Android TV Coming to Google I/O in June; Pano & Gaming to be Its Secret Weapons

[dgstorm]

According to the latest insider gossip, Android TV will headline at Google I/O this June. While we have actually heard rumblings of this previously, the big news for today is the extra intel of what Google plans to bring to the tablet to differentiate Android TV from other products (including their own Google TV).

From what the source of this report indicated, Google's secret weapons for Android TV will be an additional focus on gaming as well as something called project Pano. Here's a quote with more of the details,

Android TV’s secret weapon: Pano

Android TV’s key focus will be on simplicity, which will be reflected in the user interface. Key to that is something the company has internally been calling Pano. The idea behind Pano is that apps can surface individual pieces of content right on the home screen in a card-like fashion so that users can browse movies, TV shows and other types of media as soon as they turn on an Android TV.

Content will be presented in a series of cards that can be browsed horizontally, and each movie or TV show episode has deep links into publisher’s apps, giving users the option to start playback right away. That’s different from the traditional smart TV experience, where users generally first have to launch an app from a publisher, and then browse that apps catalog before they can play a title.

Supposedly, along with Pano, Android TV's UI will emphasize gaming, similar to what Amazon's Fire TV has done. What do you guys think? Could Android TV crack the code and do a better job of enticing consumers than Google TV and Apple TV? If this report is accurate, then Google is betting on that possibility.

Source: GigaOM

 

[pc747]

Look forward to seeing what all actually come out of google i/o. Think it has gone from a convention mainly for coders and developers into branching out to be like another CES.