Nexus Q is a
digital media player developed by
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
. Unveiled at the
Google I/O
Google I/O (or simply I/O) is an annual developer conference held by Google in Mountain View, California. "I/O" stands for Input/Output, as well as the slogan "Innovation in the Open". The event's format is similar to Google Developer Day.
Hi ...
developers' conference on June 27, 2012, the device was expected to be released to the public in the United States shortly thereafter for US$300. The Nexus Q was designed to leverage Google's online media offerings, such as
Google Play Music
Google Play Music is a discontinued music and podcast streaming service and an online music locker operated by Google as part of its Google Play line of services. The service was announced on May 10, 2011; after a six-month, invitation-only be ...
,
Google Play Movies & TV
Google TV (formerly known as Google Play Movies & TV) is an online video on demand service operated by Google. The service offers movies and television shows for purchase or rental, depending on availability. The service initially launched in Ma ...
, and
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
, to provide a "shared" experience. Users could stream content from the supported services to a connected television, or speakers connected to an integrated amplifier, using their
Android device and the services' respective
apps as a
remote control
In electronics, a remote control (also known as a remote or clicker) is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such as ...
for queueing content and controlling playback.
The Nexus Q received mixed reviews from critics following its unveiling. While its unique spherical design was praised, the Nexus Q was criticized for its lack of functionality in comparison to similar devices such as
Apple TV
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
, including a lack of support for third-party content services, no support for streaming content directly from other devices using the
DLNA
Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA; originally named Digital Home Working Group, DHWG) was founded by a group of PC and consumer electronics companies in June 2003 (with Intel in the lead role) to develop and promote a set of interoperability ...
standard, as well as other software issues that affected the usability of the device. The unclear market positioning of the Nexus Q was also criticized, as it carried a significantly higher price than competing media players with wider capabilities; ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' technology columnist
David Pogue
David Welch Pogue (born March 9, 1963) is an American technology and science writer and TV presenter. He is an Emmy-winning correspondent for ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' and author of the "Crowdwise" column in ''The New York Times'' Smarter Livi ...
described the device as being 'wildly overbuilt' for its limited functions.
[
The Nexus Q was given away at no cost to attendees of Google I/O, but the product's consumer launch was indefinitely postponed the following month, purportedly to collect additional feedback. Those who had pre-ordered the Nexus Q following its unveiling received the device at no cost. The Nexus Q was quietly shelved in January 2013, and support for the device in the Google Play apps was phased out beginning in May 2013. Some of the Nexus Q's concepts were repurposed for a more-successful device known as Chromecast, which similarly allows users to wirelessly queue content for playback using functions found in supported apps, but is designed as a smaller ]HDMI
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controller, ...
dongle
A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality.
In computing, the term was initially synonym ...
with support for third-party services.[
]
Development
An early iteration of the Nexus Q was first demoed at Google I/O in 2011 under the name "Project Tungsten"; the device could stream music wirelessly from another Android device to attached speakers. It served as a component of a home automation concept known as "Android@Home", which aimed to provide an Android-based framework for connected devices within a home. Following the launch of the Google Music
Google Play Music is a discontinued music and podcast streaming service and an online music locker operated by Google as part of its Google Play line of services. The service was announced on May 10, 2011; after a six-month, invitation-only b ...
service in November 2011, a decision was made to develop a hardware device to serve as a tie-in—a project that eventually resulted in the Nexus Q. Google engineering director Joe Britt explained that the device was designed to make music a "social, shared experience", encouraging real-world interaction between its users. He also felt that there had been "a generation of people who’ve grown up with white earbuds", who had thus not experienced the difference of music played on speakers.
The Nexus Q was the first hardware product developed entirely in-house by Google, and was manufactured in a U.S.-based factory—which allowed Google engineers to inspect the devices during their production.[
]
Hardware and software
The Nexus Q takes the form of a sphere with a flat base; Google designer Mike Simonian explained that its form factor was meant to represent a device that pointed towards " the cloud", and "people all around" to reflect its communal nature.[ The sphere is divided into two halves; the top half can be rotated to adjust the audio volume being output over attached speakers or to other home theater equipment, and tapped to mute. In between the two halves is a ring of 32 LEDs; these lights serve as a ]music visualizer
Music visualization or music visualisation, a feature found in electronic music visualizers and media player software, generates animated imagery based on a piece of music. The imagery is usually generated and rendered in real time and in a way ...
that animate in time to music, and can be set to one of five different color schemes. The rear of the device contains a power connector, ethernet
Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...
jack, micro HDMI
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controller, ...
and optical audio outputs, banana plug
A banana connector (commonly banana plug for the male, banana socket or banana jack for the female) is a single-wire (one conductor) electrical connector used for joining wires to equipment. The term 4 mm connector is also used, especial ...
s for connecting speakers to the device's built-in 25-watt "stereo-grade" amplifier, and a micro USB
The initial versions of the USB standard specified connectors that were easy to use and that would have acceptable life spans; revisions of the standard added smaller connectors useful for compact portable devices. Higher-speed development of t ...
connector meant to "connect future accessories and encourage general hack-ability". The Nexus Q includes an OMAP4 processor,[ 1 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of storage used for caching of streamed content. It also supports ]near-field communication
Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm (1 in) or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be u ...
and Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...
for pairing devices and initial setup.
