An Android game console and a new Nexus Q will be sold alongside Google TV

Jun 28, 2013 17:11 GMT  ·  By

Google is said to be working on three Android-powered devices internally, and at least one of them is scheduled to land this fall. According to the WSJ, Google has plans for an Android game console, a smartwatch, and a new Nexus Q.

If those plans are true (there's no reason to believe they're not), and if all the products hit the market, Google will have three different devices or types of devices aimed at the living room, two of which built by the company itself.

Google TV

Until now, Google's only main contender for the living room and the big screen was Google TV. The platform is based on Android, but devices are built by third-parties. The software runs on dedicated set-top boxes, on Blu-ray players, or on smart TVs. It hasn't been a huge success, but Google hasn't given up yet.

Android game console

But now, Google has two more devices that fill roughly the same space. It's quite obvious that, while the game console will focus on games, it will still have access to the full Play store, at least the media sections for music and movies.

YouTube won't be missing, and neither will Chrome. So the box will offer most of Google TV's features, sans the TV programing options. The only difference is that you'll get a controller as well.

While, in theory, the two devices will be very different, in practice they'll both be able to do pretty much the same things.

Nexus Q

Moving on, the Nexus Q was designed as a media center device from the get-go. Its biggest flaw and the reason why it was never sold, was that it relied exclusively on the Google cloud which, at the time, wasn't that well rounded. The device had music and video streaming and also a built-in amplifier for a sound system.

A new Nexus Q would fix the biggest problems, presumably, but will also have access to the Play Store for music and movies, to the music cloud locker, and to the All Access on-demand service. YouTube is also going to be there. Chrome may or may not be included. It will also be running Android.

Again, there's not much to differentiate it from Google TV. The three devices, at their core, all do the same things. Google may be trying Samsung's business strategy, throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. But that's not the Google of 2013; the new Google under Larry Page is focused on cohesion, and on unified products and services.