Android 4.2 is an updated version of Google's ' operating system. The news of the Nexus 7 upgrade comes hard on the heels of the launches of the LG-made smartphone, and Samsung's tablet. Both those Google-branded devices launched today with Android 4.2.

Android 4.2 is a relatively minor upgrade, but owners of Nexus 7 tablets will expect to get it quickly. The Nexus 7 slate is, after all, a Google-branded device. Key upgrades include the ability to host multiple user accounts - something possible on Microsoft's newly launched RT tablets. Android 4.2 also offers swipe-to-type keyboard entry.

The Nexus 7 is Google's first attempt at an own-brand tablet, although it is manufactured by Asus. Available at the startlingly low price of £159, the Nexus 7 was the first device to ship with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and offers a 7in screen and a quad-core processor. As the name suggests the tablet has a 7in screen, is respectably thin at 10.9mm and very light at 336g.

The price is subsidised by Google, in order to kick start use of its Google Play apps, movies and music store. As a consequence it has proved to be very popular, although the launch of the , and will eat into its share of prospective purchasers. The advent of tablet will also add to the tablet-buying competition this Christmas.

There's no definitive word on when the Nexus 7 will be updated to Android 4.2.