Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Support location services, USB, and Wi-Fi on the hardware side.
Support OpenGL for Java including GLES 2.0 for hardware accelerated
gaming.
On the other hand, GTV did
not
Support touch screens.
Support the native development kit (NDK). This makes it difficult for
native game development, although not impossible as you'll
see later on.
Support hardware including Bluetooth, camera, GPS, microphone,
near field communications (NFC), and telephony.
Now, let's talk about the future of TV and Android.
Android TV: The Future
After the first Google TV experiment done in 2010 by Google together with Intel, Sony and
Logitech, finally the new Android TV was launched. It had to compete with Apple TV and
Amazon TV, which were also launched in the new market of hi-tech TV.
The most important characteristic of Android TV is the simplicity. This means basically two
things. The first is that Google wants to make sure that the experience for the user to find
interesting content will be as simple as possible suggesting TV programs based on the
user's interests. Secondly, for Google, the simplicity of Android TV means the possibility to
utilize other Android devices like smartphones, tablets and Wear to easily connect to the
Android TV.
Finally, simplicity means that Android TV can be used with a lot of apps as well as allowing
you to play Android games using it.
One of the most important features of Android TV is this gaming aspect, since it is fully
integrated with the Google Play Games platform.
Here are some of the most important Android TV features:
Familiar platform: apps used for Android TV utilize the same
development platform used to develop other Android apps
Simplicity: Simple to use and find content of interest
Built-in voice search: Google's voice recognition technology can be
used to send voice commands to Android TV
TV control using Android phone and tablet: Android TV apps allow
Android smartphones and tablets to be used as remote controls for
Android TV
Gaming: Android TV can be used to play Android games
Mirroring: Android TV allows us to mirror Android smartphones and
tablets
