Google ready to Android TV at I/O : Report

Reportedly Google is going to intorduce the Android TV next month at Google I/O 2014. Android TV is also going to be just a platform rather than a device, reports Gigaom.

Android TV will allow the manufacturers to bring online media services and Android games to their set-top boxes and HDTVs. The search giant has also been in talks with streaming service providers like Netflix and Hulu, which are expected to be available since day 1 on Android TV along with select others.

Gigaom notes that Google is likely to announce select hardware partners at I/O, which will be releasing Android TV devices in the coming months. There is no word on who these manufacturers are going to be.

The key aspect of the upcoming Android TV is rumoured to be its simple interface, which is likely to be dubbed as Pano UI. It is going be very similar to the the UI present in the Android TV images leaked by The Verge last month.

“The idea behind Pano is that apps can surface individual pieces of content right on the home screen in a card-like fashion so that users can browse movies, TV shows and other types of media as soon as they turn on an Android TV. Content will be presented in a series of cards that can be browsed horizontally, and each movie or TV show episode has deep links into publisher’s apps, giving users the option to start playback right away,” wrote Janko Roettgers of Gigaom.