Whoops. Google started taking pre-orders for the latest Nexus devices including the new $99 Nexus Player TV box yesterday. Hours later the pre-order link for the Nexus Player was removed.

Now the box is listed as “out of inventory.”

Update: It’s available for order again. 

Why the about face? Android Police did a little digging and found that it’s not just that Google ran out of stock.

nexus player_04

There’s new language on the Nexus Player web page noting that the device hasn’t yet been approved by the Federal Communications Commissions.

The FCC has to approve pretty much any device with wireless communications features before it can go on sale int he United States. So until the Nexus Player if FCC certified, Google cannot sell it.

We probably won’t have to wait long for that to happen, but until it does, the Nexus Player will likely remain out of inventory.

The Google Nexus Player is a small, round box with an Intel Atom quad-core processor, PowerVR Series 6 graphics, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1, and HDMI output. It’s meant to let you stream videos and music from the internet, play Android games on a TV, and run other apps that support Android TV.

The box comes with a wireless remote control that supports voice search and there’s an optional $40 gamepad.

Update: The Nexus Player passed through the FCC on October 19th.

nexus player

If Google has its way, the Nexus Player will be the first Android TV box to hit the market, but not the last. The company is hoping its software is widely adopted by set-top-box makers the way Android has already been adopted by many smartphone and tablet makers.

That’s in contrast to smart TV solutions by rivals including Roku, Apple, and Amazon. Each of those companies has its own platform for bringing internet media to your TV — but if you want to use Apple TV, Roku, or Amazon Fire TV software, you need an Apple TV, Roku, or Amazon Fire TV device.

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29 replies on “Google Nexus Player order paused, pending FCC approval”

  2. No external storage and/or playback allowed equals no sale. You hear me Google?

  3. I guess Google can’t help themselves… This has failure written all over it. The price, the lack of options, there’s nothing on this product that stands out against the competition, which is why the Chromecast has been such a success. You’d think they’d learned their lesson from Google TV, but nope.

  4. I wonder how long it will take before someone gets Windows 8.1 (not RT) running on it.

    1. That’s what I am hoping for, a version of Windows gives you all the options you need.

  5. I hope they allow external storage via that Micro USB port, otherwise this thing is just going to be a TV Box with an app/game store you soon wont be able to use after filling the 8GB onboard storage.

    Would have been nice if they included a Micro SD slot, some full USB ports and an Ethernet port. Plus 1GB is a bit lame, 2GB would have been nice. Even if all this came at $15 more

    I also hope they offer a gamer bundle like Amazon are doing -> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M9VWFOM/ref=s9_simh_gw_p470_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=000BTX5PVQJQ5PN8NXGJ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846

  8. Would be an awesome linux box (JUST 99!!!) but I’m sure it doesn’t have a bios to boot another os. Even then we’ll have to make sure it’s got a linux compatible wifi chip otherwise no internet… (because android – linux drivers aren’t 100% compatible, correct me if wrong)
    But maybe just a regular android rom could do wonders.

    1. Why would anyone bother, especially when it doesn’t even have an Ethernet port? And 8GB storage? There’s a glut of small x86 palmtops that are already plug-n-play for standard OS’es, some less than $100. Why bother trying to hack an Android box to run Linux?

      BTW, the XDA Nexus Player forum is about on par with the late Nexus Q wrt to interest.

  9. Great job Google, first you decide to make this device WiFi only. And then release it without even passing it through the FCC. Not a good start at trying to get everyone on board with Android TV. Sticking with FireTV for now, hopefully Nvidia’s ATV comes with a Ethernet port.

    1. Who on earth still uses ethernet jacks? Wifi stability are no longer like back in the old days.

      1. The problem isn’t with stability, its with the amount of bandwidth you can get out of it. An ethernet jack is needed to get enough bandwidth to stream high quality content from a local network (which the nexus player doesn’t really seem to be designed for, however it is a big concern for the type of people who long ago used to be the primary market for these things, and are probably still the most vocal minority). A gigabit ethernet port can get 1gbit/sec (hence the name), 802.11ac can theoretically and in absolutely optimal conditions do somewhere pretty close to 7gbit/sec (I don’t believe there is consumer equipment either on the router side or the wifi-capable device side capable of this yet.).

