Google reportedly working on minimum requirements for Android TV

Google’s Android TV platform has quietly become a popular player, apparently used by “tens of millions” of people. Now, the company has reportedly revealed that it’s working on a set of minimum requirements for hardware.

Shalini Govil-Pai, senior director of product management for Android TV, told Cord Cutters News that Google wants to set hardware standards that manufacturers have to live up to. The executive clarified that the company wasn’t abandoning the lower end price bracket, however.

Govil-Pai didn’t reveal any suggested minimum specs, but we’ve seen several budget Android TV boxes with a quad-core Cortex-A53 chipset, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of expandable storage (such as the Mi Box 4C). Fingers crossed that Google maintains these specs at the very least, as anything less than this seems like a recipe for a disappointing experience.

The executive also revealed that Google has formed a team to bring new and popular apps to Android TV. Hopefully this means we see plenty of quality apps and games hit the platform in 2019, rather than shovelware.

Between these minimum requirements and a drive to bring more apps to the platform, it certainly looks like Google is trying to give Android TV the attention it deserves. Now, about pushing manufacturers to deliver timely system updates and security patches…

We’ve contacted Google for more information on minimum specs, and will update the story accordingly if/when we receive a response.

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