Well, that was mildly encouraging. Really the same old story though. The columnist's concerns were addressed with the familiar "We are working on that" and the "It's up to the developers." Plus, the Android issue of fragmentation was not addressed. There are multiple manufacturers now including Android TV into all of their television models or streaming devices. Which of those devices will get the promised improvements? Who knows...
I believe that one killer feature for Android TV would be if they built in DVR software.
edit: The state of Android TV is apparent by this sub's participant numbers.
I feel like this is GoogleTV all over again. My Shield at least functions very well.
I can work around the AndroidTV limitations with things like Kodi or Chromecast so it's not a total loss, but it's so disheartening to see that they dropped the ball yet again.
This article did nothing to boost my confidence. When the developers have to say "No guys, we're not working in isolation, we really are working with other groups!" it makes me think that AndroidTV is the red headed step child of Google. I imagine it's some kind of purgatory where they put people before they fire them.
they haven't touched Play Music because of ads? That means nothing to me as a youtube Red subscriber who doesn't see ads anyway, why can't I get a premium experience? Why does the YouTube app still suck? Why does voice search still suck? gaaaaaahhh
Of course everything can just be torpedoed by the fact that Google allows app developers to choose on which AndroidTV platforms to publish the app. So this can (and is already!) devolve into "Phillips TVs can install HBO app, Sonys get Amazon apps, Nexus and ShieldTV get nothing and Chromecast support doesn't work for anything but YouTube."
I'd love to have something for Live Channels other than Pluto TV.
It really needs a browser. Not the greatest experience, sure but something is better than nothing. I want to read my instapaper articles and the like.
It really needs ways to share and subscribe to content from the TV itself, it sort of annoying that you have to use a phone/tablet/pc for all that stuff, if I find a cool Youtube video through a suggestion - why the hell can't i subscribe to that channel on my TV.
Play Music frequently says it "Can't play this song" or just stops playing randomly.
I wish the Recommendations were informed by Google Now or something - that frequently shows me things I like and have never seen before. That idea with integrating with Netflix is a great one too, I wondered why it didn't do that.
I've bought and downloaded far too many apps that are marked as compatible for TVs and then they aren't actually. I know google has a very open app submission process but maybe it needs to be less open on a restricted platform like a TV.
A way to view my effing wishlist in the Store! You can add things, but not look at it later?!
Voice Search is largely broken.
Allen Chang, Android TV’s lead product manager, said Google is trying to improve how it ranks recommendations, so content at the front of the queue comes from apps you’re most likely to use. The first of these improvements should come in an update in the next couple of weeks. “The way we determine what ‘most relevant’ means is something we’re working quite a lot on,” he said.
I hope they fix the black level problem in time for that update as well. That's fairly big 6.0.1 update news as well.
Just give me a Twitch.TV app for my Nvidia Shield TV
In terms of features, Google Play Music’s Android TV app is far behind its mobile counterparts, lacking the free Internet radio stations that debuted last June.
Well, they are there, just in the Songza app. And no commercials there :)
Live Channels X10
Live Channels is the killer app for the platform, but this doesn't excuse Google for the slow adoption rate. They should be encouraging, or even incentiving big content developers to adopt this into their AndroidTV apps. Yes SlingTV would be a major win, but they want to keep users within their service, so it might be tough. The Android TV team should be building an ecosystem around Live Channels by going after streaming news and sports.
Helping NVIDIA push Marshmallow out ASAP should be another priority.