TCL announced a bunch of TVs at CES 2021 including the 4K Mini LED TV C825, TCL 4K QLED TV C725, TCL 4K HDR TV P725. The 2021 TVs will bring with them support for Google TV but what if you just purchased a TCL Android TV in 2020 or 2019? Well, it looks like TCL could be updating its 2019 and 2020 TVs to Android 11. The information comes from FlatpanelsHD which says that TCL “says that its 2019 and 2020 Android TV models in Europe will be updated to Android 11 with ALLM for apps, cinematic ads, instant apps (see below), a Gboard TV keyboard with speech-to-text and predictive typing, performance improvements, and a new 'Subscribe and install' option in the Google Play Store”.
Interestingly the website lists the X915, C815, C715, P715, and P615 among others. But these are the model numbers available in India as well, so it is safe to assume that the TVs could see the Android 11 update in India as well. However, there is no information on when we will see the update rollout.
The question remains whether these older TVs will get the Google TV UI as there is no clarity on the same.
https://twitter.com/TCL_Europe/status/1350105209100529667?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In 2019, we saw the TCL C715 running on Android and bringing with it hands-free controls where you can call up the Google Assistant without the use of the remote control. You can read our review of the TCL C715 here. Another TV with hands-free controls is the LG GX and you can read our review of the TV here.
With TCL TVs, the Google TV UI will come to its 2021 models. Sony is one more TV maker that has confirmed the Google TV UI on its 2021 models. You can learn more about the Sony 2021 TVs here.
LG is also reworking its UI with the all-new WebOS 6. You can learn how LG’s UI is changing here.