What is difference between Smart TV and Android TV
What is difference between Smart TV and Android TV, if you have this question in your mind than your are not the first one who is thinking about this before finalising your new Television.
Nowadays buying a Television set is no longer remain an easy task as like before. Two decades earlier when you need to buy a TV, you just go the TV showroom in your town and finalise your TV as per your need in a day.
Due to advancement of the technology in every field TVs are also not exempted. Modern TVs are come with too much of features and complex in technologies that made difficult for an ordinary person to buy a TV.
Android TV and Smart TV are such terms that may have confused many of you when you are thinking to buy a TV.
We will try to clear your confusion and help out to find out which one you should buy between smart TV and Android TV and to know in detail, What is difference between Smart TV and Android TV.
Table of Contents
What is difference between Normal TV and Smart TV
Earlier TV are come with normal features like you can connect your DVD player, Set Top Box, Laptops with TVs. Also LED TV come with USB port to play movies photos from USB drives.
Nowadays TV are completely changed, in a Smart TV you can watch your favourite movies & TV shoes through the apps like Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube etc. with the help of your Wi-Fi router that is connected to the internet.
So that a Smart TV is a TV that have access of internet using Wi-Fi or through ethernet cable and have ability to stream media directly from the apps inbuilt with the TV.
You need not to buy additional dongle and streaming devices like Chromecast, Amazon Fire Stick, apple TV, Android Boxes to watch popular OTT platform content in a Smart TV.
Further there is no need to carrying two remote as smart TV have universal remote to the navigate between apps and to control DTH, Home Theatre etc.
Most of TV nowadays come with Smart TV feature, hardly now you will find a TV that is not smart in 2021. This is a marketing strategy of TV manufacturer to sell their high price TV with the feature of compulsory feature Smart TV.
Otherwise, there are plenty of budget options available to make a normal TV into Smart TV.
What is difference between Smart TV and Android TV
We can say that all the Android TVs are Smart TVs, but Smart TVs are not an Android TV.
Smart TV are come with proprietary OS specially developed my Smart TV manufacturer. For example, Samsung smart TV come with Tizen OS, LG TV running over WebOS and Some Sony TV come with Linux OS.
Smart TV has clear user interface and navigation. These are fast in response and have their own app store.
However, Android TV run over Android based OS that is named as Android TV by google. This OS is based on popular Android OS found on Mobiles and tablets and majority of mobile today run over Android there after iOS come in second place.
Android TV has Google Play Store that you have found in mobiles, from where thousands of app, games can be downloaded.
Android TV also come with Google assistant and inbuilt Chromecast (also called Google Cast) feature to cast apps content directly to TV without need of screen mirror.
Other than TVs Android TV also found on Media streaming device like Mi Android Box, Nvidia Shield, Android Based Set top box, Android based media streaming sticks.
Here somethings to make clear that Android TV may be based on Android OS but not all the apps available on the Google Play Store of Android TV as like mobile.
Apps are based on country and also some apps only available on mobiles and not on TV.
However, number of apps still higher than any smart TV app store like Tizen or WebOS.
Further you can also sideload the apps from apk files to the Android TV, the same is not possible in Tizen and Web OS.
But wait if you are reaching to the conclusion that Android TVs are better than Smart TVs than it is too early. You have to see all the aspects and differences between Android TV and Smart to decide which one is better.
First of all, Operating System and app store is only one parameter of a TV, there more important parameters that decides which TV is better.
Display quality, OLED & QLED type, resolution, refresh rate, viewing angle, local dimming, contrast ratio, support of screen mirroring and casting are some important parameters that needs to be looked while finalising TV.
Let’s see these parameters to decide Smart TV vs Android TV which one is a better choice.
Ports and Connectivity wise difference between Smart TV and Android TV
Both Android TV and Smart TV has all the necessary ports and connectivity like HDMI, HDMI ARC, Optical port for Home Theatre and sound bar connection. Wi-Fi and ethernet port for internet connection.
USB port for Pen drive, USB hard drives, Mouse, and Keyboard connection and to power some devices that can be connected with USB ports.
RCA ports (Audio video cable) for older drive like DVD player etc connectivity, RF antenna port if you have some cable TV connection etc.
So, in the case of ports and connectivity both TV have the required ports.
Smart TV vs Android TV: Apps and App Store
The other difference between Smart TV and Android TV is their App Store. Tizen OS have around 300 apps available, WebOS have around 600 apps in their store. However, Android OS is taking lead here that have more than 7000 apps. But not all the apps support in all the countries that you have to keep in mind.
Further Android store also more number of games availability compared to other stores.
There is another advantage of Android TV is that apps that are available on the Google Play Store are time to time update and providing more features in the apps itself. However, there are less chances that apps provided in the Smart TV are getting update for longer time. Therefore, you may get broader app update support in Android TV compared to Smart TVs.
