Someone cue the trumpets! The first Android TVs have entered the market, and they are glorious!
The Android-based smart TV systems have finally arrived, and the first batch are being bought to the market by none other than Phillips. Whats more, are introducing the platform on more than one TV range. Android software is being built into three new 4K/UHD ranges: the 7900s, the 8900s and the 9100s.
Many of the Android features have been added to Philips existing Smart TV platform rather than replacing it, in recognition of the fact that the versions of some apps (like Skype) developed specifically for TVs work better than the standard Android versions.
Early impressions have been positive. This TV isn’t just a copy of the Android software found on your phone or tablet; however, if you’re expecting to enjoy the plethora of apps found on the Play Store, you’ll be disappointed. At the moment, the numbers of apps supported on the TV are around 200.
OnLive, meanwhile, streams console-quality games live to your TV (so long as your internet is fast enough) and sports a catalogue of around 200 titles available at the time of writing.
The new TVs don’t carry much in the way of built-in memory, coming in at just under two GB. Thankfully you can expand this memory to 64GB by adding USB drives.
For now, these TVs are scheduled for release in Europe and Russia. But a US release wouldn’t be far-fetched at all.
So how much would you spent on an Android TV? or is your console good enough? Let us know.