There are two truly spectacular systems for our televisions: Android TV and Google TV. The reason is that they bring Android to our televisions and that means we have a SmarTV with practically unlimited possibilities. This has recently prompted me to tinker with the system a bit more, installing apps that aren’t officially available – like Chrome – or configuring Kodi.
When you’re doing more than watching streaming apps, the remote isn’t enough, so I connected a keyboard and mouse to the TV. This changed my experience with Android TV because it makes the system more versatile, but it also greatly improves the search for movies or music.
The keyboard + mouse combo still essential on Android TV
There are few things that make me lazier than using a virtual keyboard on a TV. They’re slow, sometimes they don’t respond well, and sometimes when you move between keys, special characters accidentally appear and you press where they shouldn’t.
An excellent solution is to use the Google Home application on your mobile phone as a virtual keyboard, but the truth is that it is something that does not convince me. The reason is that when I search for content on the TV, I may not have my phone nearby and, what’s more, if I have my phone… it will always be easier to open the application I want on it and send what I want. I want to view via Chromecast.
However, A few months ago I decided to get an old travel keyboard from Microsoft with an extremely compact size. Since it has Bluetooth, I connected it to Android TV and the experience changed dramatically. If you don’t have one at home, there are plenty of compact keyboards on Amazon, many of which are foldable.
You don’t have to do anything strange to connect a mouse or keyboard to an Android TV or Google TV, just go to “Settings” and look for the “Accessories” tab (which has the icon Bluetooth to make everything easier) and, when the TV finds the keyboard and mouse in pairing mode, click “Pair”.
At this time, both devices work as if they were a remote control, so you can control the entire system with them much more precisely than with the remote control. The mouse is intended for a more specific use which I will tell you about later, but the keyboard is something I use almost every day.
I am a user who does not consume television. It’s something I don’t like and, For several years, I have made YouTube my television. I have a very well trained algorithm, but sometimes I’m looking for very specific things with many characters and it’s a pain to use the controller for that. Also, it seems to me that the virtual keyboard is not as complete as it should be.
That’s why when I need to search for something on YouTube on my Android TV, I pull the keyboard out of the drawer next to the couch and… type. Don’t think I only use the keyboard for this.
Recently, and with the whole issue of the TNT outage, I configured the system so that thousands of channels from all over the world are available via IPTV. I already say that I do not consume conventional television, but on rare occasions there is a program that interests me and, in addition, I now have access to public television from any country in the world.
When you need to configure more complex applications like Kodi, where you have to use the search bar a lot to enter names and addresses, Android TV’s virtual keyboard is insufficient, and the experience can be frustrating. This is why using a Bluetooth keyboard is a great idea.
And another case, although much more extreme, is responding to a casual email. Android TV doesn’t have a Gmail app, but oddly enough it doesn’t have Chrome either. It’s somewhat curious because of the emphasis Google has placed on having its browser on all devices (paying millions to some companies), but there is a method to install Chrome on an Android TV.
With it you can now access any website (here the mouse is where it becomes indispensable, as I already mentioned) and, obviously, Gmail. To send an email if you don’t have your phone nearby or if you want a larger screen, using Gmail on TV can become a very interesting resource.
Bluetooth headphones have become essential on my Android TV
Now, while the keyboard has become indispensable on my Android TV, another device I recently set up is the wireless headset. I had an old pair at home that didn’t have sound cancellation, so they didn’t completely isolate me when I turned them on and those were the ones I connected to my TV.
This not only allows me to watch videos or series without disturbing anyone (imagine I want to watch a game or video and you have a person next to you who is with their cell phone and stuff, but not using the TV), but for more coins.
When I do things in the bedroom or in the kitchen, which are the rooms closest to the living room where I have the main TV connected to the headphones, I can move from one location to another without losing audio quality. If I have a video podcast or any video where I’m interested in the audio, but not so much the picture, it’s a spectacular resource.
The process to connect Bluetooth headphones to Android TV is the same as with the keyboard and the good news is that there are other peripherals that you can connect, like Xbox or PlayStation controllers to enjoy video games in the cloud, for example.
If you didn’t know that you could connect this type of device to an Android TV or Google TV, I hope this article was helpful to you.
Cover photo | José Antonio Carmona (Xataka Man)
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