Nexus Player Gets Google Assistant

Google has decided to roll out its artificial intelligence-powered Assistant to the Nexus Player. The company’s first proper digital media player has now received support for the Google Assistant. Yes, there was the Nexus Q, but we all know how that turned out. The Nexus Player has received support for Google Assistant with the November security update for the device.

Google launched the Nexus Player back in 2014. It launched with Android 5.0 and was the first Android TV device at the time. The company has since been rolling out platform updates for this device and even revamped the interface in September with the launch of Android 8.0 Oreo.

It might be the end of the road for the Nexus Player as far as platform updates are concerned, given that Google has excluded it from the Android 8.1 Developer Preview.

The company has gradually been rolling out Assistant to its Android TV-powered devices. We’ve previously seen the Assistant land on devices like the NVIDIA Shield and some Sony TVs.

Once Nexus Player owners install the latest update for their device, they will be informed at first boot that Assistant is now available for the Nexus Player.

It’s not entirely clear how Google has rolled out Assistant for this device. It could have either been through the recent firmware update or via an update to the Google app

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: Google Assistant, nexus player