AndroidHdtv
Latest
Google TV set to launch this year, Samsung considering Android for its TVs
As you're probably well aware, the Wintermute-like intelligence known as Google has designs on your television. Not only is Samsung contemplating Android for its sets, but Eric Schmidt has stated that its Google TV service is on track for launch this autumn (as a beta, undoubtedly). Finally, Maps on your plasma! Unfortunately Samsung's plans are far less certain, with company President Yoon Boo Keun offering little more than a "[w]e will have to see, but we are reviewing," when asked whether the OS will make a suitable platform for couch potatoes the world o'er. According to Yoon, about half of the company's 3-D TVs rock web browsers, a figure that will only increase over the next couple years. We only hope that if they do go with Android, the implementation is better than that of some of their handsets.
Smartroi Android powered TV is officially headed to Korea
Remember our slight skepticism in April over reports that South Korean manufacturer GPNC would soon be releasing TVs running Android 1.5? Well it seems our clairvoyant powers that day were on the fritz, since the company has now officially announced the launch of an Google-powered TV dubbed Smartroi. Other hard details on the unit are predictably slim, but GPNC has confirmed that the TV will be sold in Korea and sport a 42-inch Full HD LED backlit screen, a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio, a 500cd/m² brightness, and USB connectivity. There's no verification on what version of Android will ship with the unit, but support for OS upgrades in the future has been hinted. Not satisfied with those measly tidbits? Neither are we, but considering Google still labels GPNC's site as suspected of malware, we're content to just keep letting updates flow to us.
GPNC Korea announces the first me-too Android HDTV
Anyone opposed to another Android packing TV announced by a foreign manufacturer of questionable validity? We figured you weren't, so say hello to GPNC Korea's television running Android 1.5 on a 833 Mhz ARM Cortex A8 chip. While it's claiming NTSC and ATSC support among other broadcast standards, the USA doesn't appear to have made the cut for availability, with 10 different countries including Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Poland, Australia and Dubai. Practically identical to People of Lava's effort, it is slated for 42-, 47- and 55-inch LED-backlit versions with no real price or date, and even this promo pic looks very familiar. GPNC managed to keep the screen clear of error messages this time, but its website is flagged by Google as "dangerous" so we'd probably wait for something more official before making any attempts to preorder. At this rate, these TVs will be as ubiquitous as Android/ARM tablets before long -- let's hope Sony and Intel spill the details on those Google TV plans sooner rather than later.
