The 3:2 aspect ratio is certainly interesting to Google but not to users. It is even less vertical space than with 16:9 or 16:10. So what good is that much horizontal space, apart for ads in a column left or right of the content.
I think you have that backwards: 3:2 == 1.5x as wide as it is high. That's more vertical space than 16:9 (1.78x) or 16:10 (1.6x).
I think it's interesting they chose a 3:2 aspect ratio. The price is a bit high for the specs you get, but I suppose a lot of that is the (multi-touch)screen.