14 DAY TRIAL // That was fast. Just as the first devices claiming that Google TV 2.0 was coming, Google announced that the next generation is here. Well, now it's actually here, the updated Google TV will start rolling out next week to existing owners.
Google has been working hard on this new version and it shows, almost everything is changed.
"Given so much choice, we’re committed to delivering the best way to discover and engage with the high-quality entertainment on your television, whether that comes from your cable or satellite provider (DISH, Comcast, DIRECTV, etc.) or from the Web (YouTube, Netflix, and thousands more)," Mario Queiroz, Vice President Product Management, and Vincent Dureau, Director of Engineering at Google , wrote.
Google wanted to emphasize the fact that Google TV is not designed to replace existing cable content, just to enhance it. That's what it's been saying ever since TV was launched, but it doesn't seem like too many TV networks are falling for it.
"The initial version of Google TV wasn’t perfect, but launching it gave us the opportunity to learn. These are still early days, and we’re working hard to move forward with each update," Google admitted.
"Today, we’re announcing a software update for Google TV. In this release, we focused on four areas of user feedback," it said.
There's completely new and simpler user interface, with an emphasis on apps, there are better ways of finding content, online and on cable and satellite, and the YouTube app has seen a major update.
The UI is focused on apps, each with a single purpose, the Chrome browser, the YouTube app, the Google search app, the Netflix app the TV app and so on.
The first version of Google TV wanted to make it easier to find stuff to watch regardless of whether it was online or on TV. Now, Google is doubling down on that, the 'TV & Movies' app enables you to browse and select from 80,000 movies and TV episodes coming from cable, satellite, Netflix, Amazon, YouTube and many other sites. If it's out there, you'll find it in this app.
Speaking of apps, a big announcement is that Google TV now supports Android apps from the Market. Of course, of the hundreds of thousands of apps in there, only a very few will work on TVs, the ones that don't require a touchscreen, GPS and so on.
Only about 1,800 work at all and even those were not designed for Google TV. Google has been working with around 50 developers though to create at least some apps for the launch.
