Nexus Q Aims to Be the Center of Your Living Room

The Google I/O conference officially kicked off with the keynote this morning. They introduced the Nexus 7 tablet – already leaked before the conference, but they also introduced a Nexus something new. The Nexus Q aims to build on the connected entertainment environment. It’s a tool designed to allow you and your friends to control your home music and movie experience.

Hook the Q up to your TV or home theater, and you can use it to stream and enjoy content. You and your friends “in the same room” can use your Android phones and tablets to stream content from Google without going through a lot of authentication steps to connect. (I can already see the pranking possibilities here. Can you?) Google has intentionally made this device hacker friendly, so expect to see some interesting uses in the future.

Is this a Google TV killer? Since Sony, LG, and Vizio are all rolling out Google TVs, that would be a heck of a strategy faux pas by Google. (Not that they don’t make missteps.)  I think this is more a case of Google throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks. The Nexus Q will be small and hackable, while the Google TV is intended as a full, self-contained Android device. Both are valid guesses as to how consumers want to enjoy content, and there’s a chance one or the other will take over. That is, unless Apple whips out something amazing that blows them both away.

The Nexus Q is available for pre-order now for $299. It’s currently US market only. My advice is to wait for the reviews… and the hacks.