Introduction to the GoogleTv at GDG_Dev Fest Firenze 2012

1. Enlarge
your screen :-)
Introducing the Google TV
Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna
GDG Roma
Florence - 2012/10/19

2. Let’s talk about...
• Speakers
• Android happens elsewhere
• Google TV
• timeline
• how it works
• writing apps for the Google TV
• beyond the TV: second screen and Anymote
• DEMO
• Conclusion
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

3. Ladies & gentlemen...
• Matteo Bonifazi
• Android Developer @ Open Reply Android Lab
• Member of GDG L-Ab Roma
• Stefano Sanna
• Head of Open Reply Android Lab
• Author (with E. Di Saverio) of
“Android Programmazione Avanzata” (Ed. FAG)
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

4. For most people Android is...
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

5. Android happens elsewhere
• “Beyond the product” (being an operating
system), Android is a rich eco-system: open
source, widely supported by manufacturers
and developers...
• Its strong and stable Linux foundation makes
Android an affordable alternative to “typical
Linux distribution” for embedded systems
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

6. Today

7. Tomorrow

8. Today
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

9. Google TV
• Among these “unconventional” Android
devices, the Google TV is the official platform
for (upcoming?) interactive services “beyond
smartphones and tablets”
• Although it has still not been announced in
Italy, Google TV has landed in Europe (UK)
this year and it will be available in other
country later in 2012
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

10. Timeline
• 2007/11
• Android is announced
• 2008/09
• T-Mobile G1 launched
• 2010/06
• Launch of Google TV 1st gen as a “closed platform”
• 2011/02
• Motorola Xoom officially brings Android into the tablet market
• 2011/08
• Google TV SDK (beta) is published: the platform is now open!
• 2011/10
• Google TV update includes Android Market
• 2011/11
• Ice Cream Sandwich merges smartphone and tablets in a single platform
• 2012/06
• Google TV 2.0 and Jelly Bean mark new Android evolution
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

11. Google TV hardware
• First generation devices
• Sony NSZ-GT1 (Blu-ray Player)
• Sony NSX-40GT1 (Internet TV)
• Logitech Revue (set-top box)
• New generation devices
• LG 47G2/55G2 (Internet TV)
• Sony NSZ-GS7 (set-top box)
• Vizio Co-Star (set-top box)
• More to come later this year...
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

12. Any TV with HDMI input
How it works
Any DVB-T, DVB-S, DVB-C
decoder with HDMI output
HDMI IN HDMI OUT
Internet connection via Optional external
Ethernet or WiFi storage via USB 2.0
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

13. Logitech Revue
• First generation of Google TV device
• Based on Intel ATOM CPU
• Recently updated to Honeycomb 3.2
• Supports ADK, HLS and USB storage
• Affordable (about €150 with keyboard)
• Unfortunately it is no longer sold... but it can
be easily found used or brand-new on ebay! :-)
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

14. Sony NSZ-GS7
• Second generation of Google TV
• First STB launched in Europe (July 2012)!
• Based on ARM CPU
• Equipped with
Honeycomb 3.2
• Not so cheap
(about €250)
with enhanced remote controller
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

15. Google TV main features
• For end-users
• Rent movies and TV episodes on demand
• Youtube
• Chrome
• 3rd party apps
• Movies, pictures, music on local storage
• For developers
• Honeycomb 3.2 platform
• Rich, powerful and well-known Android multiscreen API
• Google Play Store for distributing apps
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

16. Google TV API
• The Google TV platform consist of
0 (ZERO) NEW API
over the “standard” platform!
• A new Content Provider and a few constants
provide the way to address channel switching
and filter platform specific features
• Android SDK and Eclipse are the basic toolkit
for targeting the Google TV!
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

17. Targeting the Google TV
• The AndroidManifest.xml rules:
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="org.example.phototv" android:versionCode="1" android:versionName="1.0" >
<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="13" android:targetSdkVersion="15" />
<supports-screens
android:anyDensity="true" android:largeScreens="true"
android:normalScreens="false" android:smallScreens="false"
android:xlargeScreens="false" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.touchscreen" android:required="false" />
<uses-feature android:name="com.google.android.tv" android:required="true"/>
<uses-permission android:name="com.google.android.tv.permission.READ_CHANNELS">
<application
android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher" android:label="@string/app_name" >
<activity android:screenOrientation="unspecified"
android:name=".PhotoTV" android:label="@string/app_name">
<intent-filter> [...] </intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>
</manifest>
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

18. Test environment
• The best is to have a real set-top box
• If not available, install the Google TV Add-on
• Runs on Linux 64bit with KVM Kernel
• Can’t run on virtual environments
• Does not support video streaming (as for Platform 1.0)
• The DIY way: a old-fashioned Android 1.x
device (HTC Dream, HTC Magic, Samsung
Galaxy) with D-PAD can be used to test
navigation!
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

