A ‘4K Android TV Stick’ with a prominent Google logo on top and on the remote control has passed through the FCC, according to Ausdroid, leading them to believe that it may be an official Google product.
Google Android TV dongle
There are lots of Android dongles for TVs out there but they are based on the mobile version of Android, which is not designed to deliver a good TV user experience. Google’s ‘Android TV’ operating system on the other hand is.
We saw the first Android TV on a stick earlier this year and here comes another one that could be even more interesting as it has Google branding on the actual device and on the remote control. To be clear, the ‘4K ATV Stick’ that has passed through FCC is produced by Shenzhen SEI Robotics Co. but Google is known for using partners to produce products.
The dongle is based on an AMlogic S905X processor with 2GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. It has a HDMI 2.0a output, HEVC and VP9-2 decoding, and support for 4K resolution (no references to HDR, though). It also has built-in Bluetooth 4.1 and ac WiFi, according to a quick setup guide submitted to the FCC.
It looks a lot like Google’s Chromecast Ultra but rather than being a “dumb” receiver this one has the full Android TV operating system on board, with access to the Google Play app store. It will also have Google Assistant voice support baked in and comes preloaded with Android 8.0 (Oreo).
Since the FCC listing was discovered, all of the pictures have been removed from the filing.
In the past, Google sold the Android TV-based Nexus Player to developers but it no longer received updates. The Android TV operating system also powers TVs from Sony, Philips, Bang & Olufsen, TCL, and others as well as the Nvidia Shield and Xiaomi Mi TV media players. However, consumer reception has been relatively poor compared to competing TV platforms from Amazon, Apple, and Roku.
So is this an actual Google Android TV dongle or just some random product? With Google’s annual I/O conference only a few weeks away (May 8), we expect to get a definitive answer soon.
- Source: Ausdroid, FCC
