From the monthly archives: October 2011
Yep, it’s finally happening: Honeycomb, the Android Market, and what look like many other pretty sweet improvements for functionality and navigability are all finally coming to Google TV in round two, and they are less than a week away. Starting with Sony Google TV’s and with the Logitech Revue to follow “shortly thereafter”, Google is releasing the long awaited Honeycomb Android 3.1 update “early next week”, and catapulting Google TV into it’s next phase. From the official announcement as well as the flashy overview (*drool*), it appears that Google has really taken the past year of setbacks to really focus on improving the Google TV experience by responding to user feedback. The new and improved Google TV is set apart in four major ways, which you can read about after the break.
It looks like we may have spoken a bit too soon, as it would appear that Logitech is still very much in the game. Or is it just a game? Updated Logitech Revue packages are now sporting a sticker that boasts, “New & Improved: Google TV now with Android 3.1 and Android Market”, but the boxes don’t actually contain Revues that will be running Honeycomb. A Logitech rep stated the following:
We’d like to clarify that these products do not include the next version of Google TV software. The boxes were prematurely updated with the stickers in anticipation of the next release of the Google TV software, which, once available, will be a free and automatic update pushed to all Logitech Revue boxes that are installed and connected to the Internet.
So, Logitech has made it clear that the software hasn’t yet been updated, but could they be implying that at least the hardware has? Or, are they simply suggesting that we are at last extraordinarily close to the hack-free Honeycomb release?
Either way, the quarterly earnings that Logitech released overnight may be enough to disprove our prior suggestion that Logitech may be pulling out of Google TV: $7.9 million in sales from the Revue and it’s accessories since the price drop doesn’t seem like an awful sales figure for a product that seemed like a financial failure. It might be time to contribute to those numbers further: if you don’t have one yet, it’s probably best to get your hands on a Google TV so you can be front row when Honeycomb hits.
[via engadget]
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[via CyberChimps]
Update: Perhaps they read our post, but the folks at Logitech’s PR firm got back to us, although their lips are remaining sealed at this point. This post is obviously speculation, but we believe it is still very much warranted. Stay tuned.
We all know that Google TV hasn’t proven quite the cash cow that it’s creators and contributors had hoped, and as everything slows down further with the delayed release of Honeycomb and Google TV 2.0, we are starting to wonder if Logitech could be cutting their losses and pulling out of the Google TV game. We recently reached out to some Logitech Revue reps in regards to snagging some giveaway goodies for our readers and instead we were greeted with silence. That, paired with the price slashes that the Revue experienced this past year and the lack of Revue-focused hype for Google TV 2.0, has us wondering where the Logitech love is at. We’ve seen some software update leaks for the Revue, but haven’t heard any buzz about new and improved hardware, and while Sony shows off what’s soon to come, Logitech seems to be slinking into the background. Could it be that Logitech is no longer factoring Google TV into it’s future?
Tell me, Google TV fans, at what point am I compromising my journalistic integrity by reporting too many rumors? Well, in the spirit of throwing integrity to the wind, I’ve got more speculation as to when Google TV 2.0 and the Honeycomb update will finally drop! According to Scott Webster of Android Guys its finally clear that 2.0 is coming in full form on November 8th, and will be unveiled at Streaming Media West 2011, an annual event that encompasses everything streaming-media related (in case you couldn’t deduce that from the title).
From whence did this speculation spring, you ask? Well, from the extraordinarily vague comments that Donagh O’Malley made a few weeks ago, the fact that O’Malley will be speaking at the November 8th event, and from the fact that the “final” add-on for the Android SDK was recently released. If you ask me, I’d say one of Android Guys‘ readers was more accurate when he assessed, “So – we’re lookin’ at around Easter then..?”. Take it or leave it, this rumor isn’t worth much until it happens.
[via AndroidGuys]
The folks over at GTV Hacker got a good kick in the pants when they recently discovered an easter egg dedicated to them in the recovery binary of the Logitech Revue. The message, which needed to be decoded from rot13 reads as follows:
@gtvhackers congratulations if your reading this please post a note on your forum to let me know
As you can see from the above screen shot of the message in context, its followed by a listing of their names. Kind of a fun way for the GTV Hacker team to be immortalized–way to holla at a hacker, Logitech.
[via GTVHacker]
Yet another ETA on the official release date of Google TV 2.0, this one straight from Google’s mouth. At the Connected TV Panel, MIPCOM 2011, Google TV Director of Content Donagh O’Malley gave very specific details about precisely when Honeycomb will drop:
What I can tell you about what’s coming up with Google TV, is version two is about to launch probably within the next three or four weeks.
Well, thank you for nailing that down sir. Given how closely Google has stuck to its previous Google TV release date announcements, I’d say that it’s probably best not to hold our breaths. We’ll see Honeycomb when we see it, and you’ll be sure to see lots of it right here when that happens.
[via gnarl'd]
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