The Freebox 6 is awesome and you can’t have it

A new European TV box embodies the phrase "all-in-one." And it's not available here.

Forget Apple TV, Roku, and Google TV – Freebox 6 puts them to shame. Freebox 6 is the product of Free, a thriving independent ISP in France and one of Europe’s most prestigious Internet companies, so the device has some legs to stand on. The box, which also goes by the alias “Revolution,” was revealed today in Paris and made its company the only one in the world to offer broadband Internet, television access, and full phone capabilities in one device.

So what exactly can Freebox 6 do? It’s easier to ask what can’t it do. You can access the Internet in its entirety as well as use your Internet TV (France doesn’t seem to have the same issues with cable providers as we do). There is access to the Freestore (an app store) for games to be played with motion-sensor controllers, and a built-in Blu-ray player that’s compatible with 3D TV. To top it all off, Freebox 6 comes with a 250GB hard drive and uses an Intel Atom 1.2 GHz processor. Not to mention that it’s all wrapped up in a sleek, touchscreen-capable, Lego-like body.

Free is gaining quite the following as well, and Business Insider likens its devotees to Apple fans. They’re even referred to as “Freenautes” in France. And the dedication seems pretty well-deserved. “It’s unprecedented, it looks like they took the best of what exists to make a single object,” says Airweb CEO Debbasch Xavier. The goal for the Revolution is to single-handedly replace the various electronic devices in our lives, and it could be well on its way.