WHERE IS THE TV INTERFACE FOR OUR ANDROID PLAYERS??

[kenj66]

Android OS, up until version 5, was designed for phones and tablets. With the release of the Nexus Player and Android 5 I am assuming that the TV device has finally been properly supported. So, here I am waiting, waiting, waiting - for an upgrade to Android version 5 for my TV box and ............. NADA!!

Now, I see that Android 6 has been released or at least announced. Does Google care about TV devices? It sure doesn't seem like it.

And while I am on a tear - - The Google Asus Chromebit HDMI dongle was announced with great fanfare last April. The devices were said to be available later in the summer. Well, we just saw the September 29 release of new Nexus phones and such but - not a word said about the Chromebit. I don't want this device to go down the memory hole. It would be the ideal device for my 87 year old mother to use Gmail on her large screen living room TV.

Promises, promises.

Ken

[nanners]

This is what worried me about buying an android box, you're at the mercy of some unknown vendor that may or may not update your firmware. I've read that Minix isn't going to update the X8h+ beyond 4.x.x and give us their shitty XBMC. In which case stock XBMC won't be able to use the onboard HVEC decoder.

[kenj66]

The Android marketplace is really different than I have been used to. Kind of a "do-it-yourself" wilderness. Perhaps if I share some of my ideas maybe some young, gung-ho type will see an opportunity to develop what we really need for Android TV.

ANDROID TV LAUNCHER - minimum specs
Lock video in portrait mode (once Android knows it's a TV device it should never try to present touch options!)
All functions can be competently handled with a cheap remote
Android Settings must be easy to find and apply (most recently used could bubble to the top)
Icons and text labels must be plainly seen by great-grandma at fifteen feet!
Screens must be fully configurable so only most often used apps are shown (automatically, if set)
Each Internet browser shortcut MUST be assignable to an app icon! (most important, pay attention to this)
-More, later-
I think someone could even make some money, charging a couple bucks for a proper launcher.

[RISCy Dude]

The Android marketplace is really different than I have been used to. Kind of a "do-it-yourself" wilderness. Perhaps if I share some of my ideas maybe some young, gung-ho type will see an opportunity to develop what we really need for Android TV.

ANDROID TV LAUNCHER - minimum specs
Lock video in portrait mode (once Android knows it's a TV device it should never try to present touch options!)
All functions can be competently handled with a cheap remote
Android Settings must be easy to find and apply (most recently used could bubble to the top)
Icons and text labels must be plainly seen by great-grandma at fifteen feet!
Screens must be fully configurable so only most often used apps are shown (automatically, if set)
Each Internet browser shortcut MUST be assignable to an app icon! (most important, pay attention to this)
-More, later-
I think someone could even make some money, charging a couple bucks for a proper launcher.

While Simple TV Launcher is overly simple and it is almost entirely inflexible, it has some value. You can change the wallpaper/background, select one app for each tile and that's about it. Settings lower-right, apps upper-left, clock upper-right. No sneaky permissions.
BTW Some firmwares have a feature to disable screen rotation. Also @Settings/Display(and/or Accessibility) allows turning off auto-rotation, but I don't know if that will keep an app from changing the orientation. Seems I remember an app that will prevent this too.
Here's a screen of Simple TV Launcher...

[Javimetal]

The Android marketplace is really different than I have been used to. Kind of a "do-it-yourself" wilderness. Perhaps if I share some of my ideas maybe some young, gung-ho type will see an opportunity to develop what we really need for Android TV.

ANDROID TV LAUNCHER - minimum specs
Lock video in portrait mode (once Android knows it's a TV device it should never try to present touch options!)
All functions can be competently handled with a cheap remote
Android Settings must be easy to find and apply (most recently used could bubble to the top)
Icons and text labels must be plainly seen by great-grandma at fifteen feet!
Screens must be fully configurable so only most often used apps are shown (automatically, if set)
Each Internet browser shortcut MUST be assignable to an app icon! (most important, pay attention to this)
-More, later-
I think someone could even make some money, charging a couple bucks for a proper launcher.

Agree your oppinion. Except about remote control. In fact, I agree you too about this, but at same time I think it is a shame to offer these kind of IR remotes in 2015!!! IR remotes are 40 years old, how can be enough to control a smart TV?