Pre-orders for Sony’s new Google TV box now open on J&R

53

If you still believe in the Google TV platform (and you should, or at least not dismiss it), and are looking to purchase a box to smarten up your idiot box, then you should really give a look to Sony’s upcoming NSZ-GS7. It’s available now on pre-order from J&R for $200, and is pretty feature packed.

What I like the look (and sound) of is the controller. There’s no doubting that Sony’s learnt from their previous attempt (pictured below), which to me always looked like a regular user’s nightmare. They’ve cut down on the buttons on the front, added a touchpad with gesture support, and reduced the overall size (thereby bringing the dimensions and form closer to what we’ve had for decades) by shifting the QWERTY to the back. There’s also motion control and voice actions.

The box itself has a LAN port, an HDMI in and an out, and two USB ports. There’s no news about the Blu-Ray variant, so if that’s your thing, wait a while.

[J&R via Engadget]

Raveesh Bhalla

(Some) Developers can now reply to users’ Google Play comments

Previous article

LG Optimus L5 launching worldwide this month

Next article

You may also like

53 Comments

  1. Flop. Costs too much. I think folks will only pay $99.

    1. For some of the features, its not “too” bad. Samsung’s pretty much been touting their Smart TV with features such as voice and motion control. This brings those features to any TV. But, on a general principle, agreed. Sub-100 is really the key.

      1. Yea no knock on it. I want one. Just don’t think people will drop 200 on it.

        1. The company I work for is releasing a product soon, can you help figure out if it will sell or not?

          Well, all I can you about it is that it does fly, and it will sell for $7billion a piece. What do you think? Should I invest in the company more or should I get out because most people will not pay $200 for a Sony gTV let alone pay for something with that price tag.

          Or is it relative to the individual market. Just because you do not have a measly $200 for something doesn’t mean that the general public does not.

          1. I’ve previously worked for Boeing. If you think you’re about to talk over my head about the costs of aircraft you might want to abandon that strategy.

            However do you not think companies of any kind try to find a price point at which they believe people will buy and try to cut their costs down to the bare minimum to meet that point? Don’t you see Nvidia working to get the cost of its Tegra 3 down so that high end tablets can be sold at much cheaper prices? Haven’t you kept up with the news of Google’s Nexus tablet that’s supposed to be sub $200? Why do you think they are doing that? Because they aren’t selling that well at the current prices. Now if tablets with all their sensors and HD screen etc have to drop below $200 to sell what makes you think a set top box without any of that will sell for $200? Its ridiculous just to accept the price of something because its “technology”.

          2. By your own statement then Sony must have found the $200 price tag is within the “price point.”

          3. Also, for one it is not Boeing, two, it was and extreme comparison. I hope that you picked up on the fact that different companies, products, prices all are geared towards a certain market. And if you felt that you do not have $7bil to spend on a plane then that plane is probably not marketed towards you, same in that the $200 price tag is too much then it is probably not marketed towards you as well.

            Another thing, as a developer then no price should be to high for you. I say this because if I were you, then I would like to own anything, no matter price, than I can work on and further development in order to put out a product that I could profit off of. Get what I am saying?

          4. Man this is ridiculous. Ferrari’s aren’t marketed towards me. Do you think Sony wants to sell this device on a scale similar to that of Ferrari to say BMW? Honda? I highly doubt they are trying to reach a premium device market here.

          5. They may very well feel this is a good price point. That doesn’t mean consumers agree. And when it doesn’t sell they’ll either lower the price point or concede that they cannot produce the product at this time at a price point that consumers are willing to pay. You do know that sometimes products don’t come to market because they can’t be produced at a price that the market can bare right? Sometimes the ideas are held until the prices for components or fabrication or whatever it is that’s holding the price up comes down.

          6. Donovan Shore, it’s people like you who don’t know the value of a dollar that got the United States into the mess we’re in. Even if the general public has that measly $200, doesn’t mean people have the same priorities as you. Some are saving for homes or cars instead of paying banks to finance, some are saving for their own or their children’s college expenses, maybe for retirement or possibly just saving it to buy other crap. Here’s the thing about google tv, if you need it or want it bad enough you’ll pay $200 for it, I just don’t think that there are that many people out there who need it or want it bad enough to pay that price. Sony will test this price, because they think it’s fair, but remember they are the same company that put out game systems for $600 that nobody bought until after a redesign and drastic lowering of the price. The stupid part of your comment is thinking $200 is measly, if you ever get a chance to read a book written by or about any one of the crazy rich Americans you’ll notice one thing about them, even though they have loads of spendable cash doesn’t mean they spend it, that’s why they are crazy rich.

