Android TV 13 with quality-of-life improvements now official

Android TV 13 is now official and it comes with a myriad of quality-of-life improvements. Just don't expect it for your TVs just yet.

Android TV 13 now official

Android TV 13 comes with adjustable resolution, refresh rate, and more!

File photo: realme Smart TV

Since Android TV updates typically occur more slowly and in smaller increments than standard Android updates, this milestone serves more as a test for developers than anything else. To compare, Chromecast devices have only recently been updated to Android TV 12.

Since the majority of the new additions to Android TV 13 are backend ones aimed at developers, it's unlikely that you would notice any significant changes even if you were to receive the update today. The UI was not overhauled at all, for instance.

Android 13 TV, at least on select HDMI source devices, now allows user-adjustable resolution and refresh rates. With the addition of techniques allowing the device to pause playback if the HDMI signal changes to something new, power saving has also been improved. Anticipatory audio routes are now supported by the AudioManager APIs for the supported audio formats and speaker groups.

With Android TV 13's new Keyboard Layouts API, users can choose from a variety of language layouts for external keyboards. Additionally, some modifications to keyboard and controller button mapping are made specifically for use by game developers.

Additionally, both privacy and accessibility have been improved. There are new user controls for how the Assistant software can use the microphone, and the system privacy controls now take into account the hardware mute switch statuses when they are available.

What do you guys think?

Source: Google