The Revival Of Android TV: AirTV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Nvidia Shield TV- Specs, Details

The situation for Android TV looked harsh 15 months ago. Google had just released a new version of its Chromecast streaming dongle that relies on a phone, tablet, or laptop to control what's playing on the TV. At the time, Mario Queiroz, Google's vice president of product management has said that this mode of viewing was key to the future of television.

In the meantime, Android TV, Google's other operating system for televisions and set-top boxes, seemed lost, according to TechHive. Google apps and features that had shipped on other platforms were no-shows on Android TV, and the company didn't even bother announcing the retail launch of Xiaomi's Mi Box. While Android TV did make its way into some smart TVs and non-U.S. cable boxes in 2016, the platform, however, felt like an addition.

At the beginning of 2017, Android TV is on the brink of renewal. New streaming boxes such as the Nvidia Shield TV and AirTV are innovating on the hardware side, while the upcoming arrival of Google Assistant will add more powerful new voice controls to the whole platform. It will make Android TV a key piece of Google's overall strategy, reports PCWorld.

Compared to other TV platforms, such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV, the unique thing about Android TV is that it allows outside companies to create new kinds of streaming boxes.

The most notable example of this is the Nvidia Shield TV, a $200 set-top box with an emphasis on gaming. The Shield can stream high-end games from a PC or from Nvidia's cloud gaming service i.e. GeForce Now. It also supports a library of Android games, some of which can only run on Nvidia's powerful Tegra X1 chip. Beyond gaming, the Shield can also function as a Plex media server with DVR support, and it is the only Android TV box to support Amazon Video.

At the same time, Android TV is coming into its own with the App support, which has picked up significantly over the past few years.