Yesterday when the fancy little videos from Google came out with all the Androidify characters I laughed. They were cute, funny and just plain awesome. Two of the videos made sense, the third, where the guy pushes out a speaker and starts a party, got me thinking. It made me wonder if Google had another device up its sleeves that didn’t get daily leak treatment. It did make its rounds in a set of benchmark reports though. Meet the Asus built Nexus Player.
The Nexus Player is the first commercially available Android TV device to launch. It is powered by an Intel Atom quad-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz with imagination PowerVR Series 6 graphics 2d/3d engine. It offers 1GB of RAM and 8GB internal storage. It is powered by a typical DC power supply with HDMI out at 1920 x 1080@60Hz. You can see a hand-held physical remote that resembles the Fire TV remote a little, with fewer buttons and is also voice enabled. That allows you to search and do with just your voice. The physical set-top box disk and remote appear to be the primary purchase option as that is all that is listed in the “in-box” section of the spec outlines. That makes the dual joystick wielding gaming controller an add-on accessory.
If you are concerned with size, the Nexus Player dimensions are just 120 x 120 x 20 mm. Connection wise, beyond power and HDMI, Â you have Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi 802.11ac 2×2 (MIMO) and a Micro USB 2.0 port.
In addition to the device operating as a standalone unit with its own apps, Play Store access and other functions, it is also Google Cast Ready. That means you can cast your device content through the Nexus PLayer just as you do with the Chromecast. The Nexus Player falls in-line with the Nexus 9, as in the pre-order date for the device is set for October 17th with a price tag of $99 and is listed to be in store for purchase November 3rd.
Source: Google blog | Nexus Player overview page
