Today Google have announced a new Nexus 6 phone (6 inch display, 13MP camera), a Nexus 9 tablet with a magnetically attached keyboard (I think I have seen that before somewhere) and a Nexus Player. I am sure plenty of site will be showing off the phone and tablet but I am interested with the new Android TV.

The Nexus Player is Google’s first device running Android TV (not to be confused with Google TV) and is a set top box that you can run Android apps on so that means games, media apps like Netflix and Plex plus you can use it as a Chomecast device and send content to it from the browser, iOS or Android. The console comes with a voice activated remote and there is an optional games controller (no price yet), it has HDMI out and WiFi.

So Google have Google TV which was Android based and now seems to be phased out, their Chromecast dongle which you can stream media to and now Android TV (oh and don’t forget the never released Nexus Q). Android TV is Google’s games and media console and not a replacement for Chromecast, whether this will gain more traction than Google TV did remains to be seen. From what has been shown off so far the interface (running Android Lollypop) looks very useable and the selection of apps looks good. It’s a very crowded market with plenty of options.

No price information yet, I expect it to be around the price of an Apple TV or a Roko box. More info at google.com/nexus/player

Leave a Reply