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Latest Google TV updates improve performance, Live tab adds ‘Recents’ section, more

As the year comes to a close, Google is announcing a few more updates for Google TV that are quietly rolling out, including some further performance improvements, some upgrades to the “Live” tab, and more.

In a brief post today, Google recaps some of the changes that have come to Google TV over the course of this year, as well as some of the new updates rolling out now.

Focusing on what’s new, Google first notes that further improvements to performance and storage are rolling out now.

This includes optimizing how Google TV uses the memory (RAM) on your device. Google says that it “optimized the way Google TV’s home screen loads recommendation rows” and also “simplified” system apps to run lighter. The company also notes that it has sped up the experience by “preloading rows of movies and shows before scrolling, optimizing the way tabs load, and ensuring results load more quickly when using search.”

Storage – a rough point for the Chromecast with Google TV especially – should also be better going forward. Google says that recent updates have introduced “changes to device setup to reduce the size of preinstalled apps you don’t use.”

Finally, Google TV is also rolling out some updates to the “Live” tab.

Users will now see two new sections. The first is a “Recents” section, which shows any channels you’ve recently streamed. As the catalog of channels grows with more and more free channels being added, this should be quite handy. The other new addition is “Local news,” which will surface any news channels specific to your area.

All of these updates are rolling out now. Notably, the Chromecast with Google TV also picked up a system update last week, but most of these updates are handled through app updates.

More on Google TV:

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Avatar for Ben Schoon Ben Schoon

Ben is a Senior Editor for 9to5Google.

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