Coinciding with the release of Android 14 Beta 3 for Pixel devices, Google has also launched a preview of what to expect from Android 14 on your TV, ditching Android 13 in the process.
Up to this point, Google has been relatively silent on the major features that Android 14 will bring to the table, with little mention of the upcoming release at Google I/O last month. That trend seems to be continuing, as this latest beta for Android TV and Google TV devices was launched with no fanfare or public documentation.
Typically, there would be two main ways to try out Android TV 14 Beta. Today, you can download and run an emulator of the preview through Android Studio, while Google would normally also offer a build that can be installed on one of its (now retired) ADT-3 boxes. However, that build has not yet been made available on the Android Developers website. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to install the Android TV 14 preview onto a Chromecast.
Just days ago, Google released an update for the 4K model of Chromecast with Google TV, but the dongle has so far remained on Android 12. In fact, it seems that the company has altogether ditched plans for an Android 13-based update – not just for the Chromecast but for all Android TV and Google TV devices.
According to a new code change, Google is altogether “retiring” Android 13 for televisions. This will be reflected in Android Studio by hiding that version’s emulator in a “non-recommended menu.”
We are retiring T as a version in Android TV. Moving the T image to the non-recommended menu should dissuade developers from creating a T images if not required.
Considering how quickly Google was able to release a beta preview of Android TV 14, it makes sense to skip ahead to the newer version instead of following a yearly cadence. Wear OS is set to follow a similar biennial pattern, with this fall’s Wear OS 4 set to jump from Android 11 to Android 13.
Our team is actively looking into the changes included with Android TV 14. Stay tuned for more info in the coming days.
Dylan Roussel contributed to this article.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments