Nexus Player runs Android TV and plays games, but app support is weak
Today Google announced the first device to run Android TV, the $99 Nexus Player. It will be available for preorder October 17 to compete with the Rokus and Apple TVs of the world. It will offer fewer native apps at launch, however.
- Although still awaiting his Oscar for Best Picture Reviewer, David does hold certifications from the Imaging Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology on display calibration and evaluation.
Today Google has announced the Nexus Player. It's the first device to run Android TV, the company's latest software platform designed to power set-top boxes, TVs, and even "microconsoles".
Google announced Android TV at Google I/O 2014, and it's built on the latest version of Google's mobile operating system, Android L. It represents the latest in a long line of Google's living room platforms, including Google TV, Nexus Q and Chromecast.
The Nexus Player will be available for preorder at the Google Play Store on October 17 in the US for $99. Pricing and availability for all other countries is still up in the air, but converted that's about £60 or AU$115.
The hardware: Another puck
Its pricing and capabilities make the Nexus Player a direct competitor to other streaming boxes like the Roku 3, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.
Externally it adopts a round shape that makes it look even more like a hockey puck than the other boxes, but keeps the similar small size -- albeit not as small as the cheaper Chromecast or Roku Streaming Stick.
Among the three actual boxes, the Nexus Player resembles the Fire TV most closely. Its remote control uses Bluetooth for communication, has a microphone that supports voice search, and there's an optional gaming controller available ($40; converts to about £25 or AU$45). It also offers better tech specs than the more established boxes, namely a 1.8GHz Quad Core processor.
Connectivity is sparse. There's no analog video or optical digital audio output, just a single HDMI port, (no HDMI cable included). There's also no option to connect an Ethernet cable if you want, the Nexus Player is strictly Wi-Fi.
Update Oct 16: Google's official page makes no mention of a USB port, but multiple outlets are reporting the Nexus Player has a Micro USB 2.0 port. They also mention 8GB of internal storage, which seems relatively small considering the large file sizes of some current high-performance games. Perhaps that capacity can be augmented via an external USB storage device, however.
In addition to the physical remote, the box can also be controlled via a dedicated app, which will also accept voice search commands.
The apps: Sparse support for now
Judging from Google's preliminary product page, the main weakness of the Nexus Player appears to be lack of apps. The list of available apps lacks HBO Go (even more important now that it's going over-the-top), Amazon Instant, and Spotify, to name a few.
The grid of available native apps, as of October 15, is shown on Google's site:
In comparison, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV all offer more native apps than the Nexus Player does at launch. Here's our full comparison grid if you're curious.
That said, since the Player supports Google's Cast technology, you can access many more apps via a phone or tablet and "cast" them to the TV, just like with a Chromecast (below). HBO Go, Crackle and Vudu, for example, all support Google Cast, although Amazon does not.
The Nexus Player also supports screen mirroring from a Chrome browser or Chromebook, allowing access to even more online video sources. We've had mixed luck with many sites using this feature with a Chromecast, however (below), including Amazon and Hulu (non-Plus). Compared to native or Cast-compatible apps, screen mirroring is a less is desirable way to get video onto the big screen.
Of course we fully expect Google to add more native apps to Android TV, and in the meantime users may be able to sideload apps from the Google Play store. But the real question is whether the device will succumb to the temptation to push users toward Google's own pay services, such as Google Play Movies and TV.
That very issue was one of our major complaints with Fire TV; its interface funnels users toward Amazon content, and its voice search still hits only Amazon's video service, Crackle, Hulu Plus and Vevo for now.
Google says it plans to add more services than just Google Play and YouTube to its voice search catalog, so we'll hope for the best. Ideally the box would offer the same kind of great cross-platform search Roku delivers, just via voice as well.
Android TV interface: Simpler, promising
The following is based on brief hands-on impressions of Android TV at Google I/O conference in June.
Unlike the Chromecast, Android TV will feature a full onscreen interface and search capabilities. At first glance, the user interface looks much more straightforward than what was available on Google TV. Its blades of scrollable titles are similar to what's already on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, or Roku.
There's also a neat feature that anticipates your viewing habits (like, say, the next episode of a TV series you've been watching) and brings that content right to the forefront.
Voice search worked really well during our hands-on demo; we were able to look no just for specific shows, but also subgenres like "science-fiction movies from the 1970s."
Preliminary take: It's no Roku
Competition is fierce among $99 streaming boxes and it's difficult to see what else Android TV and the Nexus Player bring to the table.
Roku is our favorite due to its range of hardware choices, massive app selection and great search. Apple TV, while sorely in need of new hardware, delivers nearly as many worthwhile apps and the best screen mirroring functionality anywhere: AirPlay. Even Fire TV seems better than the Nexus Player at first blush, if only because of its mastery of perhaps the most versatile of apps, Amazon.
As it stands, the Nexus Player seems to offer plenty of potential, but the Android TV platform will have to grow more refined, and support many more apps natively, before it can really compete.
We look forward to publishing the full review soon.