What you need to know
- A new update is rolling out for Google TV devices bringing performance and storage improvements.
- Google claims that this update will reduce app sizes, and introduces App Hibernation.
- The update also aims to reduce loading times when waking or interacting with your Google TV device.
While much of our focus has been on the potential devices that Google is set to unveil at I/O 2023, the company hasn't stopped releasing updates to its existing hardware. The latest of which comes to Google TV devices, and this update actually looks to be pretty darn great.
In a new Google TV Community post, there are two significant improvements being introduced to the device, with the first being focused on storage. If you own the Chromecast with Google TV, you'll know how frustrating it can be to find that you've filled the 8GB of storage.
Google states this update will reduce app sizes by taking advantage of Android App Bundles for Google TV, bringing app sizes down "by roughly 25%." App Hibernation is also a fairly new feature coming to the platform, which "will automatically force apps to hibernate when not used for over 30 days."
App Hibernation is similar to the feature found on the best Android phones, which was implemented into Android 12. The apps themselves aren't actually deleted from your device, but instead, temporary files are removed, which helps to save space. And now, this feature is coming to Google TV devices, which are much more constrained for space.
Along with providing ways to reclaim the storage on some of the best streaming devices, Google is also bringing performance improvements. According to Google, this latest update offers a three-pronged approach to "eliminate wait time."
These include reducing "the time it takes to wake up your Google TV, the response time between your TV and button clicks on your remote, and the amount of time you see the loading animation when rebooting your device." The company also highlights recent home screen updates that have additionally improved performance for Google TV.
Given the various other changes implemented for Google TV, it's nice to see the company still working on ways to speed up and improve the overall experience.
