Andre Yoskowitz
27 Jun 2012 20:14
During its I/O event this afternoon, Google unveiled its entry in the fight for the living room, showing off its mysterious orb, the Google Nexus Q.
As Google describes it: "Nexus Q streams your favorite entertainment directly from the cloud to your living room. Just use the Google Play and YouTube apps on your Android phone or tablet to surf an ocean of music, TV, movies and music, and Nexus Q will play it all on the biggest speakers and screen in the house. There are no downloads, no syncing, no running out of space. Just the stuff you love -- at home and out loud."
The all black orb has a flat bottom to place it on tables and a middle LED strip that goes on when the Q is being used to stream songs, videos and other content.
In terms of connectivity, there's a Micro-HDMI output, an optical audio port, Ethernet jack, plus a Micro-USB port, a set of banana jack speaker outputs, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and NFC (near-field communication) support. The banana jacks allow for speakers to connect to the built-in 25-watt amp with no separate AV receiver required.
The Q runs on a custom Android 4.0, has 16GB of onboard flash memory and 1GB of RAM. The device supports Google Play Music, Google Play Movies and TV, and YouTube. The device is social as it bridges functionality between all your Android devices and your TV, including friend's Android devices for playlist sharing.
Price will likely be what separates the potential buyers from those that actually do buy, as it comes in a bit expensive at $299. Notably, the device is designed and manufactured in the U.S.A., creating jobs for Americans.
Get it here: Nexus Q