Google has announced Android 14 for Android TV OS, bringing with it a variety of improvements and changes. Detailed during Google I/O, we’re getting the general “performance improvements,” but beyond snappier navigation, there’s actually a few new things are pretty neat.
There’s going to be a new option for selecting an energy mode, made for those who are thinking about such things. There will be three options: low energy mode, optimized energy mode, and increased energy mode. Most of the settings affected by these modes are happening when the device is in standby mode. You can view overviews in the image below.
Android 14 for Android TV also means multitasking in the form of picture-in-picture. Google’s development team notes that it will be enabled on select devices that meet their hardware compatibility criteria.
The TV team also details new Accessibility options, including color correction, enhanced text options, and improved navigation for users which can all be toggled on or off using remote shortcuts.
You can view all of the changes in the video below. The good stuff starts at 5:36.
This is all well and good, but outside of potentially the NVidia Shield, no one is getting this update on any existing hardware. New devices will eventually come with A14, but no AndroidTV manufacture is going to spend the time pushing this update out on an existing product.
“Android 14 for Android TV also means multitasking in the form of picture-in-picture.”
What do you mean? PIP on TV has been supported since Oreo. Everything old is new again?
“Google’s development team notes that it will be enabled on select devices that meet their hardware compatibility criteria.”
So nothing changes. My Shield TV supports it (arm64) and my TCL TV doesn’t (arm32).
I think they mean non-media app approvals into the play store who wanna use PIP, not the system capability
Now if Sony would just update its TVs. The Sony TV I bought in 2021 is still on Android TV 10.
Even Google’s own hardware is on A12. The update cycle on TV is terrible, but it’s due to lack of innovation in Android TV.
Android 12 for TV is the current release. What else could the CCwGTV be using?
What’s the latest released version on tvs? I know on my Sony Bravia from 2022 it’s based on Android 10. Does that mean it would jump from 10 to 14? Would it go through testing from Sony before being released if Sony decides to release it?
The last one is based on android 12 and was released last year. TV vendors usually are slow to update… sony is the slowest of them all. I got both sony and samsung TVs so I’ve bought the 4K chromecast with google TV for both, at least that’s updated every now and then..
I also had to do the same. I’ve had Google TV over a year now, I believe it’s on Android 12, while my Sony TV is Android 9 ! Oddly though I’ve seen a few updates to Android TV despite the version not changing.
It will get the 14 update within the year, and that’s it. They’re releasing a new one with more storage and RAM, I’m going for it as soon as it’s available on the self.
I had gotten several updates on the TV mostly performance or slightly different UI changes but the OS remained at 10
Don’t confuse security/UI updates with incremental OS updates. Normally you get the first ones quarterly – for as long as they sell the TV model. OS updates on TV’s, you may get ONE, maybe none.
Don’t be funny, you’re never getting this update ;D
When is this coming to my Verizon Cable box?