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The Nexus Q will bomb. $299 for a very confused offering. From the Guardian: > So yes, Nexus Q is a "small Android-powered computer that's designed to live in

by SandB0x 14y ago

The Nexus Q will bomb. $299 for a very confused offering. From the Guardian: > So yes, Nexus Q is a "small Android-powered computer that's designed to live in your home", connecting to speakers and the cloud, as well as the Google Play store. It's controlled from a smartphone or tablet, but not to stream content from the device to the Nexus Q. Nobody cares about how the streaming is achieved technically, and I think the "social" aspect is massively over-sold. If I want to show someone content on my tablet wouldn't we just sit next to each other and look at the tablet? The Nexus 7 apparently already has HDMI out (I think) so I just can't see anyone forking out $299 for some bizarre social content streaming concept party.

jonursenbach 14y ago
I thought that they were just playing it to the crowd of people who buy Sonos devices.
- laconian 14y ago
  A good Sonos installation is really expensive.
  - falling 14y ago
    a bad one too.
jimmar 14y ago
I loved how he said something to the effect of, "Now, your friends can play music in your living room." Then, the dramatic pause as he waited for the audience reaction. Honestly, it seemed like the audience felt bad for him and bailed him out by clapping unenthusiastically.
- SandB0x 14y ago
  Exactly. In my flat we have a £2 cable to connect phones and laptops to the stereo. No cloud content delivery explanation needed there.
- eagsalazar 14y ago
  Yeah the guy seemed pretty aware of it too. Painful to watch.
- SkyMarshal 14y ago
  He's trying the Jobs play - "People don't know what we want until we show it to them" - but it came off more like solving a problem people don't have.
zbowling 14y ago
For $299 I can get a PS3 with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime with 250GB of space. Or for $299 I can get an XBOX with lots of apps, Netflix, Hulu, and 250GB of space. Or for $99 dollars I can get an Apple TV with Netflix and iTunes rentals. Or for $79 I can get a Roku with USB, and buy an external drive with 250GB at $100 ($179 total) and get Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. Or for $299, I can get Google Nexus Q with 16GB of space and no apps yet.
- rbn 14y ago
  You can also get a $99 Xbox with a 2 year Xbox Live contract.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- b3b0p 14y ago
  Work just bought me to experiment with one of those Android 4.0 Mini PC's with HDMI, USB, and MicroSD on them the size of a thumb drive. Just got it a few hours ago and was only around $75. I know it has Netflix, not sure what else at the moment since this is my first Android device of any sorts.
  - jonursenbach 14y ago
    Link?
    - b3b0p 14y ago
      There a quite a few companies you can get one from, I believe this is the one we got: http://www.asiapads.com/product_info.php?products_id=2246 http://www.asiapads.com/product_info.php?products_id=2246
- ajross 14y ago
  To be fair: the "TV thing" market is a huge mess, and none of those devices are making much real progress replacing the cable and satellite boxes users already have. We're still waiting on the proper innovation here. It seems like the Q (despite the pretty blatant mispricing -- I agree that they'll move essentially zero of these at $300) has at least a new mix of features to try. The built-in amp makes it an attractive audio box at least. The idea of driving content from the handsets in the room seems better to me than the (IMHO ridiculous) idea the TV vendors have of making handsets into "remote". The lack of storage isn't really a problem if everything is sourced from the cloud (which it is already for most of those gadgets anyway). And the "no apps" is silly -- it's an android box. Though I didn't see much about a UI metaphor. Obviously the HDMI display isn't going to be a touchscreen, but you can always plug in a keyboard and mouse (this works today on your GNex if you have the right cable).
lnanek 14y ago
The reason cloud streaming is so important is because wireless streaming from a device eats the battery alive. Amazon recently announced that battery and then price are the primary drivers for users buying tablets, and battery is amazingly import for phones as well. Cables are a little iffy, a lot of non-techies simply aren't going to go plug their cable in to show off their pictures or music. A simple enough UI, though, can bring them in. Successful consumer mobile products generally prize being ridiculously simple because that's the only thing many people will use and media oriented, because that's the thing most people do with the smart part of their phones, nothing more.

by SandB0x 14y ago

jonursenbach 14y ago

I thought that they were just playing it to the crowd of people who buy Sonos devices.

laconian 14y ago
A good Sonos installation is really expensive.
- falling 14y ago
  a bad one too.

jimmar 14y ago

I loved how he said something to the effect of, "Now, your friends can play music in your living room." Then, the dramatic pause as he waited for the audience reaction. Honestly, it seemed like the audience felt bad for him and bailed him out by clapping unenthusiastically.

SandB0x 14y ago
Exactly. In my flat we have a £2 cable to connect phones and laptops to the stereo. No cloud content delivery explanation needed there.
eagsalazar 14y ago
Yeah the guy seemed pretty aware of it too. Painful to watch.
SkyMarshal 14y ago
He's trying the Jobs play - "People don't know what we want until we show it to them" - but it came off more like solving a problem people don't have.

zbowling 14y ago

For $299 I can get a PS3 with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime with 250GB of space. Or for $299 I can get an XBOX with lots of apps, Netflix, Hulu, and 250GB of space. Or for $99 dollars I can get an Apple TV with Netflix and iTunes rentals. Or for $79 I can get a Roku with USB, and buy an external drive with 250GB at $100 ($179 total) and get Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. Or for $299, I can get Google Nexus Q with 16GB of space and no apps yet.

rbn 14y ago
You can also get a $99 Xbox with a 2 year Xbox Live contract.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
b3b0p 14y ago
Work just bought me to experiment with one of those Android 4.0 Mini PC's with HDMI, USB, and MicroSD on them the size of a thumb drive. Just got it a few hours ago and was only around $75. I know it has Netflix, not sure what else at the moment since this is my first Android device of any sorts.
- jonursenbach 14y ago
  Link?
  - b3b0p 14y ago
    There a quite a few companies you can get one from, I believe this is the one we got: http://www.asiapads.com/product_info.php?products_id=2246 http://www.asiapads.com/product_info.php?products_id=2246
ajross 14y ago
To be fair: the "TV thing" market is a huge mess, and none of those devices are making much real progress replacing the cable and satellite boxes users already have. We're still waiting on the proper innovation here. It seems like the Q (despite the pretty blatant mispricing -- I agree that they'll move essentially zero of these at $300) has at least a new mix of features to try. The built-in amp makes it an attractive audio box at least. The idea of driving content from the handsets in the room seems better to me than the (IMHO ridiculous) idea the TV vendors have of making handsets into "remote". The lack of storage isn't really a problem if everything is sourced from the cloud (which it is already for most of those gadgets anyway). And the "no apps" is silly -- it's an android box. Though I didn't see much about a UI metaphor. Obviously the HDMI display isn't going to be a touchscreen, but you can always plug in a keyboard and mouse (this works today on your GNex if you have the right cable).

lnanek 14y ago

The reason cloud streaming is so important is because wireless streaming from a device eats the battery alive. Amazon recently announced that battery and then price are the primary drivers for users buying tablets, and battery is amazingly import for phones as well. Cables are a little iffy, a lot of non-techies simply aren't going to go plug their cable in to show off their pictures or music. A simple enough UI, though, can bring them in. Successful consumer mobile products generally prize being ridiculously simple because that's the only thing many people will use and media oriented, because that's the thing most people do with the smart part of their phones, nothing more.