These media hubs, they're like buses. You don't see one for ages, and then two come along at once. This week we head about Samsung's extended push into the networked-media, smartphone-syncing world courtesy of HomeSync, and then today Chinese jack-of-all-trades HUAWEI took the wraps off their own device, called the MediaQ.
The MediaQ M310, like the HomeSync, is a small footprint media hub whose core purpose is to allow easy sharing and streaming of media from connected Smartphone and Tablets to and from your big screen TV or set top box. However, unlike the HomeSync, there's no onboard disk storage (the MediaQ uses Micro SD cards for storing media alongside 32GB internal storage) so it's tiny (65mm × 65mm × 14mm). There's also no wired Ethernet connection, but an onboard 802.11n wireless connection allows a Wi-Fi Direct connection to be established between hub and mobile device for onscreen mirroring.
Once connected, you have your Android-based Media Hub ready, alongside video calling (with an optional camera connected), two way media streaming (from mobile device to TV and from set top box to multiple mobile devices), cloud backup of photos and videos, voice control, gaming support, access to Google Play and more. Peripherals-wise, expect to see Huawei release a universal learning remote that controls the MediaQ, Set Top Box and other devices, smartphone apps for remote control as well as additional connectors for mobile hard disk drives.
There's no pricing or availability details at this point, but expect to see it hit stores globally later in the year.
More: HUAWEI
