New Google TV interface

by rgr1988
NISHITH_8800

Unpopular opinion, but this TV ui looks so good and modern. I hate opening individual apps and want all content in one place. Also recommending me movies/shows is great beacuse google knows my preference, means It won't take much time to decide what to watch. Now I hope my watchlist from Google searches get synchronised with my TV watchlist.

zhiryst

damn "staff picks"/ads even larger and centered in the new UI. Gross.

gwrapps

Not sure why everyone thinks that just because there is recommended content on the screen, it is automatically a copy of FireTV. There are a million things that annoy me with the FireTV interface

  • 99% of their recommended content is Prime stuff. I subscribe to dozens of services, I don't want my device to heavily favor their own content. I have to scroll thru 6 rows of Prime, IMDB, and Sponsored content to get to anything else.
  • The "Recent" row, top row of icons on Fire...I just don't get it. its a mix of both apps and content. The Netflix icon is usually in the first spot since I watch a lot of Netflix shows...which is a duplicate of the 2nd row, just a waste of space
  • I don't need to see ads for FireTV hardware on my screen. If i'm already using your FireTV, don't try to shove your Recast TV on me at the same time.
  • The LiveTV tab sucks. Show me a guide without 15 button clicks. Show me rows of content that I subscribe to BEFORE a row of Prime channels you want me to subscribe to like Showtime.
  • The Apps tab is all features apps...not MY apps.

The list goes on and on. At least with This Google TV I see improvement. Yes one row of featured content but a row that pulls content from all my services, not just Prime. From the leaks, I expect the Live tab to show a guide, especially if you have YTTV.

I give this interface the benefit of the doubt until I can play with it.

raptir1

This is a carbon copy of the Fire TV interface, except they're sticking "top picks" in addition to the big banner between you and your apps. If the top picks are drawn from your recents then okay, otherwise it's just another layer of ads. Very unfortunate.

elister

Honestly, it reminds me of the Fire TV interface. Designing UI must be hard for google employees.

https://brain-images-ssl.cdn.dixons.com/9/8/10195289/u_10195289.jpg

VNVRTL

So Is this rebranding of Android TV or they created yet another OS for tv? Will current Android TV devices get this Google TV or this is just another confusion?

raptir1
ClearlyNoSTDs

Yep. It seems like a copy of the Fire TV UI which seems to not be popular on reddit but it is simple and just works. I also have no issues with the current Android TV UI on my Shield. I don't spend a whole lotta time just staring at the home page on either device so it's all a big "meh" from me.

venky61

So it took so long for Google to replicate Fire Stick's Interface... Great.

akisnet

Google doesn't respect anything, we are accustomed with Android TV 6 UI they change after 2 years, we make it work they changed it again after 2 years on Android TV 8.0.

Users aren't experiments or geeks want "change" and "revolutionary" UI every year.

cybergrimes

Does this mean my circa 2010 Google TV is getting updated?? jk jk, that hope died 8 years ago ;/

NashGuy73

Disappointed to see that the UI in the main "For You" tab changed a bit from the original screenshot leaks. Originally, the top row of content titles (underneath the carousel of 4-5 featured titles) was "Play next," suggesting it was a universal cross-app watchlist, basically the same thing that Android TV has now but that isn't very well supported among major apps. The original article from Protocol back in the spring that broke the story about this device said Google was working with apps to get more support for the more content-centric new UI it would have and it specifically talked about the Play next watchlist.

But the new screenshots today show that instead of "Play next," there's "Top picks," which just looks like more sponsored content, like what appears in the top carousel. Who knows, maybe "Top picks" are actually personalized suggestions pulled only from your currently installed apps, which would make it useful. I had always assumed that one or more rows of such picks would exist further down on the "For You" tab. But having an actual functioning universal watchlist -- like the Apple TV has in their TV app -- would've been a killer feature.

jamescridland

I do hope that all the US leaks I’m seeing doesn’t mean that it’s a US-only device. That would suck.

nascentt

Such a shockingly blatant copy of the Amazon Fire ui. I can't believe they copied it so exactly.

z0l1

it would be ok if that was continue watching or watch next, but that will probably just be ads so fuck off Google

fritzo81

yeah, im gonna try this. I did not like the AndroidTV ui when I had a Shield, switched to AppleTV. That remote looks so much better than Apple's.

El_Burrito_Grande

I don't care. They all suck. I don't understand the current Android TB home screen. It has all this recommended stuff but it's a big tease you piss you off. You see content you want to watch but before you can navigate to it, it refreshes and disappears. I don't get it.

tb21666

If I wanted a garbage FireTV layout I would've bought one of those lame sticks..?

MSmithRD

Please don't deploy this to the Shield....

Somebody call Sergey. He can fix this.

pabl083

When does the new device come out?

QuasarMonsanto

Is "For You" never not just spon-con?