Google TV explores fitness, smart home control, and other new features for 2022,, Rob Caruso, director of product management at Google TV, explained the company's plans for a TV operating system in 2022 in a new interview with Protocol. Although Caruso declined to announce any specific features, he said the company is interested in offering video conferencing and fitness services, including Google TV and better smart home controls.
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| Google TV explores fitness, smart home control, and other new features for 2022 |
Caruso described fitness as a "big area of exploration" and cited recent changes to Android smart home control (which, for example, made it easier to access from the phone's power menu) as evidence of what could happen on Google TV. Citing Zoom as a potential addition to the platform (Google's Duo video calling service is already available), he said Google is also interested in expanding the amount of free live programming available on its platform.
Apple and Amazon have added similar features to their Smart TVs
Caruso spoke to Netflix about the situation on Google TV. Although the video streaming service is supported on the Google platform, it does not use some of its advanced features. The protocol indicates that Netflix shows cannot be added to the Google TV watch list at the operating system level, for example. Caruso doesn't promise that this will change, but he hopes the situation will improve as Google introduces successful new features for its operating system.
Although the Google TV operating system does not usually get as much attention as the Android mobile operating system, it is used by millions of devices around the world. As of this month, Google says about 110 million Android TV devices are in use worldwide, and seven of the top 10 smart TV manufacturers are using their software. It includes both Android TV devices, as well as devices running on the new Google TV player.
The areas of focus are similar to those on competing smart TV platforms from Apple and Amazon. Apple's Fitness Plus service lets you stream workouts to your Apple TV, and Zoom is available on some Amazon TVs. But with the massive spread of the Google TV operating system, it would be nice to see it in sync with these other services.
No release date has been set for any of these new features, but Caruso said he expects to release some "later this year."
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