It's always hard to review version 1.0 of a platform -- it's tempting to give concept and potential nearly as much weight as execution. And we'll make no bones about it: viewed in that light, Google TV is a success. Features like the search bar and integrated browser are so fundamentally good on a conceptual level that they seem destined to forever change our perception of TV user experience, regardless of how well Google TV itself fares in the market, and that's no small accomplishment. Other features, like apps and smartphone control, seem equally ambitious and worthy of praise because of promise alone.
The problem, of course, is that it's really execution that counts, and little else. By that much more exacting standard, Google TV feels like an incomplete jumble of good ideas only half-realized, an unoptimized box of possibility that suffers under the weight of its own ambition and seemingly rushed holiday deadline. Had Google simply focused on a few key features -- lightning-fast browsing and perfect search results, for example -- we'd have readily excused the missing pieces with the assumption that they'd soon arrive in an equally polished way. Indeed, the most disappointing thing about Google TV is the immediate realization that it could be so much more if only Google given itself some more time. An integrated DVR, a real program guide, a movable PIP window that opens quickly -- all these things must happen for Google TV to be successful. We're already hearing reports that Google's in talks with cable operators to build integrated Google TV set-top boxes, so perhaps the most difficult hurdle will soon be passed, but until Google TV's sluggish performance and general lack of polish are addressed, it will remain just as niche as the HTPCs from which it sprang.
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