Google reportedly won’t sell anyone Android TV’s ADT-4 developer box

Ben Schoon | Jul 5 2023 - 8:29 am PT

Developer hardware is important for any software platform, and Android TV has been failing here for a bit. After ADT-3 was discontinued, Google hasn’t yet released a new Android TV developer device, and it seems the ADT-4 box that will serve that role won’t even be available to the public.

We first reported on the existence of ADT-4 late last year, with the new developer box for Android TV moving away from the restrictive streaming stick form factor and also bringing more power to the table compared to ADT-3, which was discontinued last year after being out of stock for months.

Google has so far been publicly silent on new developer hardware, which is frustrating, especially with Android TV 14 incoming.

Android Authority now reports, citing a slide from the “Android TV partner bootcamp,” that ADT-4 won’t be sold to the public, or even Android TV developers. Google is apparently using the device internally to build out the latest version of Android TV OS, but the box simply won’t be available outside of Google.

That’s obviously bad news for developers, as it means there’s no developer-focused device available to purchase for testing apps on new versions of Android TV OS. Google’s Chromecast dongle, which doesn’t get updates very quickly anyway, has no tools for manually installing new updates which makes it rather restrictive as a developer device.

The slight good news, though, is that ADT-4 is, as we previously reported, just a specialized version of Amlogic’s S905X4 reference device. That means near-identical hardware can be obtained from Amlogic and some retailers. Still, having nearly identical hardware doesn’t mean that software builds will be available or even compatible.

Google, it seems, is effectively telling developers to do what they need to do solely with the Android TV OS emulator. That seems like a bad idea, given that emulator can’t simulate things like HDR or HDMI, and it gets even more complicated when looking into more advanced formats or things like frame rate matching.

Android TV and Google TV need a developer box, and for whatever reason, it just seems like Google is ignoring that need.