Comment on This Windows tool makes it super easy to debloat and cut down ads on your Android TV
Extrasvhx9he@lemmy.today 9 months ago
Don’t own an android TV or box but can you really not change the default launcher natively?
Android TV is very limited compared to regular Android. It’s hot garbage. Connecting a Bluetooth headset requires navigating through 4 levels of menus, it is missing several accessibility features such as audio balance settings, and has ads on the launcher. On top of that, it runs like shit even on a 4 core CPU.
Not that regular Android is much better.
The entire android tv UI is garbage. Lose internet while Disney plus or Netflix are loading? There’s a good chance you need to force close them to make them work again. That’s like 5 menus deep and doesn’t make a lot of sense how to get there. Long press to bring up app info? Yeah right!
And the hardware is often total junk. There’s a reason people still recommend the Shield, a device which is 5 years old and runs Android 9.
People here don’t want to hear it, but using an Apple TV will ruin the experience for everything else from a hardware perspective. Software aside, of course. There’s no reason for Android devices to exist on such sub par hardware. And yet…
The Shield Software Experience is version 9. The Android version is 11.
Of course you can. Even on the cheap pucks from Walmart. I run projectivy on those and my shield.
How long do you think we have before Projectivy is taken down?
You can with some tinkering. You can uninstall the default launcher with ADB shell and some Android TV show select launcher options when more than 1 is installed.
They don’t make it easy, but it’s not hard either. Flauncher + adb to change the default launcher ftw!
Usually you have to either disable the default launcher with adb or you need to remap the home button to open a dofferent launcher.
I always go the adb route for everything. I also have UART access on my TV, so I can disable the setup wizard and avoid logging into anything or accepting any EULAs.
It takes literally no effort with ProjectIvy. It’s just a menu selection in the new launcher to set it as default.
When I tried FLauncher it didn’t have that convenient selection, and I’d have to adb in to set it as default. So I didn’t end up using it.
WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I have a chromecast with Google tv and could natively install a launcher from the playstore and non playstore apps from file managers.
criitz@reddthat.com 9 months ago
Running the streaming app on the Chromecast itself? Which app? Any links or references? I’d love to do something like this.
WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I don’t know the rules here I’ll pm you.