Newsletter
Google launched the first beta for Android 12 today at Google I/O. Which is for smartphones, but the beta is also available for Android TV.
But there’s some bad news there, you probably won’t be able to try it.
Google is rolling out Android 12 Beta 1 for the ADT-3 device only. That is their developer Android TV set-top box, that not just anyone can buy. Only developers are able to buy it. So it won’t be as widely available as Android 12 on the Pixel devices, unfortunately.
You can watch the “What’s new in Android TV” session here.
What does Android 12 bring to Android TV?
Android 12 brings a few new features to Android TV. As part of the “Better Together” theme from Android 12, there is the new remote control experience. Which will allow you to control your TV from your phone. This isn’t really that new, but it is more tightly integrated now with Android 12.
There’s also Cast Connect with Stream Transfer and Stream Expansion. Cast Connect allows users to Cast from their Android device to Android TV. While Stream Transfer and Stream Expansion allows users to transfer media to other devices and play audio on multiple devices.
For developers, Google is also bringing some emulator updates to Android 12 on Android TV. This will help you better develop for the Android TV platform. The first Google TV emulator is available and running on Android 11. So you won’t even need to install the beta to get this feature. You can emulate Android 11 as well as Android TV on your device now. So you can develop for it all.
This is just the first beta, and it’s likely going to be pretty bumpy. So only install it if you are a developer and are looking to work on your apps and get them ready for Android 12. When it launches later this year.