Back in May, we quickly announced that Google would be bringing Honeycomb to a Google TV near you and with it, the Android Market. It was also confirmed when Logitech’s Revue finally received a leaked walk through for the update. Well, as an early start to the promise, the search giant is giving you a little taste of what’s to come while also hoping you’ll get a head start on developing some monster apps for their TV service. The company has announced that it will be providing a preview of the Google TV add-on for the Android SDK. Per the company’s official Google TV blog, Ambarish Kenghe, product manager for GTV stated the following:
“These are still early days for Google TV, and this release is another step in providing developer tools for the big screen. While the number of apps available on TV will initially be small, we expect that through this early release of the add-on you’ll be able to bring optimized TV apps into the ecosystem more quickly. To start doing this, download the Google TV add-on today….”
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While the add-on does not contain all features of Google TV, it enables developers to emulate Google TV and build apps using standard Android SDK tools. It also provides new APIs for TV interaction, such as TV channel line-up. Google TV emulation is currently supported onLinux with KVM only, and we are working on support for other operating systems. We’re very happy that through KVM we’ve been able to create a fast Android emulator for TV.
Talk Android is also hoping developers will take advantage of the head start and hit the floor running, developing some innovative applications for Google TV. As of now, I’ve not been enticed just yet to run out and jump on Google TV, but I believe Im getting there. There’s just something practical and effective about having a web browser on your television screen, but not in that quirky webtv kind of way. So how about it folks? Ready to jump on board and help Google TV soar to new heights? Head on over to their blog via the source link to download the SDK and get started. Don’t forget to let us know what you think in the comments below.
[via googletv]