Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Nexus Q - From TV to Q



On October 10th 2010, Google in partnership with Sony, Intel and Logitech, launched their Smart TV platform named Google TV. To be honest, it kinda failed badly. Partially because they did not have enough media partners to provide content for the platform, partially because the hardware partners were not fully engaged in adopting Android as their primary Smart TV operating system. In June of 2012, Google showed this new great looking device, which is not a Google TV. The Nexus Q is what they call a social streaming media player. I bet that no one gets what the hell is it and what it does. Let me lay it out for you: it is a device that lets you enjoy the internet on your TV while controlling it with an Android smart-phone or tablet. Here are the answers to the questions you should ask yourself :


What does it really do ?


It plays videos from YouTube, plays movies from your Google Play account and plays music directly from your Google Music library. It is also aware of other Nexus Q devices that are in your house so you can choose where the music plays. All of the interactions with the Q are done through the Nexus Q app that will be available in Google Play when they start selling it. The awesome thing about that is that all of your friends with Android devices will be able to control the Q when you set it into Party Mode. Hackers and modders over at CyanogenMod already started development on the device so pretty soon we should be able to use the Q as a full blown Android device.


What are the specs ?


The Nexus Q packs a 1.2 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM, 16 GB Flash memory, NFC, WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI port for your TV, Banana and Optical out for speakers, an Ethernet port to connect to the Net and a USB port so hackers can try to do stuff we have not thought of yet.


How much does it cost ?


This is the main downside, that little bad boy sure is pricy. You can pre-order it 299$ US but I am pretty sure its price should drop a lot around Christmas time. This leads us to the next point.


Why should I get one ?


Do you want a really cool living room ? Do you want a TV with Internet on it ? Do you want to throw nerdy-techy-geeky parties ? Do you live in the US and have full acccess to all of Google Play's content ? If you said yes to one of these questions, the Q is for you. If not, wait a couple of years until it does 1247 new things and has 2910 new features. This is a really awesome device but if I am not getting one, it probably means that you don't need one either. 


PAF



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