Google TV at CES 2012 – The Verge

Will LG build a ‘Nexus’ Google TV device?

2012-01-13T13:53:12-05:00

Gallery Photo: LG Smart TV with Google TV hands-on photos

Google tends to favor a particular OEM partner for each new version of Android, and while Samsung recently stole the spotlight with two halo devices in a row - the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus smartphones - Bloomberg is reporting that LG is actually the company favored to build the premiere device for the next version of Google TV, when it comes out later this year. The publication's two anonymous sources say that Google is merely "considering" giving LG early access to the software, though, so perhaps it's not a done deal. Earlier this week, we heard that Google TV will get yearly upgrades, including one by the end of 2012. If you're curious wha …

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Vizio’s $99 VAP430 Stream Player hands-on, release is ‘imminent’

2012-01-12T14:54:01-05:00

Vizio VAP430 Media Streamer with Google TV

Vizio has introduced an entire ecosystem's worth of video and computing products at CES this year, and we just took a look at their entry-level device: the Vizio VAP430 Stream Player. It's a tiny black box that fits in the palm of your hand - not quite the size of a hockey puck, but very close - that will provide access to the usual streaming suspects like Netflix through Vizio's Via Plus platform, and allow you to display media from your mobile device via DLNA. Plug your set-top box into the HDMI input, and you've also got a Google TV, complete with IR blaster control of your STB (and OnLive is on the way).

The device is fairly straightfor …

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OnLive streaming games officially coming to Google TV

2012-01-11T12:56:01-05:00

Onlive Arena

Google TV's attempted resurgence here at CES just got another push as Google has officially announced that OnLive will be coming to the platform as an app. the news confirms news we'd heard last month and frankly it was probably inevitable once Google got apps going on its TV platform. The OnLive Viewer app is available now, actually, but sadly all it will let you do is watch other gamers play games in the "Arena" and engage in a few of OnLive's social features. Proper streaming games are still coming, though an exact date isn't yet known. However there will be Google TV products that will have Google TV built in by the OEM - although some o …

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Google TV product manager Rishi Chandra: ‘Android is going to be a successful operating system on TVs’

2012-01-10T23:20:15-05:00

GoogleTVInterview

Google's playing CES 2012 pretty low-key, even as Google TV products from major manufacturers like Sony, Vizio, LG, and Samsung have become one of the major stories of the show. We caught up with Google TV product manager Rishi Chandra to talk about what's going on with the platform, how Google's going to succeed this time around, and what he thinks of other Android-based TVs like the Lenovo K91. Oh, and buddy boxes - that's a thing now.

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LG Smart TV with Google TV hands-on photos and video

2012-01-10T22:12:24-05:00

lg google tv

We just spent some time with LG's Smart TV with Google TV - it's the company's first TV running the Android-based OS, and it's added some interesting twists to the usual formula. Of particular note is the remote, which has a scroll wheel in place of the center button on the D-pad and eschews a touchpad in favor of Wii-style motion control for the mouse. The motion control works about as well as the original Wii, which is to say it's fairly imprecise. The scroll wheel / D-pad combo is genius - or it would be genius if scrolling web pages wasn't incredibly choppy and slow. We'll chalk all of these glitches up to early software and misaligned c …

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Vizio introduces Google TV-powered VAP430 media streamer (updated: $99?)

2012-01-10T08:02:26-05:00

Vizio VAP430 Media Streamer with Google TV

Vizio is charging ahead with its own take on Google TV with the announcement of the VAP430 Stream Player. On the one hand, it's a small Wi-Fi media streamer, connecting to your television via HDMI and providing access to Vizio's Internet App Plus ecosystem. It also offers up web content via the integrated Flash-capable Chrome browser, and you can stream your own content from computers or smartphones - and the cloud, of course. By plugging in your cable or satellite set-top box via the HDMI pass-through, however, you're also getting a full-fledged Google TV. The Android Marketplace is included, as is the snazzy new Vizio Google TV remote that …

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Vizio Google TV first hands-on!

2012-01-09T14:00:12-05:00

vizio google tv

Vizio's here at CES 2012 with its riff on Google TV - and it's something. The company has totally skinned Google's smart TV OS with a skin just like the one on its tablets, and it's built in a layer of DLNA-based content sharing services. (Think AirPlay, but compatible with anything DLNA and made smoother when sharing from Vizio tablets and PCs to the new smart TV.) There's still Android Market, of course, and Vizio's staying up to date with the platform as it develops - they told me they talk to Google "every day."

Vizio's also got a new Bluetooth Google TV remote with a touchpad and dedicated Netflix, Amazon, and Vudu buttons on the front …

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LG Smart TV with Google TV detailed: polarized 3D, QWERTY remote

2012-01-05T18:25:57-05:00

lg google tv

LG will be showing off its first Google TV products at CES 2012, and it's just announced some of the first details: the LG Smart TV with Google TV will come in two series when it launches later in the year, both of which will feature Cinema 3D polarized 3D displays that don't require expensive active-shutter LCD glasses to work - you can just wear passive glasses like at the movie theater. LG's also bundling in a QWERTY version of its Magic Remote, creatively called the Magic Remote Qwerty, which it says offers increased ease of use. We'll see how true that is when we play with all this stuff at CES next week - and if LG's managed to update …

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LG, Sony, Vizio announcing Google TV devices at CES, Samsung later in the year

2012-01-05T17:12:46-05:00

Google TV

Eric Schmidt predicted last month that the "majority" of TVs sold by summer 2012 would have Google TV, and the company's certainly signing up the partners to make that a reality: Google just announced that LG, Sony, and Vizio will be showing off Google TV devices at CES 2012, with additional devices from Samsung coming later in the year. Google's also partnering with MediaTek and Marvell to provide the next generation of ARM-based chipsets for Google TV - Marvell already announced that its new Armada 1500 chip would support Google TV devices. The news isn't really a surprise; we've long suspected the platform would move to ARM, LG rumors hav …

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Marvell launches Armada 1500 SoC, builds it into future Google TVs

2012-01-05T08:01:54-05:00

Marvell isn't the highest profile chip manufacturer out there, but the company's been getting more traction as of late, introducing its silicon into high-profile products like the Microsoft Kinect, OnLive Microconsole, and a host of speedy solid state drives, A/V receivers, and even a few tablets and phones you might have heard of. Well, Marvell's about to introduce a product that could give it more traction than ever: it's designed an reference board around a new Armada 1500 chip, designed specifically for all those new Google TVs that Eric Schmidt promised. The dual-core 1.2GHz silicon can be used for other things, of course, including sta …

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