The almost-absurdly cheap Android TV streaming devices from Walmart deliver a pretty solid experience on the whole and, to the retail giant’s credit, update support has been relatively good. This week, Walmart is rolling out a new update to its Android TV devices with a new security patch and better HDR handling.
Rolling out now, this update remains based on Android 10 and doesn’t make any major changes. In fact, the changelog as listed below only mentions three upgrades in total.
- Security Patch Level Update (Oct 2021)
- Netflix Performance Enhancement
- Android TV Home Launcher upgrade
True to that list, installing the 674Mb OTA does bring the October 2021 security patch, updated from the previous August patch. There’s also a version update to the home launcher. Notably, though, this device already supported Android TV’s “Discover” layout. Anecdotally, we didn’t notice any major differences in Netflix performance either.
Beyond the changelog, though, there are two other changes. For one, there’s an update to the remote that comes with this update, as is often the case with Android TV streamers. Further, a new HDR setting has been added to Walmart’s Android TV devices to automatically turn the feature on and off. In a previous update, Walmart added the option to turn off HDR, but this new setting lets it toggle itself depending on an app’s needs. Dolby Vision still isn’t supported, though.
Walmart’s 4K Android TV streamer is available for under $20.
More on Android TV:
- Android TV’s ‘Discover’ homescreen appears to be expanding to more users, especially in India
- Walmart has dropped the price of its Android TV streamers by $10, now starting at just $15
- Review: Walmart’s $30 Android TV streamer is a brilliant content vehicle w/ unfortunate breakdowns
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