What is an Android box exactly?

by ArtistKS

I have been hearing about them for a long time but have never understood exactly what they do. Is it basically like an android phone connected to a tv via hdmi? Or does it have a different layout? Can someone explain this and also what some good affordable android boxes would be?

robotir

AndroidTV is made by Google and is a specific variant of the Android operating system. It's only allowed to be installed on certified hardware. The benefit is that you get and interface that works with a remote control. Also, certified apps also have a remote control based interface.

An Android box has regular Android in it with an HDMI out. You can use it with a mouse, touchscreen, or try to find a remote control interface. The apps have regular touchscreen based interfaces on them.

monkeyismine

Check the sticky at the top of this sub.

npaladin2000

There's three types of Android devices that connect to TVs.

  • One is FireTV, which runs Amazon's de-Googlefied build of Android called FireOS. We hate that, because we're generally Google fans here. ;)
  • Second is straight Android, ususally optimized for tablets, and stuffed into a small box (usually of cheap Chinese manufacture) and including an AirMouse, because that's the only way to actually make it work right: it's not optimized to work with a 5-way remote.
  • Third is AndroidTV, which is a version of Android running the Google LeanBack Launcher, and with apps sporting an interface optimized to be viewed at TV distances and operated with a 5 way remote control.Google has a spec for this but not all apps stick to it.

When we refer to AndroidTV, we're referring to the third item. But there's some people who insist on referring to the second item as "Android TV" in order to confuse things, particularly for end users who don't know the difference but might be suckered into spending for one of them. There aren't a lot of actual AndroidTV devices out there: the MeCool M8S Pro L and W, the Xiaomi MiBox, the NVIDIA SHIELD, and a few TVs from Sony with it built in. Pretty much all of the rest, if they say "Android TV" they mean " Android ^(that attaches to your) TV"

NedSc

It's a cheeseburger , man.