Generally speaking, Android TV news pieces are few and far between, which is quite often reflective of the state of the industry as a whole. While it is progressing, it is moving at a slower rate than some of the other Android-related industries. This week however, has seen quite a few announcements coming though in regards to Android TV, so if you missed any of them here is a quick recap.
Roku
One of the more interesting Android TV reports that has came through this week revolves around an interview with the Roku CEO, Anthony Wood. During the interview, Wood speaks about Roku in general and specifically name-drops Android TV, with Wood stating that Android TV is the going to be the ‘biggest competition’ in this particular space. Some do doubt the longevity of Android TV as a platform (and often because of the slower speed that Android TV seems to be moving at) and so it is good to hear one of the main people in this emerging market quite clearly stating that Android TV is going to be a force to be reckoned with. In fact, Wood went as far as to suggest that in the future all non-Samsung TV sets will either be powered by Roku or Android TV.
Android N
Moving on and yesterday brought with it the news that the Android N developer preview 2 factory image is now available for the Nexus Player. For those waiting on this update, it has been slow coming, as the rest of the Nexus line received their factory images over two weeks ago. As these are largely being thought of as monthly updates, two weeks is quite the delay. As such, it will be a welcome relief to owners of the Nexus Player who are currently testing out the developer preview of Android N.
Nexus Player Dev Preview 2 DownloadiOS Compatibility
Moving from Android to iOS and this week also saw the release of Android TV remote control app on iTunes. While this won’t matter for those who are entrenched in the Android ecosystem, if you do own an iPhone or an iPad and would like to control your Android TV device from those iOS devices, now you can. Generally speaking, there does not seem to be much difference between the iOS and Android versions of the app, so if you have already used the app on Android, you will know exactly what to expect with this one.
Android TV Remote App iOSExploding Kittens
Lastly, in terms of games, you might have heard that Exploding Kittens recently become available on Android. This actually happened last week, but for those unaware, this is a game which comes with support for Android TV. So if you are looking for a new title to check out and one with a lot of kittens, albeit exploding ones, then head through the link below.
Download Exploding Kittens