After the launch of Android 13 in August and its lite version Android 13 (Go edition) in October, it’s the turn of Android 13 for TVs. After several months of testing, Google confirms that “Android 13 for TV is now available”.
The company already has the Android TV OS 13 stable releasebut as usual, it is not yet available on any commercial devices and this version will surely take time to reach users. Android TV updates are much slowerA few weeks ago, Google updated its Chromecast with Google TV to Android 12.
Android 13 for TV, News
As is often the case with the release of new versions of Android, Google is focusing more on reporting API level news so that developers know the possibilities offered by the new version when developing their applications for televisions.
performance and quality
Android 13 for TVs helps developers deliver high-quality experiences to users on different types of devices with the following enhancements:
-
Improvements to the AudioManager API to allow developers to anticipate audio support with the active audio device so they can select the optimal format without starting playback.
-
Users can change the default resolution and refresh rate on compatible HDMI connected devices to provide a more reliable playback experience.
-
HDMI state changes now appear in the MediaSession lifecycle, allowing dongles and other HDMI devices to pause content and save power when they detect the user has changed the input source and no longer look at this HDMI.
Accessibility and entry controls
Android 13 also brings new features to make our TV more adaptable and accessible thanks to the following features:
-
Hardware mute switch states are reflected in system privacy controls.
-
Updated user controls for accessing the assistant microphone on the remote.
-
The InputDevice API now supports different keyboard layouts. Game developers may refer to keys by their physical location to support different physical keyboard layouts.
- A new Audio Descriptions API created in AccessibilityManager allows an application to find new system-wide audio description preference settings, helping developers to automatically provide audio descriptions based on a user’s preferences.
Since today Android 13 for TV It is only available for ADT-3 development device and Android TV emulator. Developers will be able to test this new version in the Google TV interface or in the standard Android TV interface to start adapting their applications.
It’s unclear when Android 13 TV will come to the first TVs and Chromecast with Google TV. As I said at the start, Android TV updates reach devices at a different rate, and not all versions eventually reach TVs. For example, the Chromecast with Google TV skipped Android 11 because it was a version that brought almost no significant changes.
Through | Google
