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The Nexus Q is easily hack-able. That's an important feature. Just a few days after the Q launched you already had people transforming it into a game console wi

The Nexus Q is easily hack-able. That's an important feature. Just a few days after the Q launched you already had people transforming it into a game console with mind control and a projector: https://plus.google.com/117676109445965905583/posts/BRbJEQk41vU https://plus.google.com/117676109445965905583/posts/BRbJEQk4... This is probably not a mass consumer device supposed to replace the Roku. It's a premium product for a very specific use case (as google demoed). While at the same time a developer toy to explore what android can do in different devices.

rwhitman 14y ago
Hmm, maybe its actually a gaming console in disguise?
- eupharis 14y ago
  ... Wow that makes perfect sense. Especially when you considered how ridiculously overpowered the hardware is for its ostensible use case!
  - spacemanaki 14y ago
    At $300, "secretly it's a game console" doesn't seem like a great business plan. If that was the plan they should probably have lead with that.
    - abraham 14y ago
      The Android Nexus Q app is pretty rough still so it leads me to believe that Google launched what they could at I/O. Considering how they designed and built the Q in the USA because of the fast feedback loop it makes sense that they have bigger plans from what Google currently lets on to.
    - rwhitman 14y ago
      Think about it this way - Google wants to get into the console gaming market but they know they can't compete yet. They need to innovate a new model. So they release whats effectively a prototype onto the market as a "media player" and let developers have at it. Its derided as bizarre until 3 years later when there are hundreds of super cheap indie games available on a number of ultra cheap Android-based console media/gaming devices... and then magically Google is crushing Nintendo
      - Steko 14y ago
        You don't need a ridiculously overpriced, underpowered Nexus Q to get to your conclusion (successful third party android consoles) though. If anything, debacles like this and Google TV 1.0 lose Android credibility in the living room space as prospective buyers ask "Is this gonna be another Nexus Q?" while they're considering purchasing the Samsung Galaxy Console.
    - eupharis 14y ago
      Actually, no. Marketing this as a game console at this moment makes no sense. Because there are no games. No game console maker has ever made real money on the hardware. If Google is just breaking even on the Nexus Tablet, even when it's sold from their own webstore, they can't be making much on this more powerful hardware. The Google Play media sales, including games, is where the money is. Without marketing as a game console, games will be available soon enough. Here's the plan: 1) Existing Android game developers will adapt their games to work with the Nexus Q. Because it is EASY. 2) Friends will have fun at parties queuing up music and videos and playing games. Games that can (for the moment) only be played on the Nexus Q. Some of said friends will buy the Nexus Q. Google hopes it spreads virally. 3) Google cleans up selling the media. If you have a Nexus Q and Android phone, you are going go to Google Play first to buy all your media. I'm not saying it's a genius business plan. But it's the only business case I've seen that makes sense of this strange device. It only takes a small percentage of people weaned away from the existing Steam/Amazon/iTunes ecosystems and over to the nascent Google Play to make this a very profitable venture. I only realized just how powerful iTunes is when I tried to convince my girlfriend over to switch to Linux many moons ago. I failed. Because she is wedded to Apple for life. All her content works seamlessly with Apple products. The price to move away from Apple has simply become too great, for her and countless other Apple users. You simply cannot compete for those users anymore. The big boys need to lockdown the remaining users to survive. And fast.
      - jsight 14y ago
        Is this actually more powerful hardware than the Nexus 7? I don't get the impression that the CPU is faster. And it while it does have an amp, it does not have a 7" IPS display with a capacitive touchscreen. If anything, I would expect the Nexus Q to be cheaper to build if they were built in the same quantities.
- abraham 14y ago
  With one update the Q could get updated to be a Google TV and/or support all the Android games in the Play Store.
  - mikeryan 14y ago
    Except a GoogleTV has a remote and an HDMI pass through for video. So it could be a crippled GoogleTV. Alternatively Vizio now has a small $100 GoogleTV box. With one update it should be able to do what this does but a third of the price (and it comes with OnLive for gaming) http://gdgt.com/vizio/co-star-stream-player/ http://gdgt.com/vizio/co-star-stream-player/
    - abraham 14y ago
      Every Android phone and tablet (2.3+) is a Q remote. Google TVs take different forms from integrated TVs, to buddy boxes, to complete solutions. It would be a GTV with different ports and and as a consumer you should buy what fits your needs.
      - joshu 14y ago
        Not yet! Jellybean only, I think.
        abraham 14y ago
        Ya. It is JB only but the Q hasn't officially launched yet. All the marketing material says 2.3+ and I expect that will be accurate in a coulpe weeks.
zbowling 14y ago
Heh. That a was our hack at Apportable (YC11). I was the one that presented that at AnDevCamp.
ThomPete 14y ago
Perhaps if they are lucky they will be pulling a Sony Playstation?
fredoliveira 14y ago
I would agree with you if the Q wasn't a) too expensive for its supposed use case, and b) too expensive to become a developer toy.
- mamp 14y ago
  I concur. I can't understand why everyone is so forgiving to Google. "I don't understand what they are thinking but I'm sure it could be cool". At this point I think Google's new management have decided to kill or monetize the many experiments lying around Google. This one must have been a toss up.
runn1ng 14y ago
I know that this was not purpose of your post, but when I actually see the thing on photos - holy damn, that thing is big. It's really bigger than I imagined.
bonch 14y ago
"The Nexus Q is easily hack-able. That's an important feature." To who?
JonoW 14y ago
Why not just pay 300 bucks for an actual games console? They seem infinitely more capable of handling media than this.
i386 14y ago
Thats pretty cool for us, but I don't see it as an important feature for consumers.

