Hurricane Sandy blows away Google product launches

The imminent arrival of Hurricane Sandy has caused Google to cancel an event in New York today where it was to show off new Nexus devices.

The "super storm" has seen US authorities shutting down much of the Atlantic seaboard, putting the kibosh on Google's plan to unveil the Nexus 10, a 10-inch tablet designed to rival Apple's iPad and Microsoft's Surface.

There hasn't been much official word from Google about the new device, but reports suggest the display will sport a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels, better than that of the iPad 4. Leaked images suggest the Android device will run on the Jelly Bean OS. It's estimated the Nexus 10 will be sold for less than £200, a price much lower than that of the iPad Mini.

Google was also set to reveal the Nexus 4 smartphone, details of which were leaked online last week by retailer Carphone Warehouse. 

The page, which has since been removed, revealed that the LG-produced phone will sport a 4.7-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels and runs on Android 4.2. The Nexus 4 is expected to have a 1.5GHz quad-core processor and an 8MB camera.

In addition to revealing two new devices, Google was reportedly going to unveil an update of the Nexus 7 tablet, with 32GB strorage space, double that of the original. Retailers in the US have already put the new device on display, while the 16GB version is likely to drop in price as a result. 

The postponed unveiling of Google's new products follows launches by Apple, who revealed the iPad 4 and iPad Mini, and Microsoft, who last week released the Surface tablet. This device, Microsoft's first venture into the tablet market, has been received with mixed reviews.

Hurricane Sandy, dubbed "Frankenstorm", due to its closeness to Halloween, has put much of the United States Atlantic seaboard on high alert.