Everything runs on software in one way or another these days and in many cases, it makes life better. Remember when you could only watch what a station decided to show at that time, or at the most, only what you could find on DVDs? Streaming services and other digital platforms have provided more choices.
With the advent of smart TVs, there’s a lot more freedom, but it does come with more involvement on the software side of things. Updates on platforms like Android TV bring new features and stability, but they already come slow enough. The worst part is, it’s rumored that “slow enough” will only get slower.
Google Is Planning To Update Android TV Every Two Years
If you have a TV or streaming device that runs on Android TV, you might have noticed that updates for the platform hardly come regularly. With our smartphones, we’re used to seeing updates about every month (if you have a newer device), and even with my Windows laptop, I think I get updates at roughly the same pace. That explains why we sometimes expect similar from our smart TVs.
Well, in case the current state of software updates for Android TV wasn’t annoying enough, it is rumored that Google plans to slow things down even further. A source known to Android Authority says that Google might be planning to switch to a release every two years. That’s certainly not good news for Android TV enthusiasts in the world.
What this means is that if you were expecting to see Android TV 15, that might not happen and you’ll need to stick with Android TV 14 for a lot longer. Google might skip it and save its energy for Android TV 16 which will be based on Android 16. Fortunately, the latter is coming out earlier than expected next year, so that could potentially mean not waiting too long for the new edition of Android TV.
I Can Understand The Reasoning, But It Is Still Annoying
Look, we use our TVs a lot differently from the way that we use our smartphones. Smartphones get daily use for all sorts of things from browsing the internet, to playing games, to taking pictures, and so on. TVs are mainly used for watching movies and TV shows—though I acknowledge you can play games, listen to music, and browse the internet with them.
The idea is that the use case of a TV is very different and most people are fine with having the same TV for several years at a stretch. The same can’t be said for smartphones though. TVs can work fine without a single update in 10 years—we’ve been there after all—so the idea is that the software is simply less important to the consumer, as long as it works well in the first place.
To be honest, I don’t think this should serve as a dealbreaker. If you’re already loyal to Android TV, it’s not monumental enough to chase you over to Tizen OS or webOS. But hey, maybe you think differently. Let me know in the comments below.
