Google, Sony and Android: TV and much, much more

Stuart Corner
Sunday, 23 May 2010 17:26

Your IT - Entertainment

In the wake of Google's announcement of the Google Android-based TV, Google and Sony have unveiled plans for Android-based entertainment products that go well beyond TV. And other partners have joined the Google TV bandwagon.

Google TV is based on the Android platform and runs the Google Chrome web browser. Users can access all of their usual TV channels as well as Internet and cloud-based information and applications, including Adobe Flash-based content - "all from the comfort of their own living room and with the same simplicity as browsing the web."

The Sony Internet TV, billed as the world's first to incorporate the 'Google TV' platform will be the first fruit of a new alliance between Sony and Google. It is scheduled to launch in the US the northern Autumn of 2010. There will be a standalone TV and a set-top box with inbuilt Blue-Ray disc drive.

The two have given no indication of what else will come from their alliance or when. However, as iTWire has reported on a number of occasions, there is already a strong movement to take Android into the consumer entertainment market.

Google and Sony say that, through their alliance they will "provide a range of new and rich entertainment experiences that combine Google's open-source Android OS platform with Sony's expertise in technology and product design [through] the joint development of compelling new Android-based hardware products for the home, mobile and personal product categories."

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