A few days ago Google I/O 2022 was held. Like every year, the Mountain View company took advantage of the event to quickly show off its new devices that will be released at the end of the year. However, the central point of the I/O is always the software. This year Android 13 has been the center of attention at Google conferences. As always, there will be a version for mobile phones, another for tablets and one more for smart TVs. Android 13 TV is currently in beta, but we have already been able to see what features this new operating system will release.
What news do we already have in the first two betas of Android TV 13?
There are still quite a few months until Android TV 13 lands on our Smart TVs. In March, Google already released the first version of this system, and we saw some hints of what was cooking. After Google I/O, those from Mountain View have done the same with Android TV 13 Beta 2 , and now we know a few more new features that are added to the system for smart TVs. They are the following:
Improved picture-in-picture
PiP (picture-in-picture) mode was first implemented in Android 8, but Google is betting heavily on improving this functionality.
Viewing two different contents on the same television was already possible years ago, but Android TV 13 is going to raise the bar in this section. Want to watch a Twitch stream but don’t want to lose sight of what your soccer team is up to? Well, with this new operating system you’ll be able to do it with several screens on your television, and with fully customizable aspect ratios. This will be possible thanks to the new expanded PIP mode , inherited from the mobile version of Android.
Intelligently, the screens will be resized, knowing in advance whether or not they can overlap, although the user can also play an active role when it comes to stacking windows to view various contents simultaneously.
According to Google, this opens up a world of possibilities. Not only to consume content, but also to control surveillance cameras, hide a floating chat during streaming or much more. At the moment, this is the big improvement of Beta 2 over the original beta that was released in March, and it is expected to get even better at the end of June, which is the date that Google has announced that it will release the Beta. 3 of Android 13TV.
Better performance and power management
In this second beta of Android 13 TV there are two key functions aimed at optimizing resources . The first of all is MediaSession . Basically, this new API detects when we switch between different HDMI sources, pausing applications and avoiding wasted energy.
On the other hand, AudioManager has also been implemented. This API allows developers to preload audio sources and query available playback modes to gain loading speed and optimize both native and third-party applications.
New keyboard layouts
In order to improve accessibility, Android TV 13 will allow the use of keyboards other than QWERTY. Until now, using these keyboards was possible, but the keymap was done based on the position of the letters. Now, the system will be able to recognize the physical location of each key , saving us time when configuring the keyboard.
