Google I/O 2012: Jelly Bean is here..Jelly Bean is here!

[Phynaz]

Wait, $400 for speakers and $50 for cables for the Q??

Wow, they are trying to beat Apple at their own game. Sheesh.

 

[lokiju]

The Q has a built-in amp. So I guess it's for people with HDTV but no proper home theater?

Oh, didn't catch that. I guess that somewhat explains the cost.

 

[Soccerman06]

Dammit sprint where's my ics for the sgs2?

 

[AstroManLuca]

Oh, didn't catch that. I guess that somewhat explains the cost.

You'd think people with enough money to justify dropping $300 on a media center device (plus however much it costs to buy speakers for it!) probably have a decent home theater setup already. And those who don't, won't be interested because they'll see it as a $300 device that works the same as competing $100 devices from Apple, WD, and Roku.

They should have made separate versions, one with an amp and one without. Most people don't need an amp or won't realize the benefits of having one. Me? I have a set of powered computer speakers plugged into my TV. It's probably not ideal but it works.

I find it amazing that Google, an advertising company whose very reason for existing is to identify and target potential customers, could release a product that is so obviously going to fail.

 

[ilkhan]

Those lucky bastards. Free Galaxy Nexus with Preview Jellybean, a Nexus 7 tablet, and a Nexus Q. Holy shit. All Today. I hope we get a shit ton of Jellybean previews today.

Well they did pay like $800+ for their tickets. Meaning its a $50 savings or so, in addition to being able to attend the show. $300+350+200 means they didn't get a "gift" so much as a "slight discount and a good show".

 

[bucwylde23]

Is that true? I assume that at the beginning the Nexus 7 won't have USB storage support but since it's obviously going to be hacked, it will probably be enabled. That's my hope at least.

ICS has USB storage support, but in the Galaxy nexus it's not enabled by default. You have to have root and use an app such as Stick Mount.

I think the SGS 3 has OTG support by default.

 

[sygyzy]

You'd think people with enough money to justify dropping $300 on a media center device (plus however much it costs to buy speakers for it!) probably have a decent home theater setup already. And those who don't, won't be interested because they'll see it as a $300 device that works the same as competing $100 devices from Apple, WD, and Roku.

They should have made separate versions, one with an amp and one without. Most people don't need an amp or won't realize the benefits of having one. Me? I have a set of powered computer speakers plugged into my TV. It's probably not ideal but it works.

I find it amazing that Google, an advertising company whose very reason for existing is to identify and target potential customers, could release a product that is so obviously going to fail.

I'm confused. With your computer speakers hooked up to your TV, are you a person who would want a built in amp or not?

 

[shortylickens]

ICS has USB storage support, but in the Galaxy nexus it's not enabled by default. You have to have root and use an app such as Stick Mount.

I think the SGS 3 has OTG support by default.

My Google Tv has honeycomb and it lets you use two USB sticks at once for all your media needs.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I'm confused. With your computer speakers hooked up to your TV, are you a person who would want a built in amp or not?

Hell I don't even know. I know LESS than nothing about home theater audio. You should probably disregard that post.

All I know is, why the hell would I pay $300 for a Nexus Q?

I came up with an elaborate scenario in which Google was losing a small amount of money on every $199 Nexus 7 sold, so they came up with the Nexus Q and associated speakers to make that up.

 

[Aikouka]

The Q could be interesting, but a $300 price tag does make me shy off a bit. I have no qualms with my full fledged HTPC being downstairs, but I prefer a quiet unit upstairs. My only qualms with the ATV2 + XBMC is that XBMC is kind of sluggish, but it still works pretty well. Will the Q be a bit more fluid and work better? Will it be easy to add Samba-supporting playback software to the device if it doesn't already exist?

It'll be hard to justify it... especially with that ugly design, but I'll give it a look when more software details emerge.

The biggest use of ATV (for me) was getting content from my mobile device onto the TV very very easily.

The biggest use for me was hacking it and turning it into a cheap and quiet set-top box for use in my bedroom. I used to have a PC in there, but I hate computer noise enough that I equipped it with Scythe 10db fans prior to removing it. 😛

Also, keep in mind that XBMC is now AirPlay compatible. Be aware that XBMC on Windows only supports videos over AirPlay (you do get audio with your video -- you can't airplay songs), and Linux supports both video and audio. It's rather handy since that means I can do video+audio upstairs (using ATV2) and video+audio downstairs (video = XBMC, audio = Denon receiver).

 

[Eug]

You can buy an Apple TV, plus a 3rd party 2x20 Watt "Class T" Tripath amplifier, for about $150. You can buy a full fledged home stereo 2x100 receiver for about $180, and a full fledged 5.1 home theatre receiver for about $280.

