 Hey, this is Ross with The Verge, and this is Google's Nexus Q set top sphere thing. If I don't sound certain about what exactly to call it, the functionality isn't much better. Google calls it a social media streamer, and it's an actually powerful device with very, very limited use. Inside we've got Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, 1GB RAM, 16GB storage memory, and Wi-Fi. And in the back of the device we have Optical Audio Out, we've got an Ethernet port, Micro HDMI, Micro USB, which we haven't quite figured out what to do with yet, and a quartet of Banana Jack Speaker outputs. So under the right conditions, setup's actually not too bad. All setup and all input actually is done through an Android device. You can download the Nexus Q remote app in the Google Play Store, however if you have NFC, you can also rub the Q with the device and get a direct link to it. Not necessary, but kind of fun. Alright, so here's how it works. Once you get the Nexus Q set up, from your Android device what you can do is you can just go to the Google Play Music, Google Play Video, or YouTube, pick a song, pick a video, and basically what you're going to do is you're going to be telling the Nexus Q to play that video or audio track. Here's the catch. So what the Nexus Q is actually doing is actually going back out into the internet and grabbing that audio and video file either from YouTube or the Google Play Store and streaming it afresh. You can still control where in the time track the video or audio is, or you can adjust the volume, but there is actually no device to device media transfer. It's all been done on the internet. Your Android device is essentially a glorified remote control. For a dedicated media streamer, we're actually pretty disappointed with the quality of the video itself. Despite having HD video sources, it looked closer to standard definition to our eyes than it actually did HD, which for a $300 sphere, is pretty disappointing. As for the audio, we're actually pretty impressed with the performance. The Nexus Q has a 25 watt amp, that's 12.5 watts per speaker. We plugged in a few unpowered speakers to see how loud we could actually get the Nexus Q, and we've got to say, it's pretty impressive audio. With multiple Android devices, you can actually build an audio playlist together. Google likes to call it something of a party. Still only one account can control visualization settings, but everyone, guest and master control, within range can add Google Play music tracks to a queue. With Google TV and of course Samsung's Chromebox, Google actually has a couple of other more compelling set top box options. The Nexus Q itself is in kind of a confusing place, not really doing that much and not even doing that much very well. At $299, it's hard to justify a purchase, except for only the most hardcore of Android fans. And then, their friends all better be Android phone users as well.
 Hey, this is Ross with The Verge, and this is Google's Nexus Q set top sphere thing.
 If I don't sound certain about what exactly to call it, the functionality isn't much better.
 Google calls it a social media streamer, and it's an actually powerful device with very,
 very limited use.
 Inside we've got Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, 1GB RAM, 16GB storage memory, and Wi-Fi.
 And in the back of the device we have Optical Audio Out, we've got an Ethernet port, Micro
 HDMI, Micro USB, which we haven't quite figured out what to do with yet, and a quartet of
 Banana Jack Speaker outputs.
 So under the right conditions, setup's actually not too bad.
 All setup and all input actually is done through an Android device.
 You can download the Nexus Q remote app in the Google Play Store, however if you have
 NFC, you can also rub the Q with the device and get a direct link to it.
 Not necessary, but kind of fun.
 Alright, so here's how it works.
 Once you get the Nexus Q set up, from your Android device what you can do is you can
 just go to the Google Play Music, Google Play Video, or YouTube, pick a song, pick a video,
 and basically what you're going to do is you're going to be telling the Nexus Q to play that
 video or audio track.
 Here's the catch.
 So what the Nexus Q is actually doing is actually going back out into the internet and grabbing
 that audio and video file either from YouTube or the Google Play Store and streaming it
 afresh.
 You can still control where in the time track the video or audio is, or you can adjust the
 volume, but there is actually no device to device media transfer.
 It's all been done on the internet.
 Your Android device is essentially a glorified remote control.
 For a dedicated media streamer, we're actually pretty disappointed with the quality of the
 video itself.
 Despite having HD video sources, it looked closer to standard definition to our eyes
 than it actually did HD, which for a $300 sphere, is pretty disappointing.
 As for the audio, we're actually pretty impressed with the performance.
 The Nexus Q has a 25 watt amp, that's 12.5 watts per speaker.
 We plugged in a few unpowered speakers to see how loud we could actually get the Nexus
 Q, and we've got to say, it's pretty impressive audio.
 With multiple Android devices, you can actually build an audio playlist together.
 Google likes to call it something of a party.
 Still only one account can control visualization settings, but everyone, guest and master control,
 within range can add Google Play music tracks to a queue.
 With Google TV and of course Samsung's Chromebox, Google actually has a couple of other more
 compelling set top box options.
 The Nexus Q itself is in kind of a confusing place, not really doing that much and not
 even doing that much very well.
 At $299, it's hard to justify a purchase, except for only the most hardcore of Android
 fans.
 And then, their friends all better be Android phone users as well.