Nexus Q
What was Google thinking with the Nexus Q? I guess it looks cool? Apart from its eye-catching spherical design, the Q brought little to the table. It didn’t help that describing this orb’s purpose required a flowchart. The most succinct definition is that the Nexus Q was a media streaming device that acted as a receiver for audio and video content—think Chromecast meets Chromebook Audio…sort of. It was similar in ways to current streaming boxes, except much more limited and with an emphasis on providing hi-res sound via a built-in amp.
Why did it fail? For so many reasons. Instead of having its own navigable OS, the Q could only be controlled from an Android tablet or smartphone. If you didn’t own one, you were out of luck. Worse yet, the Nexus Q could only stream from Google-owned services (Google Music, Google Play, and YouTube), meaning it lacked support for some of the most popular streaming apps, including Netflix and Spotify. Did I mention it cost $300?
