X

Google Nexus Q is a social streaming media player

Google's Nexus Q is a new social streaming media player -- a round black sphere that streams the music and videos you store online.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
See full bio
Richard Trenholm
2 min read

Join the Q. Google has revealed the Google Nexus Q, a new social streaming media player.

The Nexus Q is a round black sphere that connects to the cloud and streams the music and videos that you store online. It also streams YouTube videos and other online stuff, such as movies and TV from Google Play.

You use your phone to control it, and there's a capacitive touch sensor on it as well if you prefer to prod your products. Because it connects to the cloud, anyone can access their cloud library -- so if you're at a party, everyone can add songs to the play queue. Everyone can see the play queue, move songs around and act the DJ.

Movies work the same, so you can watch a film at a friend's house.

And that's not all: plug in some speakers and the Nexus Q acts as a 25W amplifier.

The Nexus Q packs 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC wireless connections. Inside is the same chipset as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone.

It's powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich software, rather than the new Android 4.1 Jelly Bean software also unveiled today.

We have no idea why a search engine company wants to make an amplifier, but hey ho. As well as the Google Nexus 7 tablet also revealed today, the Big G is bidding to take over your living room with Google TV. It's all about cloud content, which is all very well in the US, but licensing deals mean we're a bit behind the States in that area. It's only available in the US for now anyway, costing $300 (£190).

What do you think of the Nexus Q? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.