The good news is that Android 13 for TV has been released for developers to don their mitts. The bad news? It will probably be months before it reaches our TVs or streaming devices, Flat panelsHD (opens in new tab) reports.
Android 13 for TV is a fairly minor update, mainly improving performance and accessibility – both undoubtedly important, but there aren’t any major new features to write home about. It’s now available to developers so they can take advantage of the new capabilities when creating their apps and services.
For example, one of the new features allows users to set their preferred resolution and refresh rate on supported HDMI source devices. There are also improvements in power management for an even more energy-efficient standby mode, updated user controls for accessing the Google Assistant microphone on the remote, and a new keyboard layouts API to allow for different language layouts on external keyboards.
So when do we get it? No time soon. As Flat panelsHD points out that Android 12 for TV was released in December 2021 and finally hit TVs and devices in October 2022 – almost a full year later. It therefore makes sense to expect Android 13 in the second half of 2023 at the earliest.
Android TV (aka Google TV) is present on some major TVs, such as those from Sony, and the five-star Chromecast with Google TV streaming device. Earlier this year it added support for multiple profiles, a feature that has long been a staple of many other TV/streaming operating systems.
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