NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 System-on-Chip (SoC) powers a range of current high-end tablets including the Google Nexus 7 and the Microsoft Surface RT.  But the company is hard at work on the next-generation of their ARM platform, the Tegra 4.

According to a newly leaked document, the Tegra 4 – codenamed Wayne – will (like its predecessor) include four application cores, but will move to the latest Cortex-A15 architecture.  It will also have 72 graphics cores, besting the Tegra 3’s 12-core GPU handily.  These extra cores will enable screen resolutions up to 2560×1600.

The Tegra 4’s app cores will likely be clocked between 1.2 and 2.0GHz.  It will also include support for USB 3.0 and DDR3.

NVIDIA is expected to unveil the new SoC  in Q1 2013, with the first devices powered by the Tegra 4 likely shipping mid-year.

AT&T will begin selling the HTC One X superphone as early as next month; but the carrier may not have One X exclusivity for long.

Sprint and HTC have just announced an event for April 4, where BGR supposes the two companies will announce that Sprint, too, will offer a CDMA/LTE version of the One X.

Of course, Sprint doesn’t have LTE at the moment, but a rollout of its very own Long Term Evolution data network is slated for the spring.  The first Sprint LTE locations are expected to be Atlanta and a handful of cities in Texas including Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, with more to come throughout 2012 and 2013.  Of course, an LTE-enabled One X would also work with Sprint’s existing 3G data network.

Unless you’re a die-hard B&N devotee, there are very few reasons to choose the Nook Tablet over the Kindle Fire, and the extra $50 you have to shell out for the Nook doesn’t help.  But it now appears that a new 8GB Nook Tablet will soon launch, and while taking away one of the few advantages over the Fire (2x the onboard storage) won’t likely sway would-be buyers, a new price point might.

A leaked Wal-Mart inventory memo states that the new 8GB Nook Tablet will ship on Wednesday, February 22.  This looks legit, so the only question now is: how much will it cost? 

$199?  $150? 

We’ll know Wednesday.

Update: Well, the rumor was correct, except for the date; B&N released the new 8GB Nook Tablet this morning.  The price is $199, and the 16GB version is still available at $249.

Aside from Amazon’s Kindle Fire, Android tablets have enjoyed very limited success compared to Apple’s iPad, a situation Google cannot be very happy with.  Even top-shelf devices like the Motorola Xyboard are destined for disappointing sales because of their high price.  As a result, the company may be poised to release a tablet of its own, bypassing partner tinkering and price bloat, and focusing on the best possible Android experience on a tablet device at the best possible price. 

Like the Nexus line of smartphones, a Nexus tablet would be free of UI overlays and manufacturer add-ons, offering a pure Android user experience. Google chairman Eric Schmidt has confirmed that a “tablet of the highest quality” is in the works, so the questions now are 1) will it be a Google-branded tablet, 2) when will it be released, 3) how much will it cost, and 4) what sort of tablet will it be?

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We’ve seen several release date rumors for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus Android 4.0 smartphone, ranging from today (November 21st) to the day after Thanksgiving, to the first week in December.

But new screenshot leaks posted by Droid Life – supposedly from a Verizon Wireless employee – show a new, even later release date: December 8th.

Of course, we’ve seen purported screenshots before that turned out to be less than spot on.  Still December 8 is just as possible as any other upcoming date since the Galaxy Nexus is widely expected to ship before the end of 2011.

Guess if you’re looking for the best Verizon Wireless Android phone, you should hold off a bit longer unless, to you, best means thinnest.