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Android TV - Revolutionizing TV experience
I intend this blog to mostly about what’s going in Android TV technology.
Since the introduction of Android OS, several R&D companies started experimenting the OS on different platforms. Android was originally intended for developing smartphones, but we started seeing Tablets, eBook reader and other similar products. Google is now geared up to release new version of Android codenamed Honeycomb which is specifically targeted for tablets.
Seperately, there ware experiments to scale the output resolution of android from small 4 -5 inch CIF resolution to 40+ inces large screen HD televisions. Google again consciously started working on a new variant of android called Google TV, but this time Google decided to go with closed ecosystem involving Intel, Sony and Logitech.
I personally feel, there is a tremondous scope for enhancing the TV experience and we can expect revolution in next 1 year. CES'2011 was full of Android smart phones and tablets and undoubtedly CES'2012 and other similar events will be full of Android TV / Google TV solutions.
Today, product development has become an easy game for even startups and mid size companies. On one hand, semiconductor giants like TI, Freescale, Intel, Samsung and Nvidia are releasing production quality reference designs and Android has turned out to be boon for Consumer Electronics product makers as it can readily provide software solution even including UI design and flexibility for white labeling. Only hurdle i see is on mechanical enclosure but still manageable.
I started experimenting Android on intel platform (regular PC) with Android-X86 branch and we could build Android TV demo solution in 1 month. We faced issues with Gallery (picture viewer) and with Video resolution but with minimal efforts and also with updates on Android x86 branch we fixed these issues.
As a next step, in order to bring up production quality solution, we have partnered with a manufacturer who will be responsible for Hardware design based on Samsung platfrom and manufacture prototypes for us. We are actively working on UI design, performance optimization and addition of features such as DLNA, Video telephony, USB host etc
We plan to position this product in Indian Market at a price of around Rs. 5500 and possibly we would partner with telcos such as BSNL , Airtel, Reliance and cable internet provides such as Hathway to reach mass market. This solution can easily be customized for different market segments including Education, Home Entertainment, In car/bus/train/flight infotainment and Enterprise segment
We are demonstrating our solution first time in Mobile Camp event (http://bangalore.mobilecamp.in/registered-sessions/) going to be held on 06th Feb 2011 and then at BLRDroid meetup event on 12th Feb 2011.
I will keep you posted with user feedback and regarding any enhancements.
I sincerely thank you for reading my blog and request you to share your feedback and any ideas to make this product better and competitive.
you can visit www.siliconembsys.com and for any questions you can mail me at veekay@siliconembsys.com
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