Google TV and Android Apps

I’m filling in for Andrew in this week’s post, and I wanted to share a little bit of my side of our business: Android development.  Specifically, the topic of Google TV. With recent updates, these devices can now access the Android Market, which can greatly expand the number of people exposed to your mobile applications.

Google TV Beta Update: Logitech Revue

Users with Sony devices started receiving the update a few weeks ago, but Logitech Revue owners like myself are still waiting.  After hearing rumors that it could be another month or two, I started getting impatient. There were now users of the new Google TV market, and none of our apps were in there yet!

I decided to follow this Android update tutorial and install the Honeycomb beta update on my device.  After a few tries, all went well, and I was checking out new apps on my TV.

Updates to Applications

I immediately started in on updating one of our apps.  A little background: Android devices come in many shapes, sizes, and with varied features. Apps must declare which devices, screen sizes, and phones they will suport in their AndroidManifest.xml file.

The only change developers will need to make is to modify the Manifest to let the Android Market know that a touchscreen is not required (while my device does have a trackpad on its keyboard remote, you can’t assume that other devices will).

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.touchscreen" android:required="false" />

Back on the TV, I updated settings to allow installation of non-market apps (so I could test my own apps before deploying).  After recompiling, I installed the app on my GoogleTV and it was amazing to see the same version running on the big screen!

The only drawback is that sometimes a layout that works well on a handheld phone isn’t as usable with a D-pad controller.  I ended up creating a new layout specifically for the TV which would be easier to navigate.  This deserves a post entirely on its own, but for now, you can download our first Google TV app and let us know what you think.

Google TV Hangouts

Another cool facet of Android development is the open community.  Over the past two weeks, we’ve been attending Google TV hangouts on Google+ hosted by some of the development team themselves.  Over a video chat, they make themselves available for “office hours” to talk about porting your applications, upcoming plans, and just questions about the platform in general.  It’s awesome to have this open connection to Android developers, and I look forward to seeing how this platform evolves.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed an insight into Android development! If you’re interested, check out our latest Monthly Income Report.