Google TV update hibernates your apps to save storage space, implements performance tricks

Let’s cut to the chase – the Chromecast with Google TV dongle has been a rollercoaster ride of mixed experiences. Depending on who you ask, it’s either blazing fast or dirt slow, and I can’t quite figure out why there’s such a difference in user perceptions. For me, it’s been more of the latter.

What’s clear is that the device’s memory falls short of keeping things snappy, and it’s been a major point of contention for people like me who’ve been eagerly awaiting an upgraded device with more RAM. But that elusive device just isn’t here yet (and I’m starting to wonder if we’ll ever get it at this point).

Luckily, in a Google TV Help post, Google announced some nice improvements to its smart TV software experience. For starters, it will begin automatically hibernating apps that you haven’t used in over a month (on Android S and above). This is likely an extension of its auto-archiving efforts on Android as of late. This move should free up some much-needed space, especially if you like to tinker and check out more than just the basic video streaming apps. In combination with this, Google’s switch to Android App Bundles helps shrink the size of apps on your television by more than 25 percent!

The company has also implemented some clever performance tricks to make the experience of navigating Google TV zippier. Instead of launching an updated device with more horsepower, it seems content on focusing on optimizing this one as much as possible. Despite this, I’m not complaining, and these tweaks are welcome in my opinion.

So what kind of tricks am I referring to? Well, they technically improve performance as claimed, but they act more as psychology tactics to make us more forgiving and patient while we wait for the device to boot up or switch to new content. Basically, your dongle or set-top box running Google TV will now wake up from sleep mode faster, the remote will communicate quicker with the OS from the time you press a button to the time that command is executed, and loading animations while rebooting are now shorter. It’s all about the little things in life, right?

The update, according to Google, has already been rolled out to everyone. So, have you noticed your Google TV working faster at all? Drop a comment and let us know. Sure, there may be some trickery here, but everything applied is still a real win for everyone. Let’s just hope we finally get a bit more oomph in the next Chromecast, should it ever arrive.