Google has officially discontinued the Nexus Player, its set-top box

By Christian de Looper May 24, 2016

Google Nexus Player — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Well, folks, it looks like Google’s set-top box, the Nexus Player, is on its way out. The device was removed from the Google Store on Tuesday and has been sold out at many retailers for at least a few months now.

The Nexus Player was largely considered a pretty good entry for Google into the smart TV space, although it definitely had its drawbacks. Perhaps the best thing about the Nexus Player was the price. It really lived up to the Nexus name, being aimed squarely at showing off what Android TV could do, rather than trying to have the best specs on the market.

Of course, the Nexus Player is leaving behind a legacy — a ton of third-party companies have adopted the Android TV platform over the past few years, including the likes of Nvidia, Xiaomi, and so on. Because of this, Android TV as a platform is clearly here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future.

The reason for the Nexus Player being discontinued is unknown. Perhaps Google realizes that third-party companies are simply making better Android TV devices, or perhaps it’s to make way for a Nexus Player 2.

The Nexus Player was first introduced in late 2014, and was the first device to run Android TV. It followed the Chromecast, which allowed users to stream content from their phone or computer to their TV. The Nexus Player incorporated this feature, but also offered Android TV, an interface for watching and downloading TV shows, movies, and even some games. Of course, before the Chromecast, we also had the Google Nexus Q, a dud of a device that ran the Google TV platform, which ultimately was phased out in favor of the far superior Android TV platform.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Christian de Looper

Contributor

Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…

Audio / Video

Google TV gives NFL Sunday Ticket top billing, adds FAST channels

Google TV free channels.

Google announced today that all Android TV and Google TV devices in the U.S. are getting more than 25 new free channels, baked right into the operating systems' Live tabs. That brings the total number of built-in FAST channels to more than 100, meaning that you'll be able to watch all kinds of free content without having to download a single thing. It's all built in.

FAST channels refer to free, ad-supported television and can be individual shows or entire channels of content. Google didn't immediately name the 25-plus channels, but said they include the BBC and Lionsgate. (You can see a big list of them here.) And that's on top of the others that were added in the spring, which brings a ridiculous 800 or so channels (more or less) to the platform. Whether they have what you want to watch? That's completely up to you. But it's free.

Audio / Video

The Roku Channel is now available as a Google TV app

The Roku Channel app on Google TV.

The Roku Channel — one of the major services in the FAST category — is now available as an app on Google TV and Android TV. That's a good thing because The Roku Channel says it already reaches an estimated 100 million people in U.S. households with its wealth of free movies and series.

But it's also still a step removed from competing services like the Paramount-owned Pluto TV, which has direct integration with the Google TV live listings and doesn't require a separate download. Still, it's more free content on a low-cost piece of hardware, and who doesn't like that? The Roku Channel sports more than 350 free live linear channels (as in everyone is watching the same thing at the same time), as well as movies and series, live news, and more.

Audio / Video

How we test streaming video devices

The box for the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max.

One of the benefits of being Digital Trends is that we get to test a lot of things that simply aren’t easily available or replaceable should they not work out for the average person. That’s why we put so much work into testing TVs, for one example. Or full soundbar setups, for another.

Other times it’s because we’re able to take products for a test drive before they go on sale. Like video games, or computers and phones. That’s good because it helps you make a relatively expensive and important purchase decision.