Hasta La Gadget!

Its safe to say that Google TV wasn’t a hit, even though Google chairman Eric Schmidt had predicted that it would ship on majority of new televisions in 2012. It didn’t. Instead, products like Roku or the Apple TV continued to extend their dominance. For quite a while now we have been hearing that Google is working on something new to better compete in this market. Recent the Android TV moniker was dropped a few times. Now certain documents and screenshots have leaked online which give a glimpse of Android TV.

Received by folks at The Verge, and assuming they’re correct, it appears that Google’s next TV offering might be a lot similar to other set-top boxes, such as the Apple TV and Roku. In fact, it seems to be quite similar to the recently announced Amazon Fire TV. The $99 set-top box runs a highly forked version of Android and boasts over 130 gaming titles.

One document says that “Android TV is an entertainment interface, not a computing platform.” This clearly shows that the company isn’t sticking with the same ideology that held Google TV back. Android TV will be about letting users enjoy content with “the least amount of friction,” designed to be “cinematic, fun, fluid and fast.”

Screenshots reveal that the user interface will consist of scrolling cards which will present apps, movies, tv shows and games on a shelf. A remote control with four-way directional pad will be used for control, it will also have Enter, Home and Back buttons. Optional game controllers will also be available for Android TV, pitting it straight up against the Amazon Fire TV. Voice input and notifications will be supported but apparently Google encourages developers to limit notification use to extreme cases.

The leaked documents suggest that Google is tapping app developers to develop games and apps for the Android TV. Screenshots not only show Google’s own Play Movies, Hangouts and YouTube apps for the TV, but apps of popular services like Netflix, Hulu, Pandora and Vevo. Rumor has it that Google will build the Android TV set-top box itself, which would pit it against partners like LG. The Korean company is building smart TVs based on webOS.

When contacted by the scribe, Google declined to comment on this report. It is unclear if and when Android TV is destined to be released.

Android TV Leak Shows Google’s Ambition Of Taking Over Your TV , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Gadgets, android tv, Google,

The Verge just revealed that Google may venture into set-top TV devices with the as-yet-unannounced Android TV. Quoting internal documents, the report indicates Google is planning a device like Roku or the new Amazon Fire TV to put Android in your living room.

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Google is reportedly in the process of rebranding its Google TV efforts as “Android TV,” according to a new report from GigaOM’s Janko Roettgers. The switch reflects the fact that Google TV is already an Android-based product, and the new name is apparently in use with developer and OEM partners already, pending a formal switch from the old to the new branding.

The use of Android TV is more than just a surface change; GigaOM says that Google will begin using much more recent versions of Android in its TV products, giving manufacturers the chance to upgrade to 4.2 in an effort to make it easier for developers to target smartphone, tablet and television end points for their software and apps.

This would not be a surprising move for Google. When it first launched its Google TV efforts, the Google brand was arguably stronger than Android, and more generally recognizable to consumers. Now, Android has much more mindshare, and the average consumer is probably well aware that Android is Google’s mobile OS. Plus, the Google TV brand hasn’t done much to help further Google’s cause with living room users, and in fact was widely perceived as an early flop before slowly gaining back ground among users and OEM partners.

Android TV would inject some fresh life into the longtime experiment, and would also make it more apparent to developers that Google wants software makers to think of the television as simply an extension of its development platform for smartphones and tablets. Google now recognizes that there’s value in making Android an OS without specific hardware constraints, and we’ve seen their executives note this on multiple recent occasions.

Google CEO Larry Page said during the company’s earnings call in April that the head-mounted Google Glass smart device does indeed run on Android, as many suspected. But he didn’t stop there: Page also noted that Android “has been pretty transportable across devices,” which he said will likely continue in the future. Google also recently acquired Android-based smartwatch maker WIMM labs, so it’s clearly keen to explore how the OS can power those devices. You could even see a stripped down version powering the more advanced Fitbits and other activity trackers of the next generation.

In the end, I think we’ll see Android positioned as the operating system of the future of computing devices. Connected home, connected car, connected industry and retail, all of this represents places Google can gird as Windows and MS fade from prominence. Google has a beachhead staked out with television already thanks to its existing efforts, but a switch to Android TV could really help accelerate their progress in that area.