DHAKA: Google just staked its — third, fourth? — claim for the living room with the Nexus Player. The search giant announced seemingly out of the blue on October 15 that its Android TV-based set-top box will be available for pre-order starting October 17.

Despite previous leaks of what was then known as Android TV (that's just the name of the platform), the now-confirmed Asus-built box is actually more like a round puck. The all-black, matte plastic device is a 120 x 120 x 20 mm (W x D x H) cylinder powered by a 1.8GHz, quad-core Intel Atom chip supported by and Imagination PowerVR Series 6 GPU, reports the India Times.

That said, of course the Nexus Player is designed for both media streaming and gaming. Hooked up to the Google Play Store, you can download all manner of movies, streaming apps and games to the Nexus Player's tiny 8GB of storage. Plus, the Nexus Player is 100% Google Cast ready: beam content from almost any device right to the console, just like Google Chromecast.

Other specs include HDMI-out (up to 1080p at 60Hz refresh rate), one microUSB 2.0 port, 802.11ac Wi-Fi (with 2x2 MIMO) and Bluetooth 4.0. The latter is how the included Bluetooth Smart remote — with voice control — connects to the device.

BDST: 1819 HRS, Oct 17, 2014