Google Nexus TV in first half of 2014

Google TV in its attempt to wriggle into our living rooms, decides a change in name in its re-attempt. Rumour has it that Google will usher in its new set-top box, named Google Nexus TV, in the first half of 2014. The rumor comes from The Information’s Amir Efrati, who mentions an anonymous Google employee.

The Google TV project pursued earlier by Google, which was an unfortunately less successful project, was supposedly in association with LG. To amend the drawbacks of the previous living-room services, Google now plans on delivering web-rich media, instead of broadcasting the usual TV content. Considering it will be more of a set-top box than a conventional TV set, Google might offer customized Nexus TV paired with various manufacturers. For this, Google may have to go beyond its alliance with LG.

Features Expected:

This new set-top box will obviously be Android based. The features include streaming video from the heavy hitters like YouTube, Netflix, Hulu Plus and more. In addition, Nexus TV aims at enabling the users to play Android games in a bigger screen than the conventional mobiles and tablets. With services like Google Movies, Google Music, YouTube and what have you, Google has a pool rich content per sec. Google could also merging it with Google Search and creating quite a new and effective device.

The news from The Information also re-iterates previous rumours from the Wall Street Journal dated a few months ago. It mentions that Google plans to integrate a video camera and a motion sensor into the set-top box. The use of this is that Google is scheming to provide Hangouts as a core feature. With Hangouts coupled with Nexus TV, a challenge will be thrown at its rival Skype which currently enjoys the success of long and short distance video communication service on Microsoft’s Xbox gaming consoles.

Features Dropped:

Google TV, which provided access to Chrome and Youtube, also enabled Google Play services to stream existing live TV services. However, it is said that the Nexus TV will not support live broadcast, which means Google can eliminate the hassle of bringing traditional content providers on board.

The current Google project Chromecast, a small HGMI dongle, which streams from a few services is offered at $35 and is going better than Google’s previous attempts at living room gadgets. The advent of Google Nexus TV, which provides more sophistication and is of a different category from the previous attempts, is expected to be ‘aggressively priced’ according to The Information.

An announcement is expected from the Google TV team at CES in January, according to Google’s Sundar Pichai, and it’s likely that it will be running an up-to-date, and regularly updated, version of Android. Nexus TV is also expected to face a little competition from Apple, whose Apple TV is given lesser priority in comparison to its focus on iPhone and iPad devices.

Via : The Information