Not to be confused with Google TV:
Android TV won’t be another device, but rather a platform that manufacturers of TVs and set-top boxes can use to bring streaming services to the television. In that way, it is similar to Google TV, the platform the company unveiled at its 2010 Google I/O conference. But while Google TV was focused on marrying existing pay TV services with apps, Android TV will at least initially be all about online media services and Android-based video games.
At the core of Android TV is an interface called Pano:
Android TV’s key focus will be on simplicity, which will be reflected in the user interface. Key to that is something the company has internally been calling Pano. The idea behind Pano is that apps can surface individual pieces of content right on the home screen in a card-like fashion so that users can browse movies, TV shows and other types of media as soon as they turn on an Android TV.
Content will be presented in a series of cards that can be browsed horizontally, and each movie or TV show episode has deep links into publisher’s apps, giving users the option to start playback right away. That’s different from the traditional smart TV experience, where users generally first have to launch an app from a publisher, and then browse that apps catalog before they can play a title.
I do like the concept. It’ll be interesting to see the actual implementation. Sounds to me like a direct link into content, bypassing the various apps. Will Netflix be OK with this? Or is this intended purely for your cable/satellite provider’s content?
Can’t wait! Google TV was by far one of the best experiences I’ve enjoyed in years. The only reason I moved away was for DVR.
I like Gooogle’s play here, if Apple releases a new Apple TV hardware or UI product then Goooogle can modify their now pre-announced products UI and design in case Apple’s design is so obviously the way to do 😉 This provides them some cover from allegations (which will be mild to begin with) that they have shameless copying immersed in there enterprise culture.
I never thought I’d say this but GoogleX makes Samsong look like a good corporate entity, at least when Samsuung recently tried a similar pre-empt strategy (based on what Apple might do in the near future) with there health watch whatever, it at least showed some product UI and design, of course there is nothing stopping them to completely change it after some great wisdom is revealed.
As always, if Google can create something that non-tech-enthusiast consumers will actually want to use, I’m interested in seeing it. The better Google becomes at reaching non-nerds, the better the competition for Apple to improve against.
That said, what are the adoption numbers for Google TV like?
This is what TiVo does (present ‘Now Playing’ content) but using your cable channels of course.
Third time’s a charm, eh? Confusing that we have to say “no, not Google TV”, to say nothing of Chromecast.
Thanks, but I’m pretty happy with my Rokus.
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I’ve owned TiVo for 12 years and I’ll never buy another one. Their interface is as slow as it was in 02/03.
Commercials? #tonguemeetcheek 😉
I wonder if I’ll be able to wipe my Logitech Revue and install Android TV on it? Probably not, but it would make the paperweight more useful.
Now that would be sweet!
I don’t a single person who has purchased a Googe TV device. I don’t know a single person who has even heard of google TV. And I have yet to see a SINGLE TV with the built in software at ANY physical retail store. I have no clue what the adoption numbers are, but all evidence points to them being pretty catastrophic. Didn’t Schmidt say the majority of TVs would have it built in by end of 2012? Yeah.
But this is Google we’re talking about- they never get punished for their many failures, they’re promptly forgotten. They’ll rebrand Google TV Android TV, and keep throwing shit at the wall like they always do. Look at Google Glass. Every Google exec used to wear it at conferences, etc (I guess to pretend that it looks normal) and now, they don’t do that anymore. Their campaign to get average people comfortable with people wearing creepy spy-computers on their faces failed, so they just quietly released the developer version to the public. They didn’t actually have the guts or conviction to produce them in large quantities and make an actual launch. They have the luxury of publically beta testing every product they make before making a decision to commit.
What they are good at doing is keeping the hype up by constantly talking about things that will not see release anytime soon, or at least not in any meaningful quantity. Keeps the blogs and news sites talking about them and their “innovation”.
I know at least one sysadmin who might name his first child after either Linus Torvalds or Sergey Brin, who either buys or strongly advocates anything Google does, because “open.”
I know of at least one other person who’ll adopt a Google product because it’ll have features he’s been looking for, and he won’t mind that its UI was designed by/for tech nerds.
But I’d like to have something more comprehensive than anecdotes. How many people are buying Google/Android TV, and actually sticking with it after the trial/contract expires?
I did but don’t know many personally. I know some folks on the interwebs who love it but they’re techies like me so you can expect that, to an extent.
lol @ the possible baby names. 🙂
It was only a slight exaggeration. The guy truly believes Google is the only tech company out there that isn’t “philosophically deficient” in a significant respect.
IIRC, he’s a recovering Lutheran, so he probably needed something new to believe in after Windows Vista.
The Roamio and Mini lines are greatly improved in the performance department.
yeah it’s a win-win for google fandroids as well, who look forward to being able to shout from the rooftops that google did it “first!”
The guy sounds like a complete moron- if he actually believes any of that. Google is an advertising company. Nothing is “free”- and the products they actially make money on are NOT open. You should ask him why Google doesnt open Google Search, Google Maps, etc algorithms, if they actually do believe in “open”? Right, cause its simply a tool they use to take advantage of gullible suckers like him. They keep closing more and more aspects of Android, because thats what benefits them.
I asked him many such things. He deflected with condescension. It was a bit like arguing about the year 1980 with a much older relative. He’s actually very intelligent, but has huge blind spots.
Ultimately, I lost a friend, with whom it had been necessary to avoid discussing certain subjects, and I’m not happy about that.
Android is open, not Google. You won’t see them open Search or Maps but even so that doesn’t make Android less open.
True, they are moving more into their services/fork of Android but that’s merely in response to poor upgrade experiences from ODMs.
I have friends like that for Apple and some for Microsoft. It becomes a relationship without discussion involving tech, focus on fishing or whatever other interests we have. 🙂
Don’t even get me started on politics and friends. 🙂 We have to draw lines. LOL
You know, I heard that. I’ve wasted thousands on TiVo so can’t try again. I did that two years ago and they failed yet again.