Hands on with People of Lava's Scandinavia Android TV: a glimpse into the future of TV

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Posted on 2 Jun 2010 at 18:00

The browser is a fully-fledged version of Google Chrome that has been optimised for the big screen and will eventually support Flash (when the TV’s updated to Android 2.2). You can easily move and scroll around the page using the remote, zooming in when necessary.

The YouTube app is a simple "store front" style screen with a bunch of highlights along the bottom with the option to search the site, or sort videos by most recent, popular and top rated. It’s a simple and familiar-feeling interface that we’re sure will work well. The Google Maps integration is also impressive, enabling quick but smooth scrolling and zooming on the map, but it’s probably not going to be the killer app on a TV.

Instead, the Application Store is where we’re likely to find those killer apps. There currently aren’t many apps in the Store – about 25 to 30, including Twitter, Facebook, Email, an IM client and a few others – but Svantesson reassured us that there are more being worked on in the run up to the launch. He also pointed out that you’ll also be able to access Google’s Android Marketplace via the built-in web browser.

The store is incredibly simple to use – simply select the application you want to install and it’ll do the rest for you. It’s a very similar experience to what you’ll get in the app stores on iPhone OS or Android.

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