Presentation on Google TV app development for DC Droids

1. DC Droids
Google TV:
For Fun! (and profit?)
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2. Why TV?
● Lots of Tube Time
● Sets
● Hours in front of a set
● Lots of Smart Tubes
● 2010: 20% had integrated Internet functionality
– (no report on number with VCRs blinking “12:00”)
● 2014: estimated 123 million “smart TVs”
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3. What is Google TV?
● Android on the Tube
● Integrated into some televisions
● Integrated into some Blu-Ray players
● Dedicated set-top boxes
● Future: cable boxes?
● Taking a Tour
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4. What Is Different for Developers?
● Usage Model
● Phones: used by an individual, mostly
● Tablets: might be used by a group, but mostly
one at a time
● TVs: used by individuals or collectively as a group
● Net: may need “profiles” or other ways for
different settings/content
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5. What Is Different for Developers?
● Information Density
● Phones = low
– Small screen, but held close
● Tablets = medium
– Larger screen, held close
● TVs = low
– Large screen, but distant
● Net: think font size, contrast, etc. to make it
easy to read and view from the sofa
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6. What Is Different for Developers?
● Input
● Televisions are not touchscreens... usually
● Interact with your app via a controller
– Arrow keys/D-pad and dedicated buttons
– Mouse-style pointer emulation mode
– Full QWERTY common (with Tab!)
– Media keys common (play, pause, etc.)
– Option: control via your phone
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7. What Is Different for Developers?
● Input Tips
● Cut out the cruft = essentials only
● Group stuff by priority and provide easy arrow-
key/tab navigation
● Use hardware keys where practical
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8. What Is Different for Developers?
● An Inch Is No Longer an Inch
● 720p is -large, -tvdpi (~213dpi)
● 1080p is -xlarge, -xhdpi
● Note: regardless of physical screen size!
– Set-top boxes do not know physical size
● Net: use fluid layouts, stretchable graphics
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9. What Is Different for Developers
● Overscan: Your TV Is Smaller Than You Think
● Holdover from days with CRT-style “tubes”
● Visible screen area can be up to ~20% fewer
pixels than actual rating
● Net: do NOT try to truly fill the screen!
– Flexible widget sizing
– Flexible whitespace between zones
– Flexible whitespace on edges
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10. What Is Different for Developers
● Miscellany
● 1080p backgrounds = ~8MB heap space
● Sound over haptics (no vibration motor)
● No GPS, use “static” location provider
● Internet, but not necessarily WiFi
● Content provider and Uri values for channels
● No NDK
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11. Design Tips
● Think Zones
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12. Design Tips
● Think Zones
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13. Design Tips
● Think Zones
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14. Design Tips
● Think Navigation with Zones
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15. Design Tips
● Think Navigation with Zones
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16. Deployment Tips
● Avoiding Google TV
● <uses-feature
android:name=“android.hardware.touchscreen”
android:required=“true” />
● Google TV-Specific
● <uses-feature
android:name=“com.google.android.tv”
android:required=“true” />
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17. Deployment Tips
● Multiple Targets
● <uses-feature
android:name=“android.hardware.touchscreen”
android:required=“false” />
● getPackageManager()
.hasSystemFeature(“com.google.android.tv”)
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18. Google TV Rollout
● Rolling Out Your App
● Initially: Nothing
– Do not enable Google TV support until you have at
least tested it in the emulator
– One chance to make a first impression
● Next Tier: Not Completely Stupid
– App is usable if not ideally suited for the form factor
● Ultimate: Optimized
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19. Google TV Rollout
● Example: Video Player
● Nothing: Relies on swiping
● Not Completely Stupid
– Focus works, can navigate with D-pad
● Optimized
– Eliminate on-screen controls for play, pause, etc.; use
remote instead
– Tip: get rid of extraneous focusable widgets
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20. Google TV Business Models
● App-Centric
● TV app as premium offering
● Cable provider partnerships
– Licensing
– Sponsorships
– Provider-supplied ads/sponsors
● Show-related apps
– Video for those not able to get niche channel
– Socializing around the show, real-time
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21. Google TV Business Models
● Other Services
● TV UX Expert
– Lots of phone UX experts, fewer tablet UX experts,
negligible experts for TV
● TV Firmware Expert
– Many smaller manufacturers may want to use the
Google TV concepts in their set-top boxes and TVs
– Learn the ropes via firmware mods and kin
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22. Emulator
● Step #1: Get a Nice CPU
● Intel with VT extensions (e.g., Core i7)
● AMD with SVM extensions
● Step #2: Get Linux
● No current support for Windows, OS X
● Step #3: Get KVM
● Virtualization engine, akin to VirtualBox, Xen
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23. Emulator
● Step #4: Get Android SDK and Tools
● Google TV add-on available from SDK Manager
● Use R15 Android Developer Tools!
● Step #5: Create an AVD
● 720p or 1080p
● With or without simulated overscan
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24. Debugging on Real Hardware
● Configure Google TV Box
● Only accepts debugger connections from 1 IP
● adb connect <ipaddr>
● Adds IP-based connection
● Google TV box will show up in DDMS
● Can use as if locally attached
● Helpful if the TV is somewhere nearby...
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25. Help!
● https://developers.google.com/tv/
● Design guidance
● Sample code
● StackOverflow #google-tv
● Official support point!
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