          7. I have already pre ordered mine! Anything has to be better that ATV3, the Boxee Box and Roku. This will be able to integrate my google apps intothis set top box, and a plus, will likely be shipped with ICS.

    2. How cheap can you be man. This is 2012. Hell, I put $400 of gas a month in my car. A good night out eating and drinking is $200. So, $200 for technology that I will use for awhile is nothing. Honestly though, how much do you think it should be for parts, development, workers, assembly, shipping, altogether that should only be like 20 bucks. Right?

      1. Man who gives a damn about what you pay for stuff?

        1. People like me who happen to agree with his statement.

          1. And those of us who dont agree still dont have a damn. And the Obvious three people who liked the first statement.
            *shrug*

          2. Obviously you already proved that point bright one. I was just proving you wrong. Just because you don’t care, doesn’t mean other people don’t. By the way you should brush up on your grammar.

      2. They can price it whatever the hell they want to price it. That doesn’t mean people are going to buy it.

        Your argument doesn’t make sense. Gas is high so this should be high too? I shell out sometimes 600 to 700 in gas a month which is exactly why I can’t justify 200 on such a device. Its called priorities. What it does as is is not a high priority so its not going to command the high price. And hell you can get a Rasberry Pi full blown computer for 49 and now VIA has an Android one for the same price I believe. So what the hell am I paying for in this thing then….the case? I’ll buy one of those and build my own first. Matter of fact that gives me an idea.

        I really don’t understand the financial sense of some of you folks that like to call others cheap. If business ran the way you’re thinking they be closed pretty quick.

        1. Exactly. Makes no damn sense.

        2. I am saying $200 is not much money at all and the price of everything is up. What phone do you have and how much is the unsubsidized price of it and compare that to the price of this box. I feel $200 is very reasonable.

          What doesn’t make sense is you calling it a “flop” merely on price alone. What also doen;t make sense is how you can apparently tell the future and say that “people will not buy.” I would love to ask what you do for a living and how your financial situation is. I feel if you can predict the sales of this product already with only reading two short paragraphs then you should be a sales consultant for Sony or any other brand.

          Basically my main point of my first post was that $200 should not be why you would consider this box a success or failure. Look at the specs and features at launch and projected because the current price is fair, for anyone that is not a cheapskape that wasn’t planning on buying no matter what price and just likes to be negative online. And yes, that last run on sentence was directed at you.

          1. That was harsh man…

          2. Think for a second man. My phone as a super AMOLED screen. That’s OLED technology. It has a battery. It has 3G, 4G, WIFI and Bluetooth radios. It has two speakers speaker and two microphones. It has a 5 megapixel camera. It has an accelerometer, compass and proximity sensor. Do you really think all of that is only going to cost 400 more?

            You saw the LG Google TV box didn’t sell at $300 and still didn’t sell when they lowered the price. Do you not remember the Revue or something? Why would I need to “predict” the future when we already have a clear example. And what did EVERYBODY say about the Revue. Its cool but too expensive.

            Look I don’t know. Maybe you are upset because I said flop. Look I love Android and I’d love the day Google TV goes mainstream because I’m a developer and want to develop for the platform. But the plain and simple fact is that for what it does people aren’t going to buy it for $200. Again. I’ve clearly stated that you can get a full computer minus monitor (which is what this is) WITH OS for $49. So why do you insist on trying to say this is somehow worth $200? Can you explain where they’ve added value over these other computers besides the case? The others had to be developed and shipped just like this one. They have HDMI HD output just like this one and one of them runs Android just like this one. Am I paying for the remote? Scratch that and give me an app on my phone.

          3. Or you could say that your phone was 3 times the price of this product. Also I do remember the Logitech, since I do still have mine at home. Also, the VIA is not so much a computer as a niche computer. I also know of it as I was looking into it as a in car PC option. And what keeps it;s price down is that it runs Android, if that is the one you are referring to. If not then I will research what others you may be talking about.

            OK, let me state my major peev right out.

            Negativity. There it is.

            The price tag didn’t kill the early Google TV options. A lot of other factors did, from economy, lack of development, to views and trends of the consumers. Stating that a product is going to fail based on price alone is not a fair assessment. Looking back at Blackberry when they started I would have never thought that a $600 phone would sell like crazy to the general public, but it sure did. It did because it became a social status symbol. Iphone is still popular, even with in my opinion an unreasonable price tag, not because of what it can do but what it represents.

