The next version of the Android operating system has begun rolling out to Android TV and Google TV developers, according to a developer note released this week.
The new version, Android 13, has been available to those with an ADT-4 compatible developer dongle or streaming TV gadget since February 1. The deployment was first noticed by Ben Schoon to tech publication 9to5Google on Tuesday.
Many supported devices are currently running Android 12, the previous generation of the Android TV operating system. The differences between Android 12 and Android 13 are marginal for the TV space: both offer access to the next-gen Google TV UI, which brings together streaming TV apps and recommended movies and TV shows from Android. a single screen.
According to the Android Developer’s Note released last week, Android 13 only brings a handful of improvements over the previous generation, most of which affect the behind-the-scenes operation of a device and won’t be readily apparent to users. streaming TV users.
These improvements include updated audio tracks and codecs supported by Android 13; the ability to set preferred resolution and refresh rates on supported HDMI devices like the Chromecast with Google TV; updated controls for Google Assistant microphone on streaming TV remotes; new keyboard layouts and better handling of changes affecting HDMI inputs on some TVs.
Although the transition from Android 12 to Android 13 does not bring a significant amount of new UI changes, users should still upgrade when prompted, as new versions of the operating system Android tend to fix known bugs and provide much needed security updates.
Google hasn’t released a timeline for when Android 13 will be ready for consumer devices, but the update could land on Chromecast along with Google TV, TiVo Stream 4K, Nvidia Shield and similar devices in the next few years. month.
