What you need to know
- Google today announced the release of Android 11 for Android TV.
- The update is tailored for the TV and what's important to the platform. Things like auto low latency mode, extended gamepad support, and silent boot for system updates are prioritised.
- Google says OEM partners will bring Android 11 to the Android TV platform in the coming months.
Google today announced the release of Android 11 for the Android TV platform just two weeks after the update released for mobile devices. It's not quite the same update as what came for mobile, with more focus being placed on media-features.
Here's what's coming with Android 11 for Android TV:
- Android 11's core features: Many features that came with Android 11 per se will be coming to the Android TV. Google pulls out enhanced memory management and revamped privacy features as specific examples. We can expect features like bubbles or the power-menu button to be absent as they don't make sense for the TV.
- Enhanced media support: Android 11 for Android TV will now support Auto Low Latency Mode and low latency media decoding. It'll also bring a new Tuner Framework with updated Media CAS support and extensions to the HAL implementation of HDMI CEC. As Google is also improving support for gamepads, this points to a focus on Stadia on the TV, something that had been reported as a highlight of the rumoured Google Chromecast.
- Improved developer tools: Google has added a new test harness mode for Android TV, allowing developers to test their Android TV apps on live devices faster.
Google says that OEM partners will work on bringing Android 11 to the TV platform within the next couple of months, but people who have the ADT-3 Developer Kit can expect to have the update available today.
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