- The Google TV Streamer ships with the latest version of Android built for TVs: Android 14 for TVs.
- The latest version of Android TV brings some new accessibility features, noteworthy performance improvements, picture-in-picture mode support for Google TV, and more.
- It’s unclear when (or even if) the existing Chromecasts will receive an update to Android 14 for TV.
Earlier this week, Google laid to rest one of its most iconic brands, the Chromecast, and in its place launched the first of what might be a series of Google TV streaming boxes: the Google TV Streamer. The Google TV Streamer is a sleek, pill-shaped set-top box that’s double the price of the Chromecast it’s replacing, but in exchange, it has a beefier processor, smart home features, Google AI integration, and the latest Google TV features. Although Google didn’t specify what version of Google TV its TV Streamer is running, Android Authority has seen evidence that, unsurprisingly, it runs the latest version, which is based on Android 14 for TV.
Android 14 for TV, also called Android TV 14 by many, is a special version of Android 14 that’s optimized for TVs. It was officially announced at Google I/O earlier this year, where it was revealed that the update brings improvements to power efficiency, accessibility, performance, multitasking, remote control, and networking. Although the new OS was unveiled at I/O, there weren’t any devices that could run the new version, not even as a beta. Instead, Google only provided developers with an image they could run through the emulator in Android Studio. Soon, though, developers will be able to test their apps on real hardware thanks to the Google TV Streamer, which appears to run Android 14 for TV out of the box.