        I believe the nexus player is supposed to have 2 antennas, giving a theoretical max speed for AC-type wifi (again under optimal conditions with no interference) of somewhere around 850 mbit/sec. A gigabit ethernet port connected to a gigabit router under regular conditions gets you 1000mbit/sec (1gbit/sec), it just does, don’t have to worry too much about interference or optimal conditions, it will stay near that speed more or less no matter what (barring issues with the actual equipment).

        My math on these may be off, and of course my info about the nexus player is from potentially unsubstantiated reporting.

        1. True, but that’s an issue only if you have an internet service faster than 1 Gbit and the LAN is bottlenecking.. or if you’re strictly using this to play local network media. I would venture a guess that the average user has maybe 20 to 50 Mbit internet speed? Heck, I’m using 7.5 Mbit plus wifi and I’m streaming content just fine with my Rockchip Android sticks.

          1. That is true, its only an issue for high quality local content at the moment. The only time you’d have to worry about it is if you had, lets say, google fiber, i don’t know of any other ISPs who have hit the 1gbit/sec mark at the consumer level, i don’t think even google fiber hits that consistently, but i haven’t researched it, at least that part we don’t have to worry about (do any ISPs offer faster service?, i don’t think anyone else has even hit 1/2 of that). Really its only an issue for locally stored high quality media (high quality 720p should be doable with maybe a bit of stutter in most cases, for high quality 1080p, the outlooks is not as good but still possible, the upcoming 4k resolution, if it does take off, is very unlikely, although will have problems even with a gigabit connection). Interestingly, the 802.11ac standard is probably our only hope of eventually watching locally stored 4k video on our TV boxes, once they both mature a bit more. (There is 10-gigabit ethernet coming, but its wierd, and i don’t like it :/, i don’t have a better reason than that.)

            Did not notice til now that the only time you’d have issues with your google tv player not being fast enough for your internet is if your ISP is google fiber, interesting coincidence.

            But, again, you’re right, this will never be an issue for streaming content over the internet unless your wifi reception is bad.

          2. If your streaming 720p from an android stick, yeah Wi-Fi is fine. But 1080p and Blu-ray quality video is different. Unless things have changed lately, android sticks don’t do 1080p natively. And if they do, the WiFi on them is so terrible that it’s not a pleasant experience.

        1. Actually that’s not entirely true. My Linksys e4200 and FireTV can play blu-ray backups from NAS through dual band N. But it does seem to get chippy at times, guessing from other Wi-Fi devices being used in the house. That’s why I prefer a wired connection. Too many variables to keep a reliable stream. That’s why going only WiFi is a big mistake. Don’t even know if it’s backwards compatible with older frequencies, might have to buy ac router just for it to work. I was looking forward to this release, now I don’t even think I will be purchasing one. All Google’s competitors have Ethernet and Google leaves it out, doesn’t make sense. Thought they have learned from Google TV’s failure.

  10. Thanks Google for bringing subpar product ….I am happy with my Amazon Fire TV

    1. And how exactly do you know it’s a subpar product when no one has even gotten one yet…? Just.. why? Why do you people post illogical remarks like this?

      1. Isn’t it obvious looking at the specs? There are many chineese built which are having better specs than this.

        1. Have you ever used a tablet from China? There are things that you don’t see in the specs until you try it. I have not seen a Chinese tablet with a fast responsive touch screen. They sound great on paper until you put your finger on the tablet. Also, there are no Chinese android sticks that use atom chips.

          I have gone through 2 android sticks from China. One has been bricked and the second requires constant reflashing. And the quad core + 2 GB runs games worse than my Nexus 7 2012 version.

        2. The problem with those low-cost products beyond their low quality control standards and potentially shoddy manufacturing is lack of support. If your tablet from breaks, you just throw it in the trash, if this breaks, you call google, and they fix or replace it.

          2. Lol, it is for the products you pay money for, their hardware and other paid things. I’ve heard you can call their tech support for their free stuff as well, but i have no idea how to do so.

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