Sony
On
June 25th, Sony Canada announced the first Google TV devices to be
available at retail in Canada. The NSZ-GS7 Sony Internet Player with
Google TV will be in stores in August, at $199.99. It's also been
available for pre-order since June 27, at Sony's online store.
A second device, the NSZ-GP9 Internet Blu-ray Disc Player with Google
TV, will launch "in time for the holiday season (likely October or
November, according to one spokesperson), priced at $329.99. Sony reps
described it as a high-end Blu-ray player, with Google TV built-in as a
bonus.
"We are proud to continue our relationship with Google and be the
first manufacturer in Canada to introduce a product powered by the
Google TV platform," said Hideki Ito, Senior Director of Marketing, Home
Network Products at Sony Canada. He added that the new products would
be "expanding the reach and connectivity of the powerful Android
platform," which already powers Sony's smartphones, tablet and AV
products.
Canadian availability of Sony's Google TV products follows closely
after their UK launch; Australia, France, Germany and other countries
are soon to follow.
The Specs
Previewed at a press event held at Sony's Eaton Centre store, the initial NSZ-GS7 player looked very promising.
Physically, it's a sleek black box, with a surprisingly appealing
dimple-grid finish on the top surface. It's got a full complement of
ports: 3D-capable HDMI, both in and out; 100 megabit Ethernet; optical
audio out; and two USB 2.0 ports. Plus built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
support (albeit limited to the 2.4GHz band).
The inclusion of both in and out ports allows the output of a cable
or satellite box to be fed into the Google TV device, then passed on to
the TV. This has two benefits. First, the Google TV box needs no extra
HDMI input on the receiver or TV. And second, the box can display
broadcast content in a picture-in-picture window, on top of the Android
‘desktop.'
Internally, the NSZ-GS7 has 8GB of storage, which makes it a bit less
roomy than even a low-end tablet. But all of that space will presumably
be available for apps, since media would be stored externally on USB
devices. The exact type of processor wasn't specified, but Sony's specs
mention that it's a 1.2 GHz dual-core chip. Software is based on Android
3.2.
Media support seems comparable to what you'd find on existing players
such as Western Digital's WD TV or D-Link's Boxee Box, and somewhat
ahead of the more narrowly focused Apple TV.
Video formats include: Flash FLV; QuickTime MOV; Ogg Vorbis; various
flavors of MPEG1, MPEG2 and MPEG4; and even power-user favorites like
H.264 in an MKV container. Oddly, Sony's specs show no mention of
Google's own WebM format, but we have to assume that's going to be there
at some point.
Audio formats include the ubiquitous MP3 and AAC. But, alas, not the
open FLAC lossless format (supported by both WD TV and Boxee). Image
formats include JPG, PNG, BMP and GIF, plus a couple of Sony ‘Panorama'
formats.
The Remote
Both of Sony's Google TV devices will come with a unique new remote,
incorporating a laptop-style touchpad on one side, and a
smartphone-style button keyboard on the other. Built-in gyro and
accelerometer will sense which side is active (i.e. facing up), and
disable spurious input from the other. Connection is via either IR or
Bluetooth.
In demos, I found touchpad control a bit dodgy. The little arrow
pointer tended to jump and make unexpected changes in direction, while
the pressure-sensitive pad would occasionally register unintended
‘clicks.' However, the circumstances of the in-store setup were hardly
ideal. Also, users will probably do better with two-handed operation, as
opposed to my one-handed grip, with a thumb operating the touchpad.
Scrolling can also be handled by page up/down buttons on the side of
the remote. And most operations can also be controlled using a set of
directional arrows set above the touchpad. These would probably be the
most obvious way of selecting app icons, while the touchpad would be
needed mainly when occasionally browsing Web pages.
A dedicated Guide button pops up the listings from the user's cable
or satellite box. Similarly, a DVR button accesses recordings that may
be on that device. A PIP button displays the video window, which can be
switched between two sizes, and moved to any of the four corners of the
screen.
Volume control buttons can be set to control the user's AV receiver.
In fact, Sony states that full ‘universal remote' capability is
available, so the single remote can hopefully replace most of the user's
coffee-table clutter.
The Google TV Blu-ray player will ship with a slightly enhanced
remote, that includes a microphone. This will apparently enable voice
searches and other voice functions similar to those we've seen on
Android tablets.
Not surprisingly, given Google TV's Android foundation, users also
have the option of downloading a Media Remote app. (And it's available
for iOS as well.) In addition to taking over control of the Google TV
box, the app allows sending of Web pages to the TV, for display in the
Chrome browser.
Sony reps also point out that the included USB ports will allow users
to connect their own control devices, such as a mouse or desktop
keyboard.
The Software
The user interface of the Google TV looks at least as good as we've
seen with previous media players (though, of course, Apple TV fans will
probably disagree).
In the demos, we saw a basic desktop arrangement, with a configurable
launch bar at the bottom, to hold any of the user's favourite apps.
There's also a full apps list, similar to what you'd find on any Android
tablet.
Apps on show included the built-in Chrome browser, as well as the
usual media services such as Sony's own Video Unlimited and Audio
Unlimited. The browser looks to be the full implementation you'd find on
a tablet, and includes the ability to run Java and Flash. Users can
zoom in and out to optimize text size. Also, Web sites will have the
option of offering a view customized for TV display, just as they do now
for smartphones.
The included YouTube app looked even better, with a slide-out menu
that lets users follow channels and create their own subscription lists.
Many more apps will of course be available for download. When
browsing the Google Play store, users will see only apps specifically
flagged as Google TV compatible. Obviously, the selection was limited at
launch, but the potential seems good.
A selection of simple games showed up: solitaire, sudoku and a few
others. Sony also demonstrated an app that controls one of the new
four-fan flying toy drones, even down to exploiting the movement-sensing
ability of the Sony remote to do stunt flying.
Some apps will apparently allow PIP operation, but this will be up to the developers.
By the way, in answer to questions, Sony did not make clear how the
new Google user interface would relate to its existing ‘crossbar' menu
interface, developed for the PlayStation 3 and subsequently made
standard across various Sony AV devices. Perhaps it will depend on
which proves more popular with users...
The Verdict
One feature conspicuously not shown at the Sony event was Google TV's
much-touted ability to aggregate content via a universal search
capability. Users should be able to search, say, Corner Gas, and find
all available viewing options, whether from cable, Internet services or
stored local content.
Of course, the in-store demo systems weren't really connected for all
this, and had no local storage. They came off, at minimum , as very
good media players, priced to compete strongly with existing products
like the Apple TV or Boxee Box. However, it does seems apparent that the
additional capabilities of the Google TV platform will require stores
to do some extra planning, if consumers are going to really ‘get' their
full potential.
Also not clear (owing to the early departure of the Google
representatives), was how updates would be handled. Will Google TV
owners wait and wait on hardware vendors to provide updates, as Android
tablet and smartphone owners already do? Or will Google be able to
speedily push new OS features directly to the user base?
On the other hand, what was obvious from the demo was the strong
desirability of a ‘universal' smart TV platform. (Sony was in fact quick
to emphasize that it's two Google TV devices would work just fine with
any brand of TV.) For consumers, it means a consistent user interface
for accessing all their media content. As well as access to the widest
possible base of apps.
Sony seems to have done a good job building this first generation of
Google TV devices. Now the bigger problem will be getting the message
out to consumers.
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