Google TV arrived last year to some lukewarm reviews, citing its complicated interface and lack of actual usefulness. Google has spun out with another push in the form of Google TV 2.0, which includes a totally revamped UI as well as access to Google's Android Market. The update will get rolled out to Sony devices starting today and will hit Logitech Revue set-top boxes soon after.
There's no new hardware announced, but we should see some from Samsung, Vizio and other partners next year. Google, for now, are focusing their efforts making its software more user-friendly and building a solid base that will continue to be improved upon with one or two major OS updates per year and through apps from third-party developers.
Google have also tweaked the YouTube app, making it more living-room friendly. Videos now start playing in full-screen mode right away and custom playlists are created on-the-fly, so a related video will automatically begin playing when the previous one finishes, leaving you not having to tweak that remote control every time a video ends. Google have also added a very nice update that gives users access to a filtered version of the Android Market with apps optimized for Google TV.
The total number of compatible apps available will be around 1600 to 1800 at launch, with most of them versions of mobile apps that have been tweaked to run on a TV screen. Roughly 30 to 50 apps "Featured for TV" will be expressly developers for Google TV, this includes CNBC, Fox News Business, and Aol HD.