So... my crappy Chinese TV has android... but thinks it is a phone.

by whisperedzen

I've been playing around with a crappy new "smart TV" . The thing comes with android but it seems that it thinks it is a phone and not a tv.
For example if I try to set up youtube in order to cast from my phone to it, the TV tries to be the one casting to another device. Is this a common issue? Is there any fix?
I don't mind rooting it or anything, and I can always just grab a chromecast... but I'm curious about tinkering with the thing and see if there is a way to make it work.
I tried to look for other people with this problem, I guess it is pretty common but couldn't find much about it, I guess I'm not looking in the right places.
Any help?

CaptZ_3148

Your TV basically has a ported version of Android for the phone instead of Android TV. It's the same as the cheap Android Boxes you see on ebay and it's why they are so cheap, they aren't paying for an Android TV license.

Unfortunately there isn't much you can do.

Just curious, what TV is it?

npaladin2000

It's a Crappy Chinese TV. Which is like a Crappy Chinese Box glued to a TV. It's not AndroidTV. Essentially, you got a Crappy Chinese Android Box and a TV all in one package, this is how they act. And this is why we use AndroidTV on this sub instead.

painyagami

Wait, you have a TV with Android on it but you want to cast from your phone to the TV?

The answer to your question is: why don't you just use YouTube on the TV?

andyjeezy

Download Smart YouTube from aptiode and it will fix your issue.