Rumors hit the web this weekend of the possibility of a (new) set-top box from Google, this time called Android TV. But with the Google Chromecast gaining support from manufacturers and software developers, why would Google feel the need for another stab at your entertainment system?

Android TV

Rumors began to swirl after The Verge posted an exclusive peek at a possible new smart TV interface by Google, along with ostensibly a set-top box, called Android TV.

This is not the first time we've heard of Android TV. GigaOM reported on the name change, from the failed Google TV platform launched about three years ago, late last year. But The Verge got its hands on some ostensible screenshots of the new Google TV product (it looks a lot like Amazon's new Fire TV), along with some new details.

The Verge said Google is looking to simplify its offerings in Android TV, with Google saying (in the leaked documents), "Android TV is an entertainment interface, not a computing platform... It's all about finding and enjoying content with the least amount of friction," making the experience "cinematic, fun, fluid, and fast."

From the screen shots, it looks like Android TV will put a premium on the Netflix, Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku-type "card" browsing experience, which would be quite simpler and different from the second screen-based "casting" of the Chromecast.

Android TV reportedly won't be limited to Play media and YouTube, though, and will aggregate content from third party subscription apps like Pandora, Hulu, Netflix, and Vevo. Since Android TV would ostensibly come as a set-top box, with a remote control, navigating through the interface will be much more couch-potato friendly than clicking through content you want to see on your smartphone, tablet, or computer, and then casting it up to the screen. And it's rumored to support games, just like Fire TV.

Why Go The Set-Top Route?

As GigaOM mentioned in its original report on Android TV, "Google already has a winner," and it's the $35 HDTV dongle, Chromecast. As we previously reported, it's expanding the number of third-party content providers and independent apps that extend its capabilities, week after week.

So with the market for set-top boxes becoming increasingly crowded, why would Google bother making a whole new version of Google TV, as cut from problematic partnerships with manufacturers and simplified though it looks?

It appears Google's intentions are to separate the Chromecast, as a streaming platform and tech-savvy tinker toy, from Android TV, with its all-in-one, easy-to-use content homepage for the television.

But in our reporting of one of those new techie tinker toys for Chromecast, the unbelievably flexible AutoCast, which was released last week, there seems to be more evidence than ever that, if Google wanted it, the Chromecast could have it both ways:

Google could have a simple, point-and-click Android TV interface for Chromecast with the ability to do a whole lot more, if you have the acumen.


AutoCast shows that the Chromecast can work with nearly any peripheral, including smartwatches, and the interface can be made much more robust than Chromecast's current (beautiful) gallery-slideshow home screen.

The simple "card"-based browsing you see in the sneak-peek screenshots at The Verge could be done on Chromecast as your "default" screen on, say, an Android TV app, and point and click browsing without smartphones isn't a problem either: With a price point of $35, the Chromecast sells like crazy, and adding in a Google smart WiFi remote into the package, for those who don't want to whip out their smartphone, would be easy.

But it seems Google doesn't want to make the Chromecast its top product for the general TV watcher. In a way, it wants to make "the Chromecast," the device, disappear eventually, instead pushing the technology to become the streaming standard, and even baking it into new TVs with manufacturing partnerships.

From what we've seen, Android TV will build on Chromecast's infrastructure and provide an easier way for folks to veg out. It's just that, with the Fire TV, new Roku dongle, and the (rumored to be revamped) Apple TV already there, it's hard to get excited about it.

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