After the success of Android mobiles and tablets, Android started expanding its territory towards other hardware platforms. Television became the next target, as the concept of smart TV was already in the market. Thus, a television set became interactive through Android. Google has released a few additional accessories for Android televisions to increase the user experience.
The first Android television device launched for consumers was the Nexus Player on November 3, 2014. The specification of this is as follows:
Here's what it looks like (image source: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H1rp1fboU6g/VX2Huu6ClyI/AAAAAAAA3hA/5te4NZ65Tgg/s1600/nexus_player.jpg):
This was the first kind of Android television device, very similar to Google TV and comparable with Apple TV also.
Apart from Nexus Player, there are a few more Android-enabled STB devices:
Besides these STB/console-based Android devices, many television manufacturers are targeting the launch of Android television sets. Sony, Sharp, Philips, LG, Samsung, and other companies are migrating to Android. Philips has announced that 80% of their upcoming television models will be running on Android (image source: http://www.techdigest.tv/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/kogan-smart-tv-may-2013.jpg):
Let's take a look at the specifications of an example smart TV:
This specification is good enough to attract a game developer to get active with his/her next game.
Google has also released an Android TV development kit called ADT-1. This hardware development kit was given to application developers during Google I/O (image source: http://chezasite.com/media/2014-post-icon/adt-1-android-tv-reference-design-1920x1080.jpg):
One of the things that early Google TV devices were criticized for was under-performing specs. Thankfully, Google has tried to remedy that, as they came out the gate strong with some pretty impressive specs:
Android TV is fully unlocked out of the box, so Google is inviting developers to come up with anything they can to help this platform. It's far too early to tell what will be the result of such openness, but it should not take long for developers to explore and develop for this device.
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