Even though the Chromecast seems to be a huge success because of its very low price and how easy it is to use, Google has said that they will continue to work on Google TV, as it serves different needs. One of their biggest partners for Google TV so far has been LG, and it seems LG will continue making Google TV’s for the time being. Two new trademarks called “LG G TV” and “LG Perfect Picture” seem to confirm this.
“LG Perfect Picture” could mean just about anything, although it probably refers to the display inside this new “LG G TV”, which seems to be named after the LG G2 smartphone, and as a way for LG to unify its brands across products. It’s also a very nice coincidence that it could also mean “LG Google TV”. LG announced last year that there will be 7 new smart TV’s being launched this year from them, and at least one should definitely be a Google TV.
Whether this new push for Google TV will help it or not, it remains to be seen. Making the TV “smart” has been attempted many times over the past decade, with no big success. It seems people want their TV’s to be as simple as possible, and don’t want all sorts of menus cluttering it up when trying to watch a show. Plus, smart TV’s are very hard to control with keyboard remotes and whatnot. Even using voice or gestures would probably be a very clunky way to interact with it.
Chromecast on the other hand, uses your smartphone which is already “smart”, and streams what you want to the TV. That seems to make a lot more sense to me, and many others. You also don’t need a whole new TV to make it work, and you don’t need to pay hundreds of dollars on a box to make the TV smart either. You already have your smartphone, and you already have your TV – you just need the cheap $35 Chromecast to make it work. I think this could be the true future of the “smart TV”.
If Google wants Google TV to gain adoption they should put the focus on making Google TV boxes work as awesome gaming consoles. When the games arrive, Google TV (or whatever it will be called) should at least gain some traction with people who want to play more casual games on their TV’s.