The Mountain View company is releasing the latest version of its operating system for smart TVs. Improvements on the security front
After being presented only for Pixel smartphones, and then starting the slow but progressive spread on the devices of other manufacturers, Android 10 also arrives on smart TVs with the update of the Android TV operating system, just announced by Google.
Big G, in fact, has communicated on its blog for developers the integration of the new API level 29 in Android TV, that is, the same APIs present on the latest version of its mobile operating system. Many of the new features brought by Android 10 on smartphones then, are ready to pass also on televisions that, as Google itself explains, are still the most used screen by users to watch multimedia content. At the same time Google has also presented the ADT-3, a device that simulates a TV with Android TV 10, intended for developers of apps for smart TV.
Android TV 10: what's new
With Android 10 come on smart TVs also frequent updates of "Project Treble" (which actually was born with Android Oreo 8, but still had not been implemented in Android TV). Increased security also for TVs thanks to encrypted storage for user data and the implementation of TLS 1.3 protocol by default. In addition, Android 10 also includes other security enhancements to some areas of the platform. Also coming is peer-to-peer Wi-Fi and a thermal management system to prevent overheating. The latter is an API that, in theory, should be less useful on a TV than on a smartphone.
ADT-3
As Google knows very well, the success of an operating system depends mostly on the amount of apps available. That's why the ADT-3, a sort of dongle that allows developers to test their apps for Android 10 before the actual roll-out, is also on its way. And, most importantly, before TV manufacturers implement this operating system, which will take time.
The ADT-3, which will be sold in the coming months through an as-yet unspecified OEM partner, represents a big jump in power over the previous ADT-2: it has a quad-core A53 processor, flanked by 2GB of DDR3 RAM, and has a 4Kp60 HDMI 2.1 output. It is certified directly by Google and is already up to date with the latest security updates. This will allow developers to physically test how their apps run on Android TV "powered by" Android 10.