Breaking

Thursday, May 18, 2017

The new 2017 Android TV interface (Android O)


Since Google announced Android TV in June 2014 the user interface has been based on the concept of content rows. Manufacturers have not been allowed to modify the user interface except to pre-load apps. That is why all Android TVs look alike.



With Android O (version 8.0) the user interface gets a refresh. Manufacturers are still not allowed to change the look and the content rows are still here. Nevertheless, it appears that using an Android TV will be a quite different experience in the future.


Apps such as Netflix will get their own separate content rows in the new user interface, and to the left you get small icons to help you navigate. A new content row dubbed ‘Watch Next’ lets you save movies and TV series for later and lets you resume watching TV series that you are currently watching.


Google Assistant on TV:

At CES 2017, Google announced that its ‘Assistant’ is coming to Android TV. It will replace the current voice command system. At I/O Google added that the update will be available this summer on all Android TV running 6.0 Marshmallow or later.



Google Assistant lets you do a range of things but is, on the TV, optimized for searching for content. You can ask it to search for new movies or TV shows, or ask it to search find a specific video on YouTube. It will also give you information about the weather.

No comments:

Post a Comment