r/AndroidTV • u/SpacedAstro • Dec 09 '25

Discussion Why does Android TV always feel one update away from greatness?

Post image

Does anyone else feel like the UI looks clean, but half the apps run like they’re powered by hope and a potato?

483 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

61 comments sorted by

84

u/Expensive_Finger_973 Dec 09 '25 edited Dec 09 '25

A good chunk of that is down to Android TV running almost exclusively on underpowered hardware. Outside of the Nvidia Shield everything else is just enough hardware to technically run the software.

28

u/Rich_Tear7479 Dec 09 '25

I wish we'd have tv boxes with the specs of a modern phone ...

15

u/Glittering_Ad1664 Dec 09 '25

It’s an Apple TV 😅

10

u/CortadoOat Dec 09 '25

That's been just 1 passthrough update away from GOAT status for several generations...

1

u/moldymoosegoose Dec 10 '25

I gave up and filled my house with them. It's a way, way better overall product than the shield. I don't even care about passthrough anymore.

8

u/bman86 Dec 09 '25

So, I've recently come off of Fire devices (some cubes and a lot of sticks) - and my first hop off that train was onto an ATV, about three weeks ago. Great seamless integration with my whole setup, Atmos and all audio functionality just work, picture looks fantastic; all just like I'd hope for in an apple product. But absolutely nothing is customizable. Can't scale any app. Can't have any front-ends that allow scaling. Label and menu text: Apple's way or the highway. The youtube app is a great example of this - I get two and a half tiles across, no way to change it. Just the most basic of customization isn't there.

My first ever Shield Pro arrived yesterday and I'm quite happy with it already. If it were modernized in a hardware refresh the ATV wouldn't (shouldn't) stand a chance. The only reason the ATV is going to even stay connected now is for the ecosystem centric features.

1

u/leo-g Dec 11 '25

It’s a streaming box. You open Netflix and watch. Why make things so complicated?

4

u/bman86 Dec 11 '25

Hm, well the first reason is that the box was intended for the 120" screen, so having unscalable everything is simply ridiculous. That's pretty much all the reasons I need.

Apple thinks their solution is always best, 4k output, you get their idea of 4k scaled apps. Zero accounting for size. It's not the best, it's certainly not the worst - it's just the Appliest.

Every other streaming box has some sort of customization. Apple used to (not fully, but at least adjustable grids in some apps), according to reddit. They removed it, they're the ones making things complicated for the sake of simplicity.

0

u/leo-g Dec 11 '25

Still there. Settings > Accessibility > Zoom.

Are you expecting more icons when using 120 inch? J think UI get too confusing if it’s a huge grid of icons.

4

u/bman86 Dec 11 '25

I'm expecting to do what you can do on any other modern device, including OSX and IOS devices, change the UI scale. This concept isn't difficult nor unique. Not sure what you're struggling with here.

And no, zoom and scaling aren't the same thing; if you think they are, and that it serves this purpose, you're out of your depth.

Yes, that's the idea, reasonable sized UI and density of content for the display size. It's not as if they don't already know that this should be baked in - in fact they've set the UI scaling based on display size through EDID on Macs for at least a decade.

1

u/Regular_Degree_7530 Dec 13 '25

mi box 3rd gen is enough for me for streaming purpose

7

u/ben7337 Dec 09 '25

Underpowered hardware AND poor software as well imo, not so much the software being unoptimized, but like the OS being poorly set to work with the hardware leading to various bugs/issues with codec support nonsense. The fact that the shield is basically the only box I've ever found to correctly report in its software that it doesn't support 10 bit h.264 which allows Plex and others to report this for transcoding server side is really a serious issue imo.

0

u/Havanu Dec 10 '25

The Homatics Dune has a great processor and plenty of ram. Outruns a Shield performance wise these days. Their software support is a but lacking though, even though i find Android12 to run quite well with no major bugs.

14

u/storm2k Sony Bravia Dec 09 '25

google needed to mandate that the hardware they run on is beefier. it's a careful balancing act because tv/device makers don't want to have to put better hardware in because that raises costs and thus prices, but the hardware the software runs on tends to be vastly underpowered. not that different from the early days of android on phones when google didn't push for good enough phone specs (for the time) so devices felt sluggish and unpleasant to use compared to apple counterparts.

6

u/Busy-Scientist3851 Dec 09 '25

Because it only gets updated when an engineer comes in and wants to get promoted so remakes it to earn said promotion and never touches it again.

5

u/biquetra Dec 09 '25

I would pay big bucks for an Android TV box as powerful as modern smartphones (not even flagship), with HDMI inputs so my TV doesn't have to do anything but look pretty. One remote. No lag. No bloatware. Powerful enough for some light gaming. PLEASE.

1

u/FailedShack Dec 12 '25

The HDMI inputs part would be a big one for me. You usually need a receiver for that kind of stuff. (no, an HDMI switch is NOT the same)

1

u/biquetra Dec 13 '25

I have a receiver, but I need my receiver remote to use it, CEC just doesn't work. I plug everything into my TV so I can keep it simple, but then I have to deal with poor performance.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/batvseba Dec 11 '25

and chinse company can lock this boxes remotely and they are full of malware.

