Hasta La Gadget!

Google has just pulled the wraps off its mysterious Project Tungsten, now unveiled as the Nexus Q. What’s the Nexus Q? It’s a small Android-powered computer taking the form of a small orb designed to sit in your home as a central entertainment system that can interact with any Android smartphone or tablet.

This interaction isn’t limited to your own Android smartphone or tablet. By this we mean that your friends can interact with your Nexus Q with their Android smartphone or tablet as well. For instance, they can send music from their playlist directly to your Nexus Q or grab a movie off your Nexus Q onto their smartphone.

The Nexus Q is always connected to the cloud and can pull content directly from Google Play. When you interact with it using your smartphone or tablet, the media played is actually pulled directly from the cloud rather than from each device. It can stream music, movies, and TV shows from Google Play and YouTube and is being touted as the first social media streaming device.

It also features a built-in high quality audio grade amplifier at 25-watts which is plenty to fill a room with crisp clear sound. It’s powered by the same OMAP 4460 chip used in the Galaxy Nexus and features 1080p video support, dual-band WiFi, Ethernet, and a micro USB port.

The device will be available in July for purchase directly from Google Play. It is priced at $299 and is available for pre-order today.

Google unveils Nexus Q Android-powered computer is written by Rue Liu & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google has demonstrated some of the high-performance games owners of the new Nexus 7 tablet will be able to enjoy, as well as a new version of Currents, the company’s news app. Currents has been updated specially to suit the Nexus 7 slate, complete with page formatting to suit the 7-inch screen together with instant translation.

As for the games, Google played titles Horn and Dead Trigger on the big Google IO screen, demonstrating the capabilities of the Tegra 3. That includes the sort of graphics you might usually expect to find on a regular console or PS Vita.

We’ve already seen those Tegra 3 abilities on other Android tablets, but Google is particularly pushing the Nexus 7 as a content consumption device. The tablet’s HDMI output means that you may be able to replace your PS3 or Xbox 360 by hooking the slate up direct to your TV.

More on the Google Nexus 7 here.

Google demos Currents for Nexus 7 plus Horn and Dead Trigger is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

…And the Nexus Q is official. Google’s first consumer electronics product is a small, sphere-shaped device that will work with the Nexus 7 tablet and other Android devices to stream media from the cloud. It’s designed to hold court in your living room, pulling content from YouTube and the Google Play music app, among other services, to let you stream music and video. Anyone with an Android device will be able to take control of the Q to play content from their library; basically, everyone can be the DJ. What’s more, the device can double as an amplifier, letting users plug in external speakers to receiver power from the Q’s 25-watt amp.

Under the hood, there’s an OMAP 4460 processor — the same as in the Galaxy Nexus — along with 16GB of storage and 1GB of RAM. There’s also dual-band WiFi and Ethernet, along with Bluetooth and NFC for tapping a device to the Q to exchange software and media. The media streamer will go on sale for $299 in mid-July. As we mentioned before, Google will also sell a set of $399 Triad bookshelf speakers to go with the Q. More coverage to follow — in the meantime, check out Google’s videos about the new product.

Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012’s opening keynote at our event hub!

Update: Excuse the dyslexic typo. The Nexus Q is powered by an OMAP 4460 CPU.

Continue reading Google Nexus Q lets Android owners stream media from the cloud, shipping for $299 in mid-July

Google Nexus Q lets Android owners stream media from the cloud, shipping for $299 in mid-July originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 13:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google has been detailing its next-gen Android 4.1 Jelly Bean platform at the I/O keynote today. But when can we expect this latest update to arrive? The company has announced that Jelly Bean will be arriving on the Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, and Motorola XOOM in mid-July with the SDK available to developers starting today.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is expected to bring a smoother, faster, and more delightful user experience through Project Butter, which involves implementing VSync, triple buffering, and touch responsiveness.

Jelly Bean will also bring new NFC and notifications features as well as an app called Google Now that helps plan your event and activities. Whether its setting an appointment, planning your flight, bus route, or checking sports scores, Google Now will automatically give you the information you need.

For more details on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, be sure to check out our posts for Google I/O 2012 and look out for our event wrap-up.

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean available in July, SDK today is written by Rue Liu & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

On stage at Google I/O, engineering director Chris Yerga announced a ton of new content coming to Google Play (formerly known as the Android Market). More »