Author: Press Room
The default Google TV home screen is packed with endless recommendations, trending shows, and personalized picks. While it may seem great at first, too many choices can slow you down. Fortunately, the built-in Apps Only Mode can fix that instantly. Apps Only Mode on Google TV: What It Is and How It Helps When you turn on your Google TV, you’re greeted with a home screen that feels more like a streaming buffet than a simple dashboard. You see rows of recommendations, trending shows, suggested movies, and personalized picks—all front and center. For some, this variety can be exciting. But…
UPDATE: Google’s Pixel 10 series, Watch 4 and Buds 2A are now official. Here’s all our coverage so far. Original article continues below Google’s ‘Made by Google’ Pixel hardware event is almost upon us. The event will take place at 6pm BST, 7pm, CEST, 1pm ET and 10am PT today, Wednesday 20 August 2025. At today’s event we’ll see the new Pixel 10 and 10 Pro upcoming phones announced as well as the rather exciting Pixel 10 Pro Fold. You can watch it on YouTube – we’ve embedded the video below. The event will be hosted in New York by…
Slow boot times can kill the excitement of sitting down to watch your favorite show or play a game on your Android TV. But not anymore. A few tweaks were all it took for me to reduce the boot time on my Android TV to just a couple of seconds. Turn on Quick Start or TV Standby When you turn off your Android TV and then power it back on, it usually goes through a full boot process. It’s similar to your phone restarting after the battery dies or a laptop waking up from a complete shutdown. Each time you…
They’ve only just been announced, and I’m yet to try one in person, but I’m pretty certain the new Pixel 10 series will be fantastic phones for photography. Google has priors, after all: a Pixel has competed for class honours every year since the first one landed back in 2016. But they’ve always gone about it in a predictably Google way. The firm has been all-in on algorithms from the off, preferring to tweak its image processing pipelines rather than chase pixel counts. 50MP only became the norm when the Pixel reached its sixth generation. Google’s new cream of the…
Your smart TV is only as powerful as the apps it runs. And sticking to Google’s Play Store means missing out on a huge range of options—from region-blocked streaming apps to useful open-source utilities that can make your TV smarter. 4 Aptoide Aptoide offers a collection of over 2,500 apps, all completely free. This not only includes the big names you already know but also niche streaming services and even quirky apps you won’t find on the Play Store. Best of all, you don’t need to sign in or create an account to start downloading. One of the best features…
If your smart TV isn’t looking or sounding its best, the fix might not be a new TV but a few simple HDMI changes. With the right tweaks, you can unlock sharper images, better colors, and richer sound in minutes. 7 Use the Right HDMI Cable The first step to a better picture and sound is making sure you’re using the right cable. HDMI cables aren’t all the same, and the version you use can limit the resolution, refresh rate, and audio quality you get. HDMI 1.4: Fine for 1080p video, but limited for 4K. HDMI 2.0: Handles 4K at…
My smart TV turned into a digital stalker, collecting data about every show, movie, and video I watched. After discovering it was profiting from my habits, I took back control by installing four apps—without sacrificing any features. 4 SmartTubeNext to Watch YouTube as a Visitor With No Ads Screenshot by Jayric Maning –no attributions required YouTube has become my primary source of entertainment since I don’t have time to watch movies and TV series anymore. But the constant ads and tracking made every viewing session feel invasive. That’s when I discovered SmartTube Next, and installing it turned out to be…
If you’re a concerned parent who is yet to get your child a smartphone, or you’re a parent dealing with the tangled web of various parental controls – you are not alone. Now HMD – the maker of Nokia phones – has debuted the HMD Fuse, designed to be easy to manage for parents. Crucially, the Fuse is a smartphone rather than a dumb phone, so the child can get access to all the key apps they’ll want. Parents can install a partner app on their own smartphone (iOS or Android) which enables them to set time limits, block apps…
It’s always been easy to mirror an Android phone or Windows PC to an Android TV, but now iPhone, iPad, and even Mac users can enjoy the same convenience. Best of all, there’s no need for third-party apps or complicated workarounds—AirPlay now works natively on Google TV and Android TV. Enabling AirPlay on Google TV or Android TV For years, one of the biggest frustrations for iPhone users with an Android TV or Google TV was the lack of AirPlay support. That limitation is now starting to fade. Many newer Google TV and Android TV models now support AirPlay, so…
Netflix makes itself harder to love amidst rising subscription costs, multiple tiers, second-season cancellations, and account-sharing crackdowns. The problems seem to be getting worse each day. But even so, I’m not ready to cancel my subscription, and won’t be for some time. 5 The Exclusive Content Is Hard to Beat Netflix started streaming in 2007, and heavily relied on licensing content from existing networks and studios like Disney, Warner Bros., and Sony to fill its library. After it racked up the subscriptions, it transitioned into producing its own content, with the first one being House of Cards, released in 2013.…