It seems that the march to renew Android TV continues, with the launch of the first preview of Android TV 12 this week. And while Google’s release notes so far leave a lot to the imagination, there is mention of a “new Google TV experience”, which may suggest that the UI adjustments we first saw on the 2020 Chromecast with Google TV may be reaching more smart TV platforms the future.
The aptly named “Android 12 Developer Preview 1” was released on February 18 for those using the ADT-3 Developer kit, a streaming device intended for developers to test their software for compatibility with the latest version of Android TV.
In addition to the mention of a Google TV interface, 9to5Google suspects that the update may also bring some feature enhancements, including support for high-efficiency video encoding (HEVC) and multichannel audio. The site also points out that the most significant aspect of this release may be the fact that it will be released around the same time as the first previous version of Android 12 on mobile devices. Android TV updates generally follow updates to the smartphone and tablet operating system for months or more, so a same-day release of this preview may suggest a more synchronized release schedule for the future.
Philip Palermo