Google TV is finally available to buy in Australia. After much bundling and exclusive product periods, the Google TV from Sony is now available to purchase, How much is it and where can you get it?
The Google TV from Sony is available on the Sony Website and also at Sony Centers for $299. From the 1st October, you will be able to purchase it from Harvey Norman and other associated retailers which should also be $299.
The unit boasts the ability to turn any TV into a smart TV. It certainly does that, but for $299 what exactly do you get for your money and will it be a competitor to the Apple TV, being 3 times the price.
In the USA there are lots of features to use like Netflix, Hulu and HBO Go, but as the latter two are american only services these wont be available to us here in Australia, we will be getting Chrome, YouTube, Google Play and Sony's Entertainment Network, we can also add ABC and Quickflix but these have to be installed manually they do not come pre-installed.
If you dont own an Amplifier then you are going to be a little disappointed as this means that you cant plug the Google TV unit into your set-top box for an integrated experience, you have to plug it directly into another HDMI port to use.
I personally cant see this doing very well on the market even for the android lovers there simply isnt enough content for it to survive, especially when you can pick up an Apple TV for $99 and have all the online streaming capabilities of the Apple Store and also if Jailbroken can unleash a whole new world of media at your fingertips.
What's in the box
It comes with 8GB worth of internal storage and plays most of the formats you could ask for, including .mkv, .avi, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, .flv and .mov. It’s got two USB inputs, an optical audio output, Bluetooth, ethernet port, Wi-Fi and one HDMI input.
It’s controlled by a double-sided remote that connects via Bluetooth and features both a full, backlit QWERTY keyboard and a multi-touch trackpad. The remote can also act as a controller for your other home entertainment devices thanks to an IR blaster built into the set-top box.
