Google has announced some awesome improvements to its Android-based Google TV service. The service has been out for around two years now, and while it hasn’t quite taken off the way Google may have hoped, it is slowly gaining traction, and nice updates like this should attract more people to it. The new update adds voice search and a rebrand of the movies & TV shows section now called “PrimeTime.”
Voice Search allows you to find whatever you want to watch by simply speaking. You can start a YouTube video, open an app, do a Google search and do pretty much anything. It definitely should make using Google TV quicker and easier, which is what the service is all about. It can even use context to figure out what you are looking for. For example, Google suggests saying “hot to tie a tie.” This will cause it to automatically search YouTube for instructional videos on the matter.
Google also rebranded its guide feature. The name has been changed to PrimeTime, but it’s more than just a name change. Google has improved the functionality and made it easier to find the programing you are looking for. You can use it to flip through the best stuff on live TV, access your favorite channels, see TV shows you recently watched.
Google also improved the way Google TV functions with YouTube. As we reported, you can now use your Android smartphone as a sort of remote for controlling YouTube videos on your TV. All in all, this update makes it easier to get access to the wide range of content available on Google TV. Between the voice search, improvements to PrimeTime, and easier access to YouTube through smartphones, Google is taking Google TV to a higher level.
Now if only Hulu Plus became available for GTV, it would be a truly viable platform. 😉