Google TV officially launched just a few short months ago with devices available from Sony and Logitech. While early reviews were mixed, (Nilay Patel of Engadget said, “Google TV feels like an incomplete jumble of good ideas only half realized, a unoptimized box of possibility that suffers under the weight of its own ambition and seemingly rushed holiday deadline,”) it was clear that there were a few kinks that needed to be worked out.
Google is now rolling out a major update to Google TV devices and hopes to address some of those issues plaguing the initial release.
For starters, the Netflix experience has been greatly improved. Instead of having to browse the Netflix website, choose what you want to watch and then switch back to the app, you can now do all of your browsing and watching directly from the application.
Dual view mode also gets a slight overhaul. Before, viewers could watch with picture-in-picture, but were limited to having your secondary window stuck in one corner of the screen. With the update, you can now choose which corner you want the window and even re-size it if needed.
Although we’re still waiting to hear if and when certain networks will join the party and allow their content to appear on Google TV, this update proves that things are moving quickly in the Google camp.