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Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, Chrome Update For Google TV: End Of Flash?

Shailesh Shrivastava

We have been talking about Android Jelly Bean updates for smartphones and tablets so far, but suddenly we have got one more thing to add in the list - the Google TV.

At the ongoing Google I/O 2013 developers conference in San Francisco, Google announced that it will be updating its Google TV to Android's latest version, Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and the update will start rolling out to different Google TV devices from the next month.

Google also said that the Google TV has now be 'refactored' so the OEMs of the device can update their settop boxes to upcoming Android versions in weeks - a move that it make it faster than the current cycle, which goes into months.

"Today, Google TV is moving to the latest version of Android (Jelly Bean, 4.2.2), and we've refactored Google TV so that our TV OEM partners can update to future versions of Android in a matter of weeks rather than months. For developers, this means you can build TV experiences using the latest Android APIs, including the NDK," Google said.

The frequency of the Chrome updates will also be moved to a six-week cycle. So far, the PC version of the Google Chrome was getting the six-week updates but now it will be available on the Google TV also.

Chrome for Google TV will also get hardware-based content protection. According to the Google I/O Keynote, Chrome for Google TV will receive "support for hardware-based content protection, enabling developers to provide premium TV content in HD within their web apps."

Meanwhile, an Engadget report confirms that LG will be updating its Google TV devices to Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean somewhere in the third quarter of this year. It is still not sure that what kind of updates and features the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS will land in with, but the same report also confirms the end of Flash on the Google TV.

"We've confirmed with Google that this does mean the end of Flash on Google TV since it's no longer supported on the newer versions of Android, and the build that was in Google TV was already out of date. The update will bring more enhancements to HTML5 streaming and interactive content -- hopefully the sites some users frequent will expand their technology platforms just as quickly," the report adds.

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