Google announced the release of the latest version of the Android TV system – Android 13 for TV. The latest version brings further improvements in performance and accessibility to help developers build attractive apps for next-generation TVs.
Here’s what’s new in Android 13 for TV
Media and power
- Anticipated audio routing lets apps identify the device being routed and the supported formats before creating AudioTrack.
- Users can control preferred resolution and refresh rate on supported HDMI source devices
- Improved power management for low-power standby
Input Control and Auxiliary
- Hardware mute switch status reflected in system privacy controls
- Updated user controls for assistant microphone access on remote controls
- Global preferences for enabling audio description across applications
- New keyboard layout API allows the selection of different language layouts for external keyboards
HDMI and Tuner
- Better handling of HDMI status changes on HDMI source devices
- Improved language selection for HDMI source devices
- Tuner HAL 2.0 with performance optimization, dual tuner and ISDB-T multi-layer support
- Framework for interactive TV use cases as an extension to TIF
Here are some of the new development aspects of Android 13 for TV.
Performance and Quality
Android 13 brings new APIs to the big screen that helps developers deliver a high-quality experience to users across device types.
- Improvements to the AudioManager API enable developers to predict audio attribute support for active audio devices and select the best format without starting playback.
- Users can now change the default resolution and refresh rate on supported HDMI source devices for a more reliable playback experience.
- HDMI state changes now surface in the MediaSession lifecycle, allowing TV sticks and other HDMI source devices to save power and pause content in response to changes in HDMI state.
Accessibility and input control
Android 13 brings new features that make interaction with the TV more adaptable.
- The InputDevice API now supports different keyboard layouts. Game developers can also reference keys by physical location to support different layouts of the physical keyboard.
- A newly created Audio Description API in AccessibilityManager allows applications to query the new system-wide audio description preferences, helping developers to automatically provide audio descriptions that match user preferences.
Check out the Android TV OS developer site for more details on the features that come with Android 13 on TV. The new version is now available for ADT-3 and Android TV simulators, and developers can choose to test it on either the Google TV interface or the standard Android TV interface.
