Google announced yesterday on its blog about an upcoming feature exclusively for Android tablets called “Entertainment Space”. There was a sudden interest in tablets due to the pandemic and the stay-at-home protocol. Android tablets were thought of forgotten before that moment. However, steady and strong sales in Q1 2021 proved wrong that Android tablets are gone.
Entertainment Space is exactly what you think it is. It is a one-stop shop for movies, books, games and videos. It basically combined all of Google Play, including books, movies and YouTube music into one.
Currently, this feature is available for tablets only. Surprisingly, Google remembered that Android tablets existed in the first place.
Let’s discuss which tab is which, shall we?
On the top of the app, there are three tabs: Watch, Games and Read. Which obviously refer to movies, games and books.
In the “Watch” tab, there you can find an assortment of movies, TV shows and even YouTube videos. In this tab, you can also find recommended services such as Hulu, Twitch and Google TV. There is also a “Recommended for YouTube” section which works similarly to the weird recommendations system YouTube has, where you will be recommended a video from 12 years ago. There is also a “Continue Watching” row, so you can easily go back to shows you have watched previously.
The “Games” tab is basically just a rearrangement of the Google Play Store as well as Google Play Games. Like the “Watch” tab, there is also a “continue playing” row. Also, there is a section called “Instant Play” that lets you play the games through the Entertainment Space app without downloading. However, these are