Google TV emulator now on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux

The Google TV struggling to unite, has only a catalog of applications  very thin. Things should change, because the development has been greatly facilitated.

The Google TV is not a new project at Google, since the first products were released in October 2010 with two major manufacturers: Logitech and Sony. Unfortunately face a high price, performance, halftone, the public has not answered this. It must be said that the platform used only for Intel processor family, where Android was exclusively oriented ARM on smartphones and tablets.

At the Google I / O 2011, a reboot was held to launch the second generation of Google TV integrating the Play Store. Now based on Android 3.1 and ARM processors, the interface has been completely redesigned and partners are multiplied: LG, Vizio, Hisense and still Sony. In addition, Japanese is the first to have taken the plunge and propose its box  NSZ-GS7 Europe. Unfortunately the record is far from convincing, the fault system is still too young, consisting of some applications and multimedia support very light. A proof of this failure: the French company Archos prefers to use an interface pad for his TV Connect.

At CES 2013, we got to the third generation of Google TV. Changes are much less numerous, but the companies believe with headlining LG will leave the United States no less than seven televisions. Other partners are added, including Asus, Netgear or TCL. Among the new software, there is a new launcher, an impressive voice recognition  that allows you to search a video, open an application, display a string or even be able to answer queries such as "film taking place in Las Vegas with burglary casinos." TV & Movies The application is now renamed PrimeTime and improves comfort for access to content. Finally the YouTube app has been updated and can play a video from his or her smartphone tablet, as does the Nexus Q (for the few owners of the unit).

Unfortunately despite the third generation of the catalog of applications is still thin and competing operating systems (Samsung Smart TV being the most important) arrive to do better. One of the causes of this failure comes from the tools available to developers. While it is very easy to use emulator for smartphones and tablets, Google TV required to have a computer with Linux KVM.

Good news because the Google TV Add-on API Level 13 comes out and finally offers extensive support for Windows, Mac OS X. Need for KVM, but only Intel hardware acceleration (also available on the Android emulator standard). If you have an AMD processor, you will unfortunately still limited to the old method. This new version includes bug fixes, but also browser based on Chrome.

You can then begin to develop your applications. Some things to consider: a Google TV is not touch screen uses a wide , has no sensors like the accelerometer and digital compass, includes neither a camera nor a GPS or Bluetooth, or a microphone.

But if you want to make an application "universal", that is to say compatible smartphones and tablets, you should place your layouts folder layout-large-NoTouch and resources in drawable-land-tvdpi (for 720p ) or drawable-land-xhdpi (for 1080p).

It remains only to let the developers take ownership of the platform and give the necessary elements for its success.