One of the major announcements from CES was the arrival of Android TV on Sony televisions. Instead of tippy toeing around the new OS, Sony has decided to embrace Android TV in a big way and is including on its entire 2015 4K and HDTV fleet. With a UI that’s finally not horrid and a host of options like Google Cast, the smart TV we’ve always wanted may finally be here.

This of course brought to question the status of the 2014 Sony 4K televisions. Could the older Bravia 4K TVs be upgraded to Android TV? We’ve been asked this question many times on Twitter, Facebook, and our comments section so lets address it after the jump.

The answer unfortunately is a big no. While it might seem like a simple firmware update, Android TV is deeply rooted in the hardware of the televisions as well and not just on an OS level. From a specific (and undisclosed) processor dedicated to Android TV to improved wireless chips to handle the required Wi-Fi speeds needed to stream content from mobile devices, the 2015 Sony 4K televisions hardware are a completely different beast than their predecessor.

On top of that, all 4K televisions ship with 16GB of internal storage to store apps and games from Android TV where the 2014 Sony 4K TVs offered no internal storage space. All of this will result in a completely different UI look between those who purchased a 2014 Sony 4K television and those who will be waiting for the 2015 fleet.

While this article has focused specifically on the 4K TVs from Sony, the same logic applies to Sony’s HDTVs which will also ship with Android TV.

Discuss:

Are you surprised that you cannot upgrade to Android TV or was this an expected thing?