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If you’ve resisted buying an iPad because of the cost and have avoided cheap Android tablets because of the quality, it looks like your patience has paid off.

Google last week launched its own-brand Android tablet, called the Nexus 7, and the good news is that the cheapest model costs a mere £159.

The Nexus 7 tablet runs the very latest version of Android (version 4.1) and has a 7” high-resolution colour touch-screen with 8GB of onboard storage.

The tablet is powerful too — Google is pitching it as an ideal gaming device, but it’s equally well-suited to web browsing, email and reading e-books. Plus it can run the full range of Android apps from the Google Play store, of course.

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The Nexus 7 is only available with Wi-Fi though, and there’s no model with built-in 3G. That means accessing the internet when away from a home Wi-Fi network will need either a mobile hotspot or a Bluetooth connection to a suitable mobile or smartphone.

The 8GB Nexus 7 costs £159, the 16GB model costs £199 and both come with a £15 credit to spend in the Google Play store. A free copy of the Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie is also included, but the less said about that, the better.

Both models are currently available for pre-order and should be delivered within two to three weeks, according to Google.