This set top box will be less ambitious and easier to use than one of the company’s previous initiatives, Google TV. In the words of Google documents that The Verge said it has obtained, “Android TV is an entertainment interface, not a computing platform.” The idea is to give users a simple interface for accessing entertainment content and lightweight apps.
The most distinctive feature, it seems, is a recommendation system that will suggest content to users as soon as they turn the device on.
There are no details about a launch date, but the documents suggest that Google is currently recruiting developers to build apps for Android TV. These plans shouldn’t affect Google Chromecast, another of the company’s efforts to build a TV platform.
The news comes just a few days after Amazon launched its own device, the Fire TV.