In one of the bigger surprises of I/O today, Google debuted an all-new piece of hardware that the company says is the first it's built from the ground up and entirely in-house— the Nexus Q.
The Q is an at-home social media player that lets you and your friends beam music and video from your mobile devices to a home entertainment system. The device itself is a small sphere with a pulsating ring of light that looks like something straight out of Prometheus (black goo thankfully not included).
Nexus Q is controled by your Android phone or tablet and plays music or movies directly from Google Play or YouTube. It's got HDMI, optical and audio inputs in the back for connecting to home speakers or an HDTV. A 25W amp is also built in.
One of the best feaures of Q is its ability to work with multiple Android devices at a time. Anyone in the room can add music or video to the devices queue, turning it into a streaming media jukebox.
Q sells for $299 and is available only in the Google Play store. Shipments start in mid-July.
