Introducing Google Player. Do you remember Google Nexus Q? No, well, most people don’t. It was the first attempt that Google made in to the set top box area in an attempt to rival Apple TV. After a few delays, the odd looking round lump was cancelled and refunds were given out.
The Google Player is Googles latest attempt at the set top box fight that’s happening in your living room. It’s part of the latest Nexus family of devices announced just today. It’s possibly easy to overlook it but it’s going to provide you with an interesting addon to your shiny new handset.
Player has Chromecast built in, allowing you to send output from your phone or tablet direct to your TV. Chromecast has long been the golden nugget in the Play Devices store providing great value for money and it’s great to see it integrated here. It also includes a small remote that is, of course, completely voice enabled allowing you to search for content and movies using Google Search.
You can also see that Player supports gamepads. Though they don’t come in the package, the gamepads should really encourage a greater level of TV friendly games and I hope that developers start upgrading some of our favourite games.
Leave a Reply