The best part of the Chromecast update is the Google TV interface that comes with it, but as with any Google product, the user interface may change over time. In early February, Google TV expanded a revised home screen with much smaller app icons, but in early April, things returned to normal.
Article was updated on April 3 after the switch to larger app icons.
In early February, some users saw a silent update of the Google TV home screen that adjusted the size of the app icons to where it is now significantly smaller. The Google TV home screen lists a list of programs on the “For You” main page under two rows of content recommendations.
The difference was not easy to spot at first glance (which is probably intentional from Google), but it’s obvious when you take a closer look. The application row has indeed shrunk the size of the icons, leaving room for more icons while also reducing the overall size of the row. Since its launch, this section has been able to show seven complete app icons, as seen in the image above, but with this change, it could show nine, as seen below.
Functionally, it does not change anything, but it does take some emphasis off of programs and refocus on the content recommendations that Google TV is so good at.
Initially, the change was not widely announced, only for a few Reddit users. Within days, the change was announced to all Google TV users, which at the time only included the new Chromecast.
Though April 3Google TV seems to be switching its home screen app icons back to normal icons. We spotted the change on one of our own Chromecast devices, and Joe Maring, friend of the site, also noticed the change on Twitter.
More on Google TV:
FTC: We use revenue to earn automatically affiliate links. More.
Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news: