Co-Star

We knew from an announcement in January that the ARM-based Armada 1500 chipset from Marvell would be at the core of new Google TV products in 2012. Today, we see the chips inside of one of the latest Google TV streaming products that went on sale last month, the Vizio Co-Star. The guys and gals over at iFixit decided to make the Co-Star its latest teardown victim, revealing the $99 set top box is powered by Marvell’s Armada 1500 1.2 GHz Dual-Core Processor, 1GB of RAM, and various other Marvell components:

* Here’s the specs on the Co-Star:
        * Marvell Armada 1500 1.2 GHz Dual-Core Processor
        * Marvell 88DE2755 QDEO Video Processor
        * Nanya NT5CB256M8GN-DI 1 GB RAM
        * Samsung K9GBG08U0A-SCBO 4 GB NAND Flash
        * Marvell Avastar 88W8787 WLAN/Bluetooth/FM SoC 

iFixit provided some highlights after giving the Co-Star a respectable 8 out of 10 repairability score:
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While we already got a look at its Google TV plans during the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, Vizio made things official today for its “Co-Star” Google TV streaming box by giving it a $99 price tag and pre-order date set for July. The Co-Star goes a little bit beyond the typical Google TV experience, providing a skinned UI with HTML5 Chrome browser, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and iHeartRadio apps built-in. It also has OnLive for the first time ever on a Google TV set-top box. The box will come with a double-sided Bluetooth remote with a full QWERTY keyboard on one side and a number and touchpad on the other. We do not have specifics on a release date, but Vizio plans to start taking preorders next month.

“Our focus to deliver the best consumer experience continues with today’s announcement of the Co-Star, which delivers a superior smart TV interface that anyone can add to their existing HDTV,” said Matt McRae, VIZIO’s Chief Technology Officer. “We combined the powerful features of Google TV™ with an intuitive and easy to use interface, giving users the power to enjoy an entire world of entertainment.”

Reports claimed yesterday that Google is getting ready to unveil some new updates to the Google TV platform tomorrow at its Google I/O keynote, including: combined content browsing for Netflix, DVR, and TV content, and AirPlay-like features for sharing content between devices.

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