[drewg123]

My chromecast sits unused in a drawer because I hate to have to use my phone / tablet to watch TV (lack of tactile feedback, phone lock timeout, and being distracted by work email when I'm trying to relax). This thing has a remote, which is a huge win for me. Maybe it even has an IR receiver (or one could be plugged in via USB), which would allow better integration with my harmony.

Also, you'll probably be able to side-load xbmc on it without rooting, like you can on a Ouya, an Amazon FireTV or (rooted) AppleTV to get full access to your media library, to act as a PVR front end, & to give you access to the vast world of shady XBMC plugins.

The open question for me is what sort of video the thing will be able to play back natively. And whether or not you can side-load Amazon Instant Video