There is no doubt that Google has a major role to play in the Smart TV world. The company has released an Android TV OS which powers many of the Smart TVs that have come out from different manufacturers in recent times. It is a great OS which helps users to easily manage their content, and also lets them access the Google Assistant from their TV screens.
The New Shield TV Has a Price Drop
Nvidia’s Shield has become a cult favorite because it provides a high-performance home theater system with an integrated video game controller and a lot of 4K streaming support. Now, a new version of the device is getting a price drop that makes it more affordable for consumers to buy – and, in doing so, Nvidia has done some important upgrades to the hardware.
The new device runs on the latest version of Nvidia’s Tegra X1+ chip, and it’s been designed with AI upscaling in mind. This is a key feature to help the device handle the often un-upscaled content that comes from streaming media sources like YouTube, which can cause your display to look a little less sharp than you’d expect it to be.
In addition to the upscaling, Nvidia has improved the controller’s touchscreen interface, which is now much thinner and lighter than it was before, and has added an ambient microphone that can be used to control the Assistant without requiring you to press any buttons or do anything other than say “OK Google”. The remote itself has been updated with a new design and a smaller profile, and it’s bundled with a joypad for the first time.
Nvidia has also updated the Android TV app, and the new version of the Shield includes a new Amazon Video app that allows users to stream the service’s Prime video library. It’s an important update for those who have a Prime account, and one that will certainly be of interest to cord cutters who want to get access to the full range of Prime content.
There’s more news on the way from Nvidia for Shield, including a software upgrade that will improve the Android TV experience even further and an upcoming 4K version of the device that will include an integrated gaming controller. We’ll be keeping an eye out for both of these developments as we continue to test the device.
Google TV 2.0 Feels a lot Like Honeycomb Tabs
The new Google Shield TV platform was rolled out at I/O this year, and it is a big step forward for the company’s efforts to bring its Android operating system to televisions. It has a lean-back interface that puts the emphasis on content, apps and games instead of bloated interfaces and a vast amount of onboard software.
Compared to the previous version of Google TV, this is a significant improvement in terms of how well the interface performs on older hardware, and it will definitely appeal to anyone with an old Sony Internet TV Blu-ray player or a TV that supports upscaling. The new version of the system also runs much smoother, and is designed to run on newer chipsets which should come out in the next couple of years.
