Imo there's no point. They'd be competing with the shield which is on its way to going down as the best Android device I've ever purchased
The GPU power of the TEGRA that the Shield utilizes is wasted on most people. They could probably make and sell a box for 90 dollars that utilized a chip with a VPU powerful enough to play 4K video in all formats at 60fps without ever dropping any frames. I think that's all most people want. That and a built in gigabit ethernet port are essentially all that separates the Shield from the Mi Box for anyone who doesn't care about gaming on these devices.
Google really needs to get some more Android TV devices out there. It kicks Roku in the ass in every way.
The platform itself is what needs investment, not new hardware.
I would rather they take those development costs and invest in developers to produce androidTV, play store, and youtube updates
The hardware out there today is excellent from the
50$
69$ mibox to the 200$ nvidia shield.
If Google released a "Pixel Player" with Android O and that would receive regular timely updates at $79-$99 it would be a day 1 purchase.
Eh, still wouldn’t get it. My nexus player is now useless because neither the remote nor the app works and there’s no fix for either.
I really can not stand the this gaming mentality that the Shield brings to this space. Yes, the Shield is a great device but that doesn't mean it should be the only option because its good enough for what you need it for. This isn't the console wars. You don't need to wish for supremacy over other ATV boxes. This space needs competition, especially right now.
As this got buried in a side conversation:
http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/google-android-tv-ui-1202431034/
Per an interview with the Android TV director, Sascha Prueter, May of this year
First highlight:
In fact, he said that the majority of Android TV devices now have some kind of live TV input, meaning they’re smart TVs or pay TV boxes. “We are not just a OTT platform,” Prueter said.
And:
the platform now sees one million new device activations every two months.
Op's article paints a picture that Android TV is stagnant/isn't competing well with FireTV/AppleTV/Roku. This is because its not solely doing this. Google's vision is much larger than the western STB streaming market. They have IPTV providers overseas as well as TV OEMs using Android TV and getting the platform out to millions. In Google's eyes, the platform is flourishing.
Now, do not get me wrong, I would absolutely love to see an affordable, Google made Android TV box to compete over here and refresh the Android TV market in the west. But the article's premise for why said box should exist blatantly ignores the success of the platform outside of the United States.
Honestly they should just bake android TV into the regular OS, and sell a dock and remote. Give the dock ethernet, and a couple usb, audio and hdmi. Sell it for $30.
In the talk about Android TV at this year's Google I/O when they showed one of the demos, I'm fairly sure they said the Nexus Player they were using was running Android O
Shut up...
and take my money. I got 4 TV's I'd love to use it on, Even a shitty release from Google would kick the crap out of the Mi Box (which I love to hate)