Android TV with a new UI could be rebranded as Google TV

XDA

A new version of Android TV may be coming, and it could be called Google TV

By Tushar Mehta

Published May 7, 2020

Google may be working an content-focussed Android TV user interface with an upcoming TV streaming device and could rebard the platform as Google TV.

The market for Android TV Box is pretty erratic and confusing. Since the Nexus Player, Google's efforts have been devoted to either making Chromecast dongles or enabling other OEMs to create their own smart TVs portfolio with devices running on the Android TV platform. Google, however, has been working on a 4K Android TV dongle for quite some time and even announced a new streaming device called ADT-3 for developers along with Android TV 10 in late 2019. Now, a recent report suggests that Google is working on a new streaming device actually available for consumers and running on the Android TV platform. Meanwhile, another suggests the platform could also be rebranded to Google TV.

The upcoming version of Android TV might come with significant improvements to the UI, lower hardware requirements, and more emphasis on movies and shows instead of apps. This content-focused approach is to ensure that the rumored streaming device can stand the competition from the likes of Amazon Fire Stick and Roku. Several of Protocol's sources confirmed these changes while one suggested that the upcoming device might be listed under the Nest brand, which is also owned by Google.

Protocol reports that Google is mulling the exact branding for the upcoming Android TV device and the addition to the Nest portfolio is quite possible. Meanwhile, 9to5Google also floats the idea of Google dropping the Android branding from Android TV and renaming it to Google TV. This is supported by a similar name change that a horde of other services such as Android Pay (now Google Pay), Android Wear (now Wear OS), Android Messages (now Messages) have gone through.

While Google I/O 2020 could have been the perfect platform to introduce the purported product, the conference had to be canceled due to COVID-19. Instead of an on-ground event, Google will be hosting an online event in June to announce the Android 11 Beta 1 but we can't say for sure if this TV box would be announced then. While it's natural to link the TV remote that passed through FCC back in March with this device, that remote might be for another telecommunication hardware (perhaps a video conferencing equipment) that Google is building.