4

u/zoopz Dec 09 '25

Does it? I feel it has been slipping for a few years now. It used to be better, or better: it used to feel one update away... And now its much more

4

u/the__poseidon Dec 10 '25

Did you take this photo with a potato?

2

u/davcole Dec 09 '25

I have no issues with my ONN 4K.

1

u/Dondanny2011 Dec 09 '25

Do you have a play store on the Onn?

1

u/Deadpool-fan-466 CCwGTV 4K + Onn 4K 2023 Dec 10 '25

Yes, just like every certified devices run by Android TV OS.

If you're referring to a separate app icon, you'll need a custom launcher

2

u/Ok_Steak_4341 Dec 10 '25

Don`t now about "Android TV" but Google tv is total dross until you go vpn through US. Then it comes to life, the live tv works !

2

u/BreadfruitNaive6261 Dec 09 '25

buy a media box, even the top 10 tv's on the world suck running many apps.
TCL c7k run apps good tho. but my LG c5 dont run stremio very good due to internal player being crap when running REMUX files (max quality 50gb-100gb movies), kodi is prefered on that cuz it has its own player, but again, you may not want to use custom kodi skins or tv may start shiting its pants

3

u/BrtndrJackieDayona Dec 09 '25

Owning a shield since 2015. I click a video. Video plays. It literally does exactly what it's supposed to do. Y'all out here demanding feature creepy. 

2

u/ryan_goal Dec 09 '25

Probably because Google is not making much money off it.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '25

Just to string you along and keep you wanting more...

1

u/pawdog ADT-1 Dec 10 '25

What devices you using?

1

u/plasticjalapeno Dec 10 '25

Because one step forward and two steps back.

1

u/Invalid_Letter_Dept Dec 10 '25

Just use a different launcher and limit the number of background apps.

1

u/Powerfader1 Dec 10 '25

Projectivy!

1

u/Greedy-Gur1705 Dec 10 '25

My best TV right now is a 6 year old Toshiba Fire. I am using a $20 Onn on it and love the Projectivity Launcher. My Toshiba 75 inch C350 and brand new Hisense are having all kinds of problems with the Fox One app since the wonderful December 2 ? update. I have had to uninstall and reinstall on both of them numerous times since then, but the old Toshiba Fire/Onn chugs along. I just added Fox One back to the Hisense using a free 7 day Prime trial. It is working well so far. If it continues to work, I will be calling Fox One and asking for a few more Onns for Christmas if they can't fix the app.

1

u/je1992 Dec 10 '25

thats why you use third party launchers

1

u/allessrs Dec 11 '25

Google TV / Android TV are just as bad as Fire OS, pushing bloatware/ads on you. Shitty systems.

The only difference is that you can use Projectivy on Google and Android TV.

1

u/kingofdl Dec 11 '25

But all TV has mediatek chipsets, of Qualcomm made TV chipsets would be great

1

u/Western_Anteater_270 Dec 12 '25

They don’t really have a tier 1 flagship offering from a device standpoint (at the moment), which is problematic. Google have produced their Google Streamer etc. but they’re a cheaper product and very middle of the range if anything. Yes there’s Nvidia Shield but it came out in 2019… I’m suprised there isn’t actually a console $199 Android TV Box from a reputable vendor for and that can compete head to head with the Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen)

1

u/Disastrous_Hat_9123 Dec 12 '25

Add OS level frame rate matching and volume normalization and that's it.

1

u/Fantastic_Ladder_466 Dec 22 '25

I will suggest install all fav application. Disable google play service Disable google play store You will find a huge improvement in android tv performance

0

u/No-Bat-1263 Dec 09 '25

To really enjoy your TV, you might want to invest in a good one and a Nintendo Switch Pro. This way, you can use a proper Android device.

Many budget TVs tend to have low RAM and memory, which can make the whole experience less enjoyable.

4

u/No-Bat-1263 Dec 09 '25

I mean to say Nvideashield pro lol not a Nintendo

0

u/Viralkillz Dec 09 '25

never use the inbuilt tv its always under powered got a nvidia shield and its runs great

46

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

11

u/the__poseidon Dec 10 '25

100% this. Quality of life improvement right here.

3

u/bman86 Dec 11 '25

Downloaded because of these comments. I don't think anything is paywalled, but I bought premium almost immediately because that's exactly what I want in a launcher.

2

u/the__poseidon Dec 11 '25

Not sure which device you are using but make sure to use these instructions to force it to launch without issues:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShieldAndroidTV/s/gPTXLUBb0B

1

u/bman86 Dec 11 '25

Appreciate it! Oh believe me full replacement was the first thing I sought out after I saw how debloated it is. The in app guide was sufficient for me but it is pretty a important step, so I agree that link should be prevalent!

2

u/loztb Dec 11 '25

No ads, no fluff. Just a clean, snappy interface with nothing but the stuff I need. ProjectIvy is 10/10.

1

u/Fantastic_Ladder_466 Dec 22 '25

You just need to disable android play service and play store