For the few out there that either own or are looking to purchase a Google TV but, with the lack of hardware and its not exactly massive presence in the TV world holding you back then this announcement form both Sony and Google might perk your ears up a bit. Today, Sony and Google have announced a new Google TV Box.
Not alot is known about the internals of the box, including whether or not its using the same internals from when Google TV launched some time ago. This isn’t the first Google TV box to be seen from Sony, in fact the company developed a TV with the functionality built in. The box features two HDMI ports, an ethernet port, a couple USB ports and a hole for the infamous IR blaster. What’s alot more interesting than either Google TV or the box itself – a nice design for what it’s worth – is the awesome-looking remote that Sony will be throwing in alongside it.
I know that I would love to see Google TV not only come back into the spotlight but, to stay there and become successful. With more and more of us relying on the internet to get our fix of TV it’d certainly make sense to change the way we do that, if we’re going to be using the internet like we do TV then I think the TV needs to become just a tad bit more like the PC itself.
As you can see the remote features a full QWERTY-keyboard, something I have longed for on a remote for so long. The only reason I bought a chat pad for my Xbox controllers is to be able to search Netflix et al quicker, if I can do this on my main TV, no fuss with the whole web at my fingertips then I’ll be very happy indeed. The remote still looks like a remote, which is nice as it won’t stick out too much in the living room. After all, with all the remotes we have in the living rooms of today some strange odd keyboard is hardly going to be welcome so, it’s nice to see that they put some thought into designing it as remote first, keyboard second. Check out the video below for a closer look at the remote.