The development of Android 12 for Smart TVs proceeds: here are all the new features of beta 3 for content, interface and user privacy.
Giuseppe Croce Journalist
Peppe Croce, journalist since 2008, deals with electronic devices and new technologies applied to the automotive world. He joined Libero Tecnologia in 2018.
On May 18, Google announced Android 12, the latest version of its operating system for mobile devices. Since then, there have been three different public betas, the latest of which was unveiled yesterday. Android 12 will also arrive on Smart TVs equipped with Google's operating system, of which there are many.
The beta 3 of Android for TVs brings with it several new features for content playback, interface and privacy management. Google's OS, in fact, brings to Smart TVs some new features already announced for smartphones and continues to update to keep up with the technology that TV manufacturers are developing. The final version of Android TV 12 will arrive in late summer and app developers are already working on betas to make their software compatible sooner rather than later. Here are the main new features that will be coming to Smart TVs thanks to Android 12.
Android TV 12: more video quality
A TV is primarily a tool for viewing multimedia content: movies, TV series, cartoons or even user-produced videos. All this content is made in different formats, with different frame rates, and modern TVs can change the refresh rate of the screen to make viewing more stable and less fatiguing for the viewer's eyes.
With Android TV 12 comes support for variable refresh rates, whether automatic or set by the user. The new operating system makes it easier for apps to read TV settings and allows the user to automatically set the best screen refresh rate based on the content being played.
Android TV 12: A new 4K interface
For several years now, the best TVs on the market have adopted 4K resolution, but Android TV still has an interface with a maximum resolution of 1080p. With Android 12, the UI resolution goes up to 4K and, in this way, the user will be able to better see the various available content boxes and apps from a distance.
The aesthetics of the interface also changes, which now features a gradient background to better detach the different layers from each other. Again, this is an innovation that improves the usability of the interface on very large screens, which users view from a fair distance.
Android TV 12: the new privacy
One of the most interesting new features of Android 12 for smartphones is a greater attention to user privacy. That attention will also come to TVs, thanks to the ability to disable the TV's microphone and camera altogether via a simple setting.
If the user leaves them on, however, the TV will show icons in the top right whenever an app (such as a video calling platform) accesses the camera or microphone. Then the user will be able to monitor the apps he or she installs, knowing right away if any app accesses the microphone and camera for no reason.
The same feature is coming to smartphones running Android 12 as well."