19. Configure the set-top box
• Run the initial configuration (language, screen
size, network, Google Account...)
• Apps deployment and debugging is over the
network connection. USB ports work in host
mode.
• Try to have a fixed IP address for both Google
TV STB and development workstation
• Enable remote debugging and assign remote
debugging host IP
• If using a Logitech Revue: set resolution to 720p (sigh!) to get
screenshots via ADB
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

20. Let them find each other... :-)
set-top
box
host AndroidDev:~ gdx$ adb connect GTV_IP_ADDRESS
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

21. Size and density
• The TV screen is classified as “large”
• HD Ready TV (720p) are classified as tvdpi
density, 213 dpi
• Full HD TV (1080p) are classified as xhdpi
density, 320 dpi
• 720p and 1080p have the same “independent”
resolution: 960x540dp
Enlarge your screen
Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

22. Size, density and distance
TV Full HD
30” - 320dpi
smartphone
5” - 320dpi
30-50cm
300cm

23. The 10ft environment
• The UI is at 10ft (about 3m) from the user
which
• is in a relaxing/funny environment
• is shared with family and friends
• is in a dimmed environment
• provides (high quality) audio that is not (usually) optional
• has no keyboards and mouse/touchpads, that are (usually)
replaced by compact remote controllers with simple 5-way
navigation (aka D-PAD)
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

24. A closer look to the controller
D-PAD, BACK, MENU,
HOME, PiP
An embedded accelerometer disables
the QWERTY keyboard when using the
trackpad, which is disabled when using
the back keyboard
TRACKPAD with hard
button (as in MBP)
BACK-LIGHT QWERTY
KEYBOARD Enlarge your screen
Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

25. Good practices
• UI
• Dynamic layouts and relative sizes are encouraged
• Different screens may have different overscan areas: never
rely on physical pixels!!!
• App layout should be divided in three areas:
global, contextual and detail
Source:
https://developers.google.com/tv/android/docs/gtv_android_patterns
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

26. Good practices
• Navigation
• Every App should be implemented according to D-PAD
navigability
• All the controls in each View has to be get through the D-PAD
• Controls
• Avoid long typing: try, if possible, to suggest texts,
shortcuts...
• Limit use of pointing
device
• False friend: “it seems a
big tablet”. It is not.
The user can’t swipe on
it!
• BACK is your friend!
Source:
https://developers.google.com/tv/android/docs/gtv_android_patterns
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

27. DEMO
a photo viewer
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

28. Album selection Photo viewer “views”
Album overview
Picture browser
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

29. Main and sub navigation
• The developer has to identify main navigation (on
the detail view, where the user spends more of his
time) and sub navigation (contextual view, used less
often)
• In the photo browser app:
• Likelihood, the user will spend most of time browsing photos of an
album, instead of jumping between albums
• The main navigation is the photo browser within an album
• The sub navigation is the selection of an album
• The main navigation should performed using just
the D-PAD
• The sub navigation could be accessed using
secondary button (e.g., MENU and BACK)
Enlarge your screen
Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna
Google will forgive us for this... ;-)

30. Navigation
NAV:
CENTER UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT
MENU
NAV:
UP/DOWN
BACK
CENTER
MENU
CENTER
NAV:
LEFT/RIGHT
NAV: BACK
LEFT/RIGHT

31. Beyond the TV
Enlarge your screen
Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

32. Second Screen applications
• Enhance interactions between Google TV and
others device ( smartphone,tablets,etc.)
• Adding more functionality for the Google TV
itself
• Huge opportunities to develop new different
kind of application
Able Remote: Transform your Android Multiplayer Games: Android device is the
device in a custom Google TV Remote joystick and the TV is the controller
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

33. Anymote
• Anymote protocol is IP layer protocol
• Devices use TLS/SSL to avoid sniffing issues
• Thanks to Anymote service Google TV stb can
receive and respond to Anymote messages
• In order to communicate with the Google TV, a
remote app does:
• Identifies Google TV
• Authenticates the device through Paring Protocol
• Sends events (connection, key, mouse, trackball...)
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

34. Conclusions
• Have fun with smartphones and tablet, but
don’t forget that it is only the beginning!
• Google TV enlarges “screens and
opportunities”
• new entertainment machine for people not so comfortable
with computers
• second screen applications may enhance UX and encourage
gaming
• Google TV could be the cornerstone of new home automation
application and services: the STB is always powered, always
connected, always accessible
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

35. Resources
• Google TV
• http://www.google.com/tv/
• https://developers.google.com/tv/
• http://googletv.blogspot.it/
• Hardware and community
• http://store.sony.com/p/NSZ-GS7/en/p/NSZGS7
• http://www.vizio.com/costar/overview
• http://www.gtvhacker.com/
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

36. Contacts
• Matteo Bonifazi
• dekra06 AT gmail DOT com
• @mbonifazi
• Stefano Sanna
• gerdavax AT gmail DOT com
• @gerdavax
• http://www.gerdavax.it
• http://www.androidavanzato.it
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Matteo Bonifazi - Stefano Sanna

37. Thank you