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Google TV features finally make sense with new multi-user support

Multiple-profile support on Google TV.

Enlarge / Multiple-profile support on Google TV. (credit: Google )

After launching in October of last year, Google TV is finally getting one of its most requested features: multi-user profile support .

Google TV is a revamp and rebranding of Google’s Android TV OS. It’s not clear if there are any hard rules, but the Android TV branding seems to stop at version 9 for commercial devices, and for Google android 10-and-up-based set-top boxes and smart TVs, the operating system is called “Google TV. ”

Google TV’s flagship feature is the new home screen, which is designed around a content-recommendation engine. Instead of the usual grid of streaming app icons, Google TV displays the shows themselves on the home screen, prioritizing what matters—the content—and deprioritizing which service it comes from. The problem with Google TV’s recommendation approach is that the system has gone a full year without profile assistance, so every user of the TV affects the single list of recommended content.

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