Google has introduced new features for Android TV users in India to help them save data. The tech giant says that these features have been designed while keeping Indian users in mind, who have been using smart TV features by connecting their Android TV through a mobile hotspot. Connecting a HD TV with mobile data will quickly use up daily data caps, and Google has tried to fix this problem with four new features introduced for Android TVs especially. These include Data Saver, Data Alerts, Hotspot Guide, and Cast in Files.
In a blog post, Google says these features help Indian users get the most out of their smart TVs even when using limited mobile data. The Data Saver feature, as the name suggests, reduces the data usage on mobile hotspot connections. By reducing data usage, watch time within the same cap could be increased by 3x, Google said. This feature can be turned on in Settings whenever a user is switching to mobile hotspot for watching content on TV.
There’s also a new Data Alert feature that keeps you informed about your data usage while watching TV. These alerts will show up on the bottom of your screen, every time you use up a specified amount of data. Users can select when they want to see these alerts. There are options to get alerts when you use 100MB, 500MB, and 1GB data, or users can also turn the alerts off. The tech giant has also introduced a new Hotspot Guide to help users easily set up their TVs with mobile hotspot.
Google says that the new features will be rolling out to Android TV devices in India over the coming weeks. The first TVs to get this support include the ones made by Xiaomi, TCL and MarQ by Flipkart. A global rollout of the same features will be commenced later.
Google also added support for Cast in Files allowing users to view downloaded media from their phone onto their TV without using data. This feature is available to Android TV users via the beta program, and will be rolled out in the coming weeks.
Is Android One holding back Nokia smartphones in India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.