            I feel as if you came on, looked at the price and just stopped reading the article and based your comment only on that point. I am saying that $200 is reasonable in comparison to a lot of factors. Also I did not mention yet at all on the capabilities or how I feel it will go, which yes I do believe it will not be the hit that even I hope it will be.

            There is much that goes into the development of this, from the OS to the testing, that a big name like Sony will do a lot more of than VIA, to the whole process. Looking around this room I am seeing plenty of things I spent more money on that I use less, Things I am sure are around your house as well. Multiple video games for $60 or so, movies I watch once or twice for $20-$30 each, cigarettes, alcohol, stupid decorations and paintings around, books than you read once or barely refer to because you can look it up online. Plenty to say that dropping $200 for a product that is made and warrantied by a big name like Sony that I can feel good about buying.

            Now again, not saying that this will be a hit, just that I feel your comment was thoughtless, bias, prejudicial, and meaningless.

          4. I’d written a much longer response but then I said….why? You keep talking as if I’m saying the thing sucks. All I’m saying is that people aren’t going to pay $200 for a set top box. We’ve already been down this road. All you’re doing is trying to invent some justification for this price. All companies test their products and have to develop and design. This isn’t something unique here. Roku does the same thing. Look at the price of their devices. Sorry man but you aren’t making a single lick of sense. The market has already spoken on this before no matter what you want to believe.

        3. Oh my gosh!! Where do you ppL live? Gas is $3.19 where I live. I feel sorry for you all’s gas prices.

          1. Combo of needing a bigger vehicle and a sprawling city with terrible traffic and poor mass transit in my case.

          2. Oh my gosh!! Sounds lyk driving a truck in Houston. I understand that.

          3. That’s what it is lmao.

          4. ROTFLoL!! Houston is a big city. I can see why I’m not surprised to find another random person.

      3. Apple t.v. is only $99. That’s how cheap.

        1. Apple is a whole other convo, mainly in the line of how Sony and Microsoft sell consoles at a loss.

        2. Thank you. I cannot understand why this cat insists on believing this device is worth being priced completely out of its market.

        3. If you paid for the number of features and took apple tv as a benchmark then this device should be a lot more expensive. Look at the crappy remote you get with apple tv, it’s basic compared to a light switch let alone the sony remote.

      4. You need to invest in a fuel efficient car. I only put $200 a month and I get an oil change every 1 1/2 months. So I drive a lot. LoL!!

        That is all.

        1. Yeah, agreed. I have two sporty cars that are not fuel efficient, but are tons of fun and I still will not be getting rid of them. And it surprises me to say this, but I am looking to get a Prius C as my DD.

    3. I would happily pay $200 and I think many will. I spent much more on a media center PC and while I love that, I really want google TV for a better integrated web/tv experience.

  2. I have their first box… I’ll take that remote thankyaverymuch

    1. Same here. Give me that remote….. I want it bad. that alone will probably cost 100 lol

    1. It already exists and it’s called the Cotton Candy. Same damned thing. Android on an MHL/HDMI stick.

      1. Cotton Candy costs $199 and no physical remote or device to control it, from what I could find. $145 is delivering me the PTV to my door with a remote and a mini keyboard.

        Otherwise, more or less, they are the same.

  3. i await Vizio’s offering. Supposedly it will be $99

    1. Smart of Vizio to incorporate gaming controls into the remote. The branded buttons annoy me, I like the design of their remote better. If the keyboard was backlit, Vizio would have a home run.

    2. You got a link to info on theirs?

  4. I hope Sony fixed the missing A, B, C, D set top box buttons.

  5. I know I’ll be getting a Google TV box for sure so I’m excited to see this. I’ll have to compare features against price once there are a few other products in the market.

  6. I paid 99 for my revue. This has GOT to be twice as good as that pos

  7. This is the 1st device I seen Google related that included the buttons. I hope soon that OEMs would put these 4 colors in their phones. I am willing to get this only because of that remote. =.P

    I hope it doesn’t sux. I’ll wait til the reviews come out.

  8. I preordered that bitch

  9. I pre-ordered it, hoping for the best.

  10. I have a GTV already, what i want to know is if the new remote control is backwards compatible. I’m definitely wanting that new remote.

  11. I really don’t have much knowledge on what Google TV actually does. I mean, can it replace my cable service? Is there channels that I can watch like Comcast? Can I rent movies or watch On Demand programming? Enlighten me. What’s so special about this product?

  12. J&R canceled my pre-order… Guess they put it up prematurely.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *