Try as I might to like my Android TV box, the Nexus Player, it still doesn't stack up to the functionality of the Google TV box. Like 4 years old and it's still ticking away behaving just as it should.
Yesterday, I got something I wasn't expecting - an app update. See, the Google TV platform has been long since abandoned, which is okay by me. I get it, not many were sold at all and it's time to move on to other projects.
So I thought I was getting a surprise when I saw the update for Youtube. I was wrong.
The new Youtube actually removes the app from the tray, as the 'app' is now just a link to open Chrome and go to Youtube.com/LeanbackLite
This thing is a PITA
Sure, it's using the new Leanback scenario for Android TV platforms, which is cool, but because it's now a website, it very easily gets rid of about half of the functionality of the old app.
No longer can I see my subscribed channels; when I try to sign it has me go to another website to try to 'activate' and it just doesn't work for me any more.
No longer can you just type away on the keyboard to initiate a search. No longer can you have some of the same controls over the video as you would with the keyboard.
I really can't go use my Nexus Player for Youtube - it's lacking SO much - and whereas the Revue was great for.
I guess this really is the end of support for the Google TV - which I was okay with, but now they're just trying to force folks off of it. And I'm not happy with that.
I'll be sideloading the "Youtube for Google TV 1.76 apk"
Yesterday, I got something I wasn't expecting - an app update. See, the Google TV platform has been long since abandoned, which is okay by me. I get it, not many were sold at all and it's time to move on to other projects.
So I thought I was getting a surprise when I saw the update for Youtube. I was wrong.
The new Youtube actually removes the app from the tray, as the 'app' is now just a link to open Chrome and go to Youtube.com/LeanbackLite
This thing is a PITA
Sure, it's using the new Leanback scenario for Android TV platforms, which is cool, but because it's now a website, it very easily gets rid of about half of the functionality of the old app.
No longer can I see my subscribed channels; when I try to sign it has me go to another website to try to 'activate' and it just doesn't work for me any more.
No longer can you just type away on the keyboard to initiate a search. No longer can you have some of the same controls over the video as you would with the keyboard.
I really can't go use my Nexus Player for Youtube - it's lacking SO much - and whereas the Revue was great for.
I guess this really is the end of support for the Google TV - which I was okay with, but now they're just trying to force folks off of it. And I'm not happy with that.
I'll be sideloading the "Youtube for Google TV 1.76 apk"
Comments
Post a Comment