One thing to mention here that android TV is also a TV not your mobile or laptop, so keep this in mind that you are not going to use TV for Social Media, web browsing, WhatsApp, email etc.
The major media streaming apps are available on all the Smart TV platform, such as Hotstar, Netflix, Prime, Voot, Zee5, SonyLiv etc. Further support of popular apps are increasing day by day in different Smart TV app stores.
Screen Mirroring and Casting feature
All the smart TVs and Android TVs have support of screen mirroring from mobiles and Laptop through Miracast.
So, there is not any issue as far those concern of screen mirroring by watching photos and media trough their mobiles to TV.
However, Android TV have one plus point as they are running over Android, they have Chromecast built in that is also called as Google cast.
So that you can cast your favourite app from mobile to TV directly without need of any separate Chromecast. In smart TV this function is not available however, some modern smart TV supports Apple airplay for the supported apps through iPhone and iPad.
Some Smart TV (Samsung QLED) have Chromecast like support for YouTube and Netflix to cast apps to the TV.
Sony latest Android TV have support of both Chromecast and apple airplay also.
Performance
Performance could be one of the difference for some people that can decide to choose between Smart TV and Android TV. As Android TV are slow in loading the apps and navigating through UI.
Also, android TV took more time in start-up as like booting of Smart Phone compared to Smart TVs, those are very fast to start.
In Android TV you have to close the app to reach another app, however in WebOS an Tizen you can switch any apps directly.
Support of Google assistant and Alexa
Earlier Android TV were having advantage of Google assistant inbuilt feature. Using google assistant you can open apps through voice, changing of channels, search for media, movie, TV show etc easily.
Now most of all Smart TV come with support of Google assistant and Amazon Alexa. Further, you can connect smart home speakers like Google home and Amazon Alexa with your TV to control them through voice commands.
So, at the point of voice assistant now Android TV and Smart TV both equally supports feature of Google and Alexa voice assistants.
Using Smart remote you an also give voice commands and search contents. Both the Android and Smart TV have feature of Universal remote so that you can control many devices from one single remote.
Other Myths and Frequently asked questions
For your more clarification of various queries we have provided some FAQ here to clear the difference between Smart TV and Android TV.
Is Android TV and Android TV Box same thing?
Actually, in early era of Android TV people were thinking that Media streaming device that runs over Android is called Android TV only.
Later on, it is clear that Android TV is an OS based on Android as like Android Wear. This OS specially designed for TVs, Media Streaming Boxes and Sticks.
So Android TV is an OS name that also used as a synonym for Android TV based Smart TVs.
Can we browse internet on Smart TV and Android TV?
Yes, in both Smart TV and Android TV you can browse internet through inbuilt browser. You can also install another browser from their respective app stores.
On the browser you can also watch live TV channels from the supported websites like form Airtel Xstreme website.
Can I use Smart TV without internet?
Yes, you can use Smart TV and Android TV without internet. By using DTH, connecting pen drives, connecting laptops with HDMI cable.
Can I use Media Streaming devices in Smart TVs?
Yes of course as like normal TV you can also use different media streaming devices like Amazon Fire stick, Google Chromecast and Android TV boxes.
Is watching Netflix, Prime Video etc. free on Smart TVs?
No for all the apps you have to take separate subscription either in Smart TV or in Android TV.
Can I control Android TV and Smart TV with Smart home speakers?
Yes, both Smart TV and Android TV can be controlled with the Smart speakers like Google Home mini and Alexa dot.
What does mean my Android certified TV
Some Sony TV providing Android certifies TV OS. This mean that OS is modified my the manufacturer to provide better optimise view of apps to improve performance.
Other features like Chromecast built in and Google Play Store still available on Android certified TVs.
What Brands provided Android TV in India
In India following brands provided Android Based TV
Other Android TV based products available in India
Android TV based other products available in India are given below:
Example of Android TV in India
Here are some of the examples of Android TV in India:
- Mi 108 cm (43 Inches) Full HD Android Smart LED TV 4A
- TCL 108 cm (43 inches) AI 4K Ultra HD Certified Android Smart LED TV
- Sony Bravia 108 cm (43 inches) 4K Ultra HD Smart Android LED TV
- Panasonic 100 cm (40 inches) Full HD Android Smart LED TV
- TCL 100 cm (40 inches) Full HD Certified Android Smart LED TV
Conclusion
Hope we are able to understand you, what are the differences between Smart TV and Android TV, and which one you should buy.
As per our view OS is not the only criteria to buy the TV, there are many other factors that decided which TV is best. Parameters like Display (OLED, QLED, LED), Digital Dolby, Dolby Atoms, HDR 10, Resolution, Sound Quality, Refresh rate, gaming support, input lag, local dimming, viewing angle are some of important parameters.
You have also seen above that most of the Smart TV having features of Android TV, like support of popular OTT apps, screen mirroring, voice assistant etc.
Further if Android TV have plus point of larger number of apps Smart TV have more smooth and faster performance compared to android TV.