rwhitman 14y ago

Hmm, maybe its actually a gaming console in disguise?

eupharis 14y ago
... Wow that makes perfect sense. Especially when you considered how ridiculously overpowered the hardware is for its ostensible use case!
- spacemanaki 14y ago
  At $300, "secretly it's a game console" doesn't seem like a great business plan. If that was the plan they should probably have lead with that.
  - abraham 14y ago
    The Android Nexus Q app is pretty rough still so it leads me to believe that Google launched what they could at I/O. Considering how they designed and built the Q in the USA because of the fast feedback loop it makes sense that they have bigger plans from what Google currently lets on to.
  - rwhitman 14y ago
    Think about it this way - Google wants to get into the console gaming market but they know they can't compete yet. They need to innovate a new model. So they release whats effectively a prototype onto the market as a "media player" and let developers have at it. Its derided as bizarre until 3 years later when there are hundreds of super cheap indie games available on a number of ultra cheap Android-based console media/gaming devices... and then magically Google is crushing Nintendo
    - Steko 14y ago
      You don't need a ridiculously overpriced, underpowered Nexus Q to get to your conclusion (successful third party android consoles) though. If anything, debacles like this and Google TV 1.0 lose Android credibility in the living room space as prospective buyers ask "Is this gonna be another Nexus Q?" while they're considering purchasing the Samsung Galaxy Console.
  - eupharis 14y ago
    Actually, no. Marketing this as a game console at this moment makes no sense. Because there are no games. No game console maker has ever made real money on the hardware. If Google is just breaking even on the Nexus Tablet, even when it's sold from their own webstore, they can't be making much on this more powerful hardware. The Google Play media sales, including games, is where the money is. Without marketing as a game console, games will be available soon enough. Here's the plan: 1) Existing Android game developers will adapt their games to work with the Nexus Q. Because it is EASY. 2) Friends will have fun at parties queuing up music and videos and playing games. Games that can (for the moment) only be played on the Nexus Q. Some of said friends will buy the Nexus Q. Google hopes it spreads virally. 3) Google cleans up selling the media. If you have a Nexus Q and Android phone, you are going go to Google Play first to buy all your media. I'm not saying it's a genius business plan. But it's the only business case I've seen that makes sense of this strange device. It only takes a small percentage of people weaned away from the existing Steam/Amazon/iTunes ecosystems and over to the nascent Google Play to make this a very profitable venture. I only realized just how powerful iTunes is when I tried to convince my girlfriend over to switch to Linux many moons ago. I failed. Because she is wedded to Apple for life. All her content works seamlessly with Apple products. The price to move away from Apple has simply become too great, for her and countless other Apple users. You simply cannot compete for those users anymore. The big boys need to lockdown the remaining users to survive. And fast.
    - jsight 14y ago
      Is this actually more powerful hardware than the Nexus 7? I don't get the impression that the CPU is faster. And it while it does have an amp, it does not have a 7" IPS display with a capacitive touchscreen. If anything, I would expect the Nexus Q to be cheaper to build if they were built in the same quantities.
abraham 14y ago
With one update the Q could get updated to be a Google TV and/or support all the Android games in the Play Store.
- mikeryan 14y ago
  Except a GoogleTV has a remote and an HDMI pass through for video. So it could be a crippled GoogleTV. Alternatively Vizio now has a small $100 GoogleTV box. With one update it should be able to do what this does but a third of the price (and it comes with OnLive for gaming) http://gdgt.com/vizio/co-star-stream-player/ http://gdgt.com/vizio/co-star-stream-player/
  - abraham 14y ago
    Every Android phone and tablet (2.3+) is a Q remote. Google TVs take different forms from integrated TVs, to buddy boxes, to complete solutions. It would be a GTV with different ports and and as a consumer you should buy what fits your needs.
    - joshu 14y ago
      Not yet! Jellybean only, I think.
      - abraham 14y ago
        Ya. It is JB only but the Q hasn't officially launched yet. All the marketing material says 2.3+ and I expect that will be accurate in a coulpe weeks.

zbowling 14y ago

Heh. That a was our hack at Apportable (YC11). I was the one that presented that at AnDevCamp.

ThomPete 14y ago

Perhaps if they are lucky they will be pulling a Sony Playstation?

fredoliveira 14y ago

I would agree with you if the Q wasn't a) too expensive for its supposed use case, and b) too expensive to become a developer toy.

mamp 14y ago
I concur. I can't understand why everyone is so forgiving to Google. "I don't understand what they are thinking but I'm sure it could be cool". At this point I think Google's new management have decided to kill or monetize the many experiments lying around Google. This one must have been a toss up.

runn1ng 14y ago

I know that this was not purpose of your post, but when I actually see the thing on photos - holy damn, that thing is big. It's really bigger than I imagined.

bonch 14y ago

"The Nexus Q is easily hack-able. That's an important feature." To who?

JonoW 14y ago

Why not just pay 300 bucks for an actual games console? They seem infinitely more capable of handling media than this.

i386 14y ago

Thats pretty cool for us, but I don't see it as an important feature for consumers.