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Android TV gets new Google TV features

When Google introduced a new TV overlay last year, it promised to bring a modern interface to Chromecast and subsequently launched devices. It also caused a lot of confusion over what would happen to the Android TV operating system, which powers hundreds of models of streaming sticks, TV sets and more. Those older devices didn’t get the new Google TV interface, but the company did begin to roll out some updates that made Android TV look more similar to the new layout, including a refreshed appearance and a Discover tab. Today, Google is adding new tools to Android TV to make it feel more like Google TV: Watchlist, recommendation tuning and detail pages.

With this update, you can now add titles to your watchlist across the Android TV system, either by long-pressing on your selection and hitting “Add to Watchlist” or pressing the Watchlist option in the show’s detail page. You can also add to the list from your phone or laptop via Google Search or in the TV app. Your saved items will appear in a row on the Discover tab. 

The company also tweaked the detail pages of each show by adding trailers that autoplay when you dive deeper into each title, similar to how services like Netflix are set up. You can turn these off in the Settings (under Home Screen in Device Preferences by deactivating “Enable video previews”). 

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