HTC Motorola may have been tapped to make ’s new mobile Nexus devices, but Nexus 7 veteran Asus wasn’t given the cold shoulder: It’s making the Nexus ayer, a puck-like set-top box that signals ’s renewed assault on the living room with Android TV. 

And good news: At first glance, the Nexus ayer certainly looks less quirky far more functional than ’s disastrous Nexus Q project or that hful of dead TV devices—though its announcement comes just a day before Apple is expected to possibly announce a revamped Apple TV of its own. The battle for your boob tube is warming up.

Android all up in your living room

Android TV is ’s OS reimagined for the living room, with a simplified, elegant 10-foot interface a focus on streaming. Numerous video music streaming apps—including Netflix, Hulu us, Vevo, ex, YouTube, more—are already available for the device. Beyond that, the Nexus ayer will offer personalized viewing recommendations on your home screen, any ay videos you watch on your TV will sync across all your Android devices, so that you can keep watching your movie on your phone or tablet if you’d like.

An included remote offers voice-recognition capabilities, so you can search for content using natural speech. Android TV is also compatible with ’s Casting technology you can cast videos movies to the Nexus ayer, just like you would with a Chromecast.

But Android TV isn’t all about TV, despite its name. Gaming is a focus for , the Nexus ayer will sync your achievements progress across devices for supported games, as well as offer free multiplayer in supported titles via the ay Games backend service. The Nexus ayer is powered by an Intel Atom chip rather than an ARM processor, which power the vast majority of Android devices; maybe the extra oomph is needed for games?

Connectivity-wise, the Nexus ayer includes an HDMI-out port support for blazing-fast 802.11ac -Fi. The Gamed for Nexus ayer will be a separate purchase, similarly to how Amazon hles the Fire TV’s gaming capabilities.

’s keeping mum on the Nexus ayer’s price for now, but preorders will open October 17, with the first devices slated to ship on November 3. 

The story behind the story

For all the talk about how much time we use our mobile devices, people spend a vast amount of time sitting in front of the television. Despite the rise of streaming services like Netflix YouTube, no over-the-top box has truly grabbed a stranglehold on the living room—Roku Apple TV are doing well, but they’re far from dominant forces. Tech giants are slugging it out in a bid to capture those eyeballs, with the Nexus ayer squaring off against Microsoft’s Xbox One, Sony’s ayStation 4, ‘s own $35 Chromecast dongle, Amazon’s Fire TV, the aforementioned Roku Apple TV, many, many more. 

ll this be the device that finally cracks the nut? o knows—but it certainly looks more poised for success ( less frustrating to use) than any of ‘s previous attempts to l in your living room.