Google TV Is Finally Adding A Sleep Timer With Its Material 3 Expressive Refresh
Contents
Summary
- The stock Android TV software includes a sleep timer, but it’s buried in menus and doesn’t offer much functionality.
- A code review of an upcoming Google TV update suggests a more convenient, comprehensive sleep timer is in development.
- Details of the exact implementation remain unclear, as the uncovered code isn’t exactly self-explanatory.
You’re passed out on the sofa after a hardworking evening binging a hit show. You fell asleep over two episodes ago. Suddenly, an unnecessarily loud advertisement interrupts the stream, jolting you awake, scaring the daylights out of you, and messing up your sleep schedule. If only there were a way to automate turning off the TV so you could snore away the night on the couch, peacefully.
Sleep timers aren’t new. They’ve been around since well before smart TVs and online streaming took over the industry. But Google TV, one of the most user-friendly media-centric operating systems, doesn’t have one built-in. Thankfully, an APK teardown of an upcoming GTV update offers clues that a platform-wide sleep timer is on its way, although it appears to still be a ways off (Android Authority via 9to5Google).
Related
A classic feature, revisited
TV is finally coming full circle
Google TV is a highly refined interface wrapped around the Android TV operating system, which, itself, is a closed-source Google development built from Android. There are tons of certified Android TV streaming devices worldwide, with the Nvidia Shield being one famous example. A great deal of standalone ATV streaming devices, as well as many big-name smart TVs, already have sleep timers.
The stock Android TV software includes the feature, but it’s buried in a sea of menus and doesn’t offer a lot of control. In many cases, the responsibility for an effective final sleep timer implementation falls on the manufacturer and its devices’ customized features and settings. But some otherwise great streaming boxes don’t go out of their way to make it easy to use. Plenty of consumers have taken to web searches and social media, trying to figure out how to automate shutting down the TV at night.
Source: Assemble Debug / Android Authority
The upcoming Google TV update aims to change that. As spotted in an Assemble Debug code review at Android Authority, a selection of new strings imply that something related to a sleep timer is in the works. Some of the uncovered code references cancel, pause, and resume functions, and some points to countdowns and notifications.
We haven’t yet seen solid evidence of the feature’s exact operation, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Naturally, none of these changes are live yet. Plus, as usual, there’s no guarantee that any unreleased feature will make it to the fleshed-out public release. But the revealed strings are precise enough to indicate that Google is enhancing sleep timer functionality. We’re just not sure yet exactly how.
The timing of the code’s appearance implies the much-requested feature is on target to accompany Google TV’s imminent Material 3 Expressive refresh. It isn’t slated to get a massive overhaul like other prominent Android apps, instead likely receiving an extra splash of color, some redesigned buttons, and not a whole lot else.
Figuring out the idiosyncrasies of bespoke Android skins adds a lot of friction to the platform and can discourage users from adopting new tech. A feature as simple and popular as a sleep timer shouldn’t get its own special menu in a different place on every Android-powered streaming device or TV. So, although the exact nature of the updated Android TV sleep timer remains to be seen, it’s encouraging that such a system-wide option is getting attention from the Big G.
Related
7 features I check before buying a streaming device
Consider these features before buying your next streaming device