Maybe if this Q came with actual decent speakers it'd make more sense at $300, but as is for the life of me I can't figure out why anyone would buy this thing for $300.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Will the Q be a bit more fluid and work better?

I don't think so. It has a VERY disappointing SoC.

 

[SKORPI0]

I wonder what K will be... Kringle?

Key Lime Pie has already been confirmed.

Should have been Krispy Kreme, too bad it's a trademark.:\

 

[MrX8503]

Looks like widgets and apps auto arrange. Finally! I think the quality disparity between iOS and Android is a bit smaller with JB. The nexus Q I still don't understand that device or why anyone would pay 300.

 

[vshah]

I just wish you could cache an unlimited number of tiles. The limit of 6 lets me cache my home city but nothing else.

How big is your city!? I can do all of washington DC in one tile (pinch to zoom out )
Are you sure you updated to latest gmaps?

 

[sygyzy]

It's not about how big your city is. It's about being able to map your whole coast or multiple major cities you might/often travel to.

 

[wirednuts]

Well that clears it up, well except that only people who have been told this would have a clue here. Google needs to make Android versions something people understand, and what appears to be random desert names isn't going to accomplish that.

dude the google os names are TEXTBOOK marketing. whos their competitor? apple. oh shit, look at that. their main competition is named after sweet food! so what should google do? make up names after mediterranean dishes? i think not. they did exactly what i would do. steal apples marketing gimmicks. i would call it brilliant but really, its basic marketing.

 

[WMD]

I hope they address the horrible memory management in ICS and improve the multitasking for 1GB and below device. As it is now every 1GB device on ICS that I used so far including the htc One x, Sensation and Galaxy S3 has serious issues with unwanted quiting of active applications in the background. The 512mb nexus one on Froyo does a much better job at multitasking and memory management.

 

[vshah]

It's not about how big your city is. It's about being able to map your whole coast or multiple major cities you might/often travel to.

That would be great, but 6 major cities is leagues better than anything out there.

 

[vshah]

I hope they address the horrible memory management in ICS and improve the multitasking for 1GB and below device. As it is now every 1GB device on ICS that I used so far including the htc One x, Sensation and Galaxy S3 has serious issues with unwanted quiting of active applications in the background. The 512mb nexus one on Froyo does a much better job at multitasking and memory management.

Blame sense and touchwiz... gnex is fine.

 

[wirednuts]

It's not about how big your city is. It's about being able to map your whole coast or multiple major cities you might/often travel to.

i agree. i think they dont allow unlimited caching because they want you to grab the map live. cloud service is what google has always tried to push. they also dont want people to use old map caches that might have out of date roads or poi's. all that does is make people think the map service is crummy. and im sure advertising contracts have something to do with it too... youre not pulling in new ads if people are using old cache files.

that said, i wish they had a standalone version. even if they just kept a national map database that people could buy.... OR let us cache an unlimited sized space on the map, but those cache files expire after 30 days or something.

 

[sygyzy]

That would be great, but 6 major cities is leagues better than anything out there.

You're right. I am just saying that this isn't due to a physical limitation. I probably have 20GB free and the largest cache I have seen is 75MB.

 

[WMD]

Blame sense and touchwiz... gnex is fine.

Sense and TW didn't have a problem back in GB or froyo. They all developed a problem under ICS. It's still not quite clear who is to blame but we definitely notice a pattern developing with ICS. But that doesn't matter. Google needs to work better with hardware vendors to provide a better experience on more devices not just google devices.

Lack of flash support is another major let down. Flash capability is the only thing that separates full desktop internet experience and mobile internet for a long time. And android having flash is a huge advantage over IOS in terms of internet experience. Now that we have hardware like Galaxy S3 that handles 1080p flash without a hint of lag and google decides to dump flash. Great move. Oh and those html 5 youtube vids are still performing like a$$ on my i7 desktop.

 

[ponyo]

Sense and TW didn't have a problem back in GB or froyo. They all developed a problem under ICS. It's still not quite clear who is to blame but we definitely notice a pattern developing with ICS. But that doesn't matter. Google needs to work better with hardware vendors to provide a better experience on more devices not just google devices.

I know One X has the multitasking problem but you're saying Galaxy S3 also has this problem? Any link? I can't imagine TW having the problem with 2gb of ram.

 

[WMD]

I know One X has the multitasking problem but you're saying Galaxy S3 also has this problem? Any link? I can't imagine TW having the problem with 2gb of ram.

I am using the 1GB international version now. Me and multiple members on XDA have experienced home launcher or even music player quiting when using the browser. There is no known memory issues on the 2GB US version.