Sony jumped on the Google TV express train nice and early, and at IFA, they’ve shown off their Google TV-enabled television set. It’s shiny.
The TV, which is dubbed “Sony Internet TV Powered by Google”, will be released to the US in “fall”, with other markets to follow. But while Google were extremely reticent to confirm whether or not Australia will get the Google TV service at all next year (they did announce it would expand to international markets in 2011), Sony’s Paul Colley has confirmed that Australia will definitely be getting the TV, although he wouldn’t divulge any information on timeframes or pricing.
What’s also interesting is the approach Sony are taking to the new Google TV powered set, considering that the platform will essentially replace the cross-media-bar UI in the TV. Things like Bravia Internet Video, which includes the Yahoo!7 and ABC iView catch-up TV services, will be served up as apps on a Google TV powered TV alongside things like their Qriocity entertainment platform.
As you can see from the video below, the user interface is actually very smooth and usable, although because it was a demo loop, we couldn’t actually find out anything about the remote control and whether or not it would include a QWERTY keyboard for easy text input.
Nick’s in Berlin for IFA, courtesy of Sony.