Well here is something that should have happened possibly a year ago but better late than never right? It looks like a company by the name of Envisions is going to try and use Android to dig a bit deeper into their market share in the world of console gaming. This unit will be named the EVO 2.
Envisions is responsible for the Gamebox console gaming system which you may or may not have heard of yet. If you haven’t, you will be hearing about it now because their upcoming version of GameBox, named the EVO 2, will be running the latest Android OS! This means that the EVO 2 will be the first console system to run Android and why not, Android will be running everything else soon in your house thanks to the Android@Home announcement from Google I/O 2011.
Here is what the EVO 2 can do currently. More features will arrive as Envisions continues developing it.
- Use EVO GameBox to back-up game saves from your PC or other devices via your wireless network
- Stream games from your GameBox storage account
- Communicate with friends and family with EVO GameBox chat
- Install new apps/games from the Android Market or the Envisions App Store
- Stream your music, photos or data from your GameBox storage account
- Sync with other Android devices to schedule back-up or other functions
- Low cost cloud PC
- Low cost storage device
- New game gesturing software
- Comes pre-loaded with free games
- Custom GameBox Apps
- Sensory biometric application
Not a bad selection for something still in development. The fact that this will have Android Market access is a huge bonus as well. It won’t be like those smaller companies who come out with Android tablets but with no Android Market access. You will have compete access to the market so you’ll be able to play all those awesome games from the console instead of using HDMI cable from your phone. The chipset that will come with this console will be from nVidia but whether it will be Tegra 2 or Kal-El is yet to be determined. *See update below
Another thing to note about Envisions is that they let everyone have a say in the development of their units. They allow the community to vote can vote on the system’s first launch location and the design and appearance of the console in terms of color, package design and product image and also be apart of developing the roadmap for future upgrades.
Current EVO 2 specs:
- The newest version Android OS
- The newest Nvidia Tegra Chipset (3D acceleration, GPU Flash 10 acceleration)
- HDMI Output
- Five USB Ports
- Compact flash storage
- Support 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
- Support Bluetooth
- MEPG2/H.264/H.263/VC-1 Codec up to 1080P
- Ethernet Port
While this may not be an XBox 360 or PS3 killer, it certainly does pose some interesting ideas that may sway us Android gamers to invest in one of these units. We will keep an eye on this and report back when more information is available. Interestingly enough, this announcement of the EVO 2 was made back in January and flew by everyone. Would you be interested in something like this?
Update May 28th, 2011 2:25pm: A tweet from the CEO of Envisions has shed some more light on what the chipset and hardware/OS specs will be. According to the link in the tweet, the EVO 2 will ship with Android 2.2, 512MB DDR2 RAM and a 1.2GHz Snapdragon CPU. Also, IGN is reporting the price of the EVO 2 to be $249 when released. Still interested? Thanks to 5c13nc3 in the comments below.
Developer Website: Envisions
Website Referenced: AndroidSpin
