According to a report from The Verge, Google are setting up to take a crack at the streaming box market with the Android TV.
The news comes hot on the heels of Amazon announcing their FireTV device as a rival to the likes of Roku, Apple TV and Chromecast.
Google has already partnered with the likes of Sony and Logitech in the past with the relatively unsuccessful Google TV projects but it seems the company has learnt its lessons with those projects and the Android TV will offer a simpler, more stripped down experience.
"Android TV is an entertainment interface, not a computing platform," writes Google. "It’s all about finding and enjoying content with the least amount of friction." It will be "cinematic, fun, fluid, and fast."
The documents The Verge has managed to get hold of suggest the interface will be card based representing movies, shows, apps, and games sitting on a shelf, and the idea is that it will never take more than three clicks to get at what you want.
The device will come with a simple remote and, like the FireTV, will offer an optional games controller for a library of simple title.
Android TV will also support voice input and notifications.
Screenshots obtained by The Verge show Google’s own apps like Play Movies and YouTube alongside third party apps like Netflix and Hulu.
The only curious thing about this rumour is, that having just launched Chromecast, it looked as though that was Google’s attempt to get in to the living room space but it seems they are also targeting consumers not yet ready to embrace the idea of casting and the phone/tablet as the ultimate remote.
Source: The Verge
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