Yesterday, our friends at XDA Developers snagged some renders and marketing images from a leaked video of Google's now long-anticipated Android TV dongle, which might get hardware codename "Sabrina." They've also confirmed that Sabrina will come with a dedicated remote, as was previously rumored. But better than that, they’ve just published a video that includes the new Android TV redesign in action.

Though it contains plenty of supplementary commentary, the video clearly shows how a few different aspects of the Android TV redesign might behave. However, these videos date back to last year, and they may simply be mockups based on designs that Google has since changed. So, take everything here with a small pinch of salt — these details are legit, but they might potentially be slightly out of date if Google has changed anything since then.

"Sabrina" will be available in three colors: Black, white, and a flesh-tone pink. 

The overall design of the new dongle will be a bit more oval than current Chromecast hardware, with what XDA speculates may be a sandstone-like matte texture. Images showed it off in three colors: black, white, and a flesh-like pink. The remote was only shown in white, but it might have other colors to match.

Remote images from an FCC listing (left), and the leaked firmware (right).

The remote itself is pretty Googly, with a simplified hardware interface and just two rows of buttons outside the directional pad, according to these images. One of those buttons is for the Assistant, and Android TV's usual back and home buttons are also present, plus a new “favorites” button — who knows what that does. A microphone will probably also be included built into the remote.

It isn't clear yet if dedicated buttons for any partner streaming services will be included, but it's speculated that a programmable IR blaster may also be built-in.

These images don’t tell the full story, watch the video at the top to see these changes in action.

These stills from the video included in the firmware show off the new "content-focused" interface that the previously rumored Android TV redesign included with Google's dongle will have. In the center is an automatically scrolling carousel of advertised content, which also lists the provider you'll need to watch it. Below is a list of TV shows and movies. Nest alert overlays (which can expand to fill the screen) are also planned, as you can see just above.

According to the video, native live YouTube TV integration is also planned, seemingly baked into the launcher itself, rather than through a separate app. Better Assistant integration also appears to be planned, with a more intuitive interface when performing general searches through the Assistant. .

XDA was further able to tell from a teardown of the firmware that the device will support Dolby Vision, and be based on an AMlogic SoC. Branding and availability are still unknown at this point. XDA was also unable to confirm the previously leaked pricing, which was set at around $80.

Some of these details raise more questions than they answer when it comes to the Android TV redesign, and it's probably tough to judge them in isolation without trying it all out for ourselves. But, now we've got a glimpse of what to expect. With the Pixel 4a and Android 11 Beta Launch both delayed, though, we might be in for a bit of a wait before we hear more from Google about “Sabrina.”

UPDATE: 2020/06/03 12:42pm PDT BY RYNE HAGER

New video

The folks at XDA Developers have since published a video that shows off the UI changes in greater detail, including things like animations, and a couple features that weren’t mentioned in the site’s original coverage. We’ve updated our own coverage with these additional details.

Source: XDA Developers