Razer Unveils Forge TV Android Console

Razer, a company primarily known for making high-end gaming accessories and laptops, is stepping up its game, as evidenced by some new wares it’s showing off at CES in Las Vegas this week. The newest jam it’s got are the Razer Forge TV, an affordable and powerful Android console, along with a whole suite of accessories.

The Forge TV console runs Google’s Android TV operating system, and is Chromecast ready. At $99, it’s got the same price as Google’s own Nexus Player, but it’s got much more impressive specs (so much so that I’m really kicking myself for having already bought the Nexus Player). It offers 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage, both twice as much as you’ll find in the Nexus Player. It’s also packing a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor, which has a Quad-Core Krait 450 CPU offering 2.5 GHz per core and an Adreno 420 GPU. Again, these specs out-class the Nexus Player’s 180 GHz Intel Atom CPU handily.

More impressively, the Razer Forge TV will handle game streaming from a user’s PC, so if you’ve got a good Steam collection on your computer but want to put it up on your living room TV, Forge TV will make that happen. Razer will also release the Turret gaming mouse and lapboard (pictured right) – a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo that will let gamers replicate their desktop set up on the couch. For controller-based games, Razer has the Serval Bluetooth controller, an Xbox 360-style pad that also features a clip for your smartphone so you can keep gaming on the go.

A Forge TV and Serval bundle will cost $149, and I couldn’t find any information on the Turret lapboard and mouse, but I don’t imagine they’d cost much more than $60 or so, either. They’re all scheduled to be released in the first quarter of this year, so if you were waiting to pull the trigger on an Android console, Razer might have just announced the box of your dreams.

[Razer Forge TV]