The new version of Google TV includes direct access to Android Market. A select group of 30 apps, directly optimized for Google TV , will appear in the Featured For TV section shown above. Hundreds more Google TV -compatible, but not expressly optimized will surface if you dig further.
Google s smart TV software platform, Google TV , is poised for its first significant overhaul since it launched in Logitech and Sony hardware a year ago. Via over-the-air updates that should begin streaming to hardware devices on October 30, Google TV users will find new TV-optimized Android Apps, an improved YouTube experience, and new features that provide easy, direct discovery of TV and movie content.
All this Googly goodness is wrapped up in a new user interface that aims to simplify a challenging information design a design that s left many Google TV customers with a persistent sense of yuck.
An Inauspicious DebutWhen Google TV launched, it was supposed to seamlessly co-mingle live TV (read: broadcast, satellite and cable) with streaming video services like YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Video On Demand. You could also use your Google TV software to search the web, and even access digital content from your home network or attached storage.
In theory: Fantastic. In practice: Difficult to use.
Whether you were running a Google TV set-top box manufactured by Logitech or Sony, or directly tapping into the Google TV software installed in various Sony TVs, you were faced with a series of menus that defied easy access and discovery of the content you actually wanted to see. And it s also possible you bought your Google TV in the mistaken belief that it s a cord-cutting platform that it would allow you to nix your cable or satellite service, and instead watch your favorite TV shows via direct Internet streaming.
After all, the TV networks stream full TV episodes directly from their websites. So Google TV must be the perfect delivery system for that content, right?
No, not so fast. The networks summarily blocked their online content from appearing on Google TV, giving a large subset of early adopters one more reason to kvetch about a hardware purchase they wished they never made.
Improved User Interface TV and Movie Discovery Vastly Improved YouTube A New Home For Android Apps
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