The Nexus Q runs a stripped-down version of Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich", and is controlled solely via supported apps on Android devices running Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean". Google announced plans to support older versions of Android following the device's official launch.[ Media could be queued to play on the device using a "Play to" button shown within the Google Play Music, Google Play Movies & TV, and YouTube apps. Content is streamed directly from the services by the Nexus Q, with the Android device used like a ]remote control
In electronics, a remote control (also known as a remote or clicker) is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such as ...
. For music, multiple users could collaboratively queue songs from Google Play Music onto a playlist. A management app could be used to adjust Nexus Q hardware settings. Nexus Q did not support any third-party media services, nor could media be stored to the device, or streamed to it using the standardized DLNA
Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA; originally named Digital Home Working Group, DHWG) was founded by a group of PC and consumer electronics companies in June 2003 (with Intel in the lead role) to develop and promote a set of interoperability ...
protocol.[
]
Reception
Most criticism of the Nexus Q centered on its relatively high price in comparison to contemporary media streaming devices and set-top boxes, such as Apple TV
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
and Roku
Roku ( ) is a brand of hardware digital media players manufactured by American company Roku, Inc. They offer access to streaming media content from online services.
The first Roku model, developed in collaboration with Netflix, was introduce ...
, especially considering its lack of features when compared to these devices.[ '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' technology columnist David Pogue
David Welch Pogue (born March 9, 1963) is an American technology and science writer and TV presenter. He is an Emmy-winning correspondent for ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' and author of the "Crowdwise" column in ''The New York Times'' Smarter Livi ...
described the Nexus Q as being a "baffling" device, stating that it was "wildly overbuilt for its incredibly limited functions, and far too expensive", and arguing that it would probably appeal only to people "whose living rooms are dominated by bowling ball
A bowling ball is a hard spherical ball used to knock down bowling pins in the sport of bowling.
Balls used in ten-pin bowling and American nine-pin bowling traditionally have holes for two fingers and the thumb. Balls used in five-pin bowling, ...
collections." ''Engadget
''Engadget'' ( ) is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. ''Engadget'' manages ten blogs four of which are written in English and six have international versions with independent editori ...
'' was similarly mixed, arguing that while it was a "sophisticated, beautiful device with such a fine-grained degree of engineering you can't help but respect it", and that its amplifier was capable of producing "very clean sound", the Nexus Q was a "high-price novelty" that lacked support for DLNA, lossless audio
In information theory, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compressio ...
, and playback of content from external or internal storage among other features.[
]
Discontinuation
Nexus Q units were distributed as a gift to attendees of Google I/O 2012, with online pre-orders to the public opening at a price of US$300. On July 31, 2012, Google announced that it would delay the official launch of the Nexus Q in order to address early feedback, and that all customers who pre-ordered the device would receive it for free. By January 2013, the device was no longer listed for sale on the Google Play website, implying that its official release had been cancelled indefinitely. Google began to discontinue software support for the Nexus Q in May 2013, beginning with an update to the Google Play Music app, and a similar update to Google Play Movies & TV in June.
The Nexus Q has also been the subject of third-party development and experimentation; XDA-developers
XDA Developers (also known simply as XDA; often stylized as xda-developers) is a mobile software development community launched on 20 December 2002. Although discussion primarily revolves around Android, members also talk about many other opera ...
users discovered means for side-loading Android applications onto the Nexus Q to expand its functionality. One user demonstrated the ability to use a traditional Android home screen with keyboard and mouse input, as well as the official Netflix app. In December 2013, an unofficial build of Android 4.4 "KitKat" based on CyanogenMod
CyanogenMod ( ; CM) is a discontinued open-source operating system for mobile devices, based on the Android mobile platform. It was developed as free and open-source software based on the official releases of Android by Google, with added origi ...
code was also released for the Nexus Q, although it was unstable and lacked reliable Wi-Fi support.[
The Nexus Q received a ''de facto'' successor in July 2013 with the unveiling of Chromecast, a streaming device that similarly allows users to queue the playback of remote content ("]cast
Cast may refer to:
Music
* Cast (band), an English alternative rock band
* Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band
* The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis
* ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William
* ...
") via a mobile device. Chromecast is contrasted by its compact HDMI dongle
A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality.
In computing, the term was initially synonym ...
form factor, the availability of an SDK that allows third-party services to integrate with the device, and its considerably lower price in comparison to the Nexus Q. In late 2014, Google and Asus released a second Nexus-branded digital media player known as the Nexus Player
The Nexus Player is a digital media player co-developed by Google, Intel and Asus. It is the second media player in the Google Nexus family of consumer devices. Originally running the Android 5.0 ("Lollipop") operating system, it is the first ...
, which served as a launch device for the digital media player and smart TV platform Android TV
Android TV is a smart TV operating system based on Android (operating system), Android and developed by Google for television sets, digital media players, set-top boxes, and soundbars. A successor to Google TV (operating system), Google TV, it fe ...
.
See also
* Comparison of set-top boxes A digital media player is a home entertainment consumer electronics device that can connect to a home network to stream digital media (such as music, pictures, or video).
Standalone streaming players
''This list does not include discontinued or l ...
* Google TV Google TV may refer to:
* Google TV (interface), an updated interface of Android TV launched in 2020
* Google TV (service), a video-on-demand service formerly known as Google Play Movies & TV
* Google TV (operating system), a discontinued operating ...
* Chromebit
References
Further reading
* Gross, Doug
"Google's new Nexus Q: Made in the U.S.A."
''CNN'', Thu June 28, 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Digital media players
Android (operating system) devices
Products introduced in 2012
Streaming media systems
Networking hardware
Digital media players
Google Nexus