Android 13 for TV becomes available to download

Google has officially released Android 13 for TV, thereby indicating that a big screen with this OS can now be as up-to-date as a new or new-ish smartphone. Then again, it is unlikely to pop up in general consumer life as an OTA any time soon; most relevant displays, boxes or otherwise are still on Android 11 at the best after all.

Nevertheless, this more up-to-date version of the UI is now out there, and is technically available to download for those with the ADT-3 Developer Kit or who want to run Android Emulator for TV; in addition, OEMs may now be working on it.

However, it remains that Android 13 for TV may be of most interest to developers at the moment. They might want to play with the new API that allows for the super-imposition of different language layouts on connected physical keyboards.

Android 13 for TV also includes improved control over language selection, resolution and refresh rate on some HDMI source devices. Audio descriptions may be easier to keep on across apps, and the UI's privacy controls might reflect a physical mute switch should one be available to the TV in question.

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