So the 3.5 Linux kernel just released and it finally has one of the big hot bed issues that required the android to "fork" for a while on top of the earlier kernels semi solved.
Basically the Linux Kernel itself now has a suspend block api built in that should hopefully help immensely speed up the full on merging of Android back into the mainline kernel. They did a ton in 3.3, but they specifically side stepped this issue. It was a hot bed of controversy, and they figured better to work on all of the other stuff 1st to not derail maybe finally getting the merge to happen.
Linux.com describes it as...
When Android code was merged into Linux earlier this year, there was some controversy over Android's "suspend blocker" functionality used for power management. The technology has been especially problematic because drivers in Android devices use the suspend blocker API, but the lack of such an API in Linux has made it impossible to merge them. Now, with Linux 3.5, similar functionality in the kernel called "autosleep and wake locks" should make it easier to merge drivers from Android devices.
If they ever get a full merge done it could help immensely even though the Android team at Google said they aren't going to wait around for stuff to get into the mainline. It should still speed up the process of creating new Android versions a ton as well as the ability to hopefully use a more up to date kernel with each release verses using their forked version on a much older kernel.
Between this and
Intel going full hog on android, you have no idea how hot and bothered this makes me.
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Regarding Google TV. The main thing I love about it is that it turns the cable signal into just another data source, instead of it being another thing tied to your TV. You don't have to bother with switching inputs when you want to view content online or the tv or through the app. The cable signal is just another app, essentially.
You can skip using the guide that comes with the built in box. They have a TV/Movies app that sorts what's playing by genre. Within that app it will also display content from netflix/amazon video so you don't have to even switch to those apps to see if that content is available. People on Dish network can search their DVR (fu comcast!).
Other people can create TV/Movie apps as well that tie into the cable box channels. During I/O they showed a sports app that rates how "exciting" each game is that's on at the moment, as well as people commenting on it (They have their own little social network going on within the app) and from the app you can see stats/player info/etc and then just switch to the channel.
That's the TV side of it.
On the app side. I'm pretty sure everyone here browsers gaf while their watching tv. If you come across a youtube video you can either watch it on your phone/tablet, of you can share it via the share menu to the Google TV remote. What that will do is send the youtube url to the google tv, and then the device will load up youtube and play the video. There's no input switching required. When you're done, just switch back to the "live tv" app or whatever app you were using.
Think of the Google TV as just another app destination with a huge screen while you're on your phone/tablet. If you install the google tv remote on your phone/tablet it will show up in the share menu when appropriate (url/pictures/etc).
It has chrome built w/flash, and technically you should be able to watch content from network sites like abc/nbc/cbs/etc, but since those companies are scared of the future they've intentionally blocked access from google tvs. This infuriates me. I've used chrome to watch streams of sports from abroad because none cable channel was showing it. Ustream.com actually displays a unique UI when you load it up through Google TV, it's dpad oriented and it's almost like a native app. (Think neogaf mobile).
You can also access content from dlna/NAS/upnp devices. The revue comes with an app that can read pretty much anything I've thrown at it. I'm not sure if XBMC is going to get ported to x86 for revue owners, but if you end up with one of the new googletvs that run on arm, it should very very awesome for playing local content. I tried it on my N7 the other day and the UI is crazy slick. The team has mentioned that they've been firstly working on TV based devices (I assume the Q and those android sticks).
The app situation is a bit dire, I won't lie about that, but for the purposes above which what I use it for mainly, I love it. I know most people who already have PCs/xbox/ps3 systems hooked up are thinking "lol", but I got tired of having a pc hooked up to the tv and having to switch inputs to load up a random video. Onlive is preloaded on the co star and the lg tvs, and it's also going to be directly on the play store, so that's another little bonus, even though I don't really care about games too much anymore.
All the Google tvs come with an ir blaster that allows it to control other devices like the cable box/stereo/tv/anything with IR. So you can walk into a room, hit one button on a gogle tv remote and turn everything on. The ir blaster on the costar is built into the handheld remote instead of the device itself, so that's pretty nifty.
As mentioned, some of the things are going to be region locked, and if you're in one of those less luckly regions...well then it's probably not that great, but it's still $99.
/shill
