Sony started distributing a system message to some owners of its Android TVs that seemingly suggests that the Japanese consumer electronics manufacturer is planning to roll out the Android 7.0 Nougat to its devices shortly. The message only started appearing on select Sony-made Android TVs earlier this week and although it makes no direct mention of Nougat, many of the functionalities listed under its “New Features” section have debuted alongside this particular version of Google’s open source operating system, which is a strong indication that Sony’s older devices that are still running Marshmallow will soon be upgraded to Nougat. It’s currently unclear whether all owners of compatible Android TVs are receiving the same system message and there’s still no information on how soon users can expect Android 7.0 Nougat to hit their devices, though the very existence of this system message indicates that a new OS version will be rolling out over the course of this month seeing how Sony traditionally announces software changes shortly before launching them.
The contents of the message itself mention the Picture-in-picture mode with support for multiple apps and a redesigned version of the Settings app, both of which are features that debuted with Nougat and weren’t present in any earlier version of Google’s ubiquitous OS. Likewise, the upcoming update will debut Bluetooth audio support for headphones, expanded support for Hybrid Log-Gamma HDR video content, and some tweaks to the Android TV Task Switcher. Once updated, Sony’s Android TVs will also drop support for the Gameloft Hub app, the changelog reveals. The lack of support for Gameloft’s app management tool won’t automatically translate to Gameloft-made games being incompatible with Sony’s Android TVs. Instead, all of the firm’s titles will now be available in the Games section of the Home menu of every Sony Android TV that receives the upcoming update, Sony said.
The Japanse tech giant previously confirmed it will upgrade some of its older TVs to Android Nougat over the course of this year, but the company has yet to name particular models that are scheduled to receive the new software package. More details on the matter should be available in the coming weeks.
