lining up a spanking new 7-inch tablet before 2016 calls it quits. A fair number of people have already called out that particular device, claiming that it will be a Nexus 7 refresh of sorts, although there is every possibility that Google might be looking for the opportunity to ditch the Nexus brand name and stick to the new Pixel family name instead -- hence, the Pixel 7 could jolly well be the new moniker.

However, everything remains up in the air at the moment, as there is no official confirmation from Google concerning the rebranding effort of their upcoming tablet. We are also left stranded as to when there will be an official announcement of the Nexus 7 refresh/Pixel 7. Whispers have it that the Nexus 7 refresh/Pixel 7 will arrive with a 7-inch AMOLED display to keep your eyes happy, while a Snapdragon 820 processor ought to ensure that it will not be lacking in processing muscle when called upon. Not only that, there will allegedly be 4GB of RAM alongside 64GB of internal memory, and if all of those are not enough, you can further expand your storage space through a microSD memory card.

While there is plenty of talk concerning Android 7.0 Nougat being the mobile operating system of choice, we would not rule out the possibility that Google could look in a different direction, perhaps as a means of starting afresh. Forget about Android 7.0 Nougat -- Google might actually place emphasis on a new hybrid platform that is desktop focused, calling it the Andromeda OS. We talked about the Andromeda OS before, and it would certainly not be surprising should it debut on the Nexus 7 refresh/Pixel 7 tablet. If that is the case, and taking into consideration the kind of hardware that exists underneath the hood, could the new tablet be a task-intensive model as opposed to a casual device that handles multimedia functions while you are on-the-move?

Since Google’s flagship smartphones have already made the transition to be known as the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, it would not be out of character to see the Nexus 7 refresh end up as the Pixel 7 for a greater sense of uniformity. After all, Samsung did that for their ill-fated Galaxy Note 7, making sure that the model number is on par with the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge models. Fingers crossed the Pixel 7 will not suffer from any kind of random explosion or spontaneous combustion!

With that in mind, will Google also consolidate its notebook business? After all, this might point to the possibility of a Pixel notebook being introduced some time in 2017 -- which has also been rumored to be called the Pixel 3 before, running on Andromeda OS, no less. All in all, we will be able to get the full picture before the year is over, so there really isn’t anything else to do other than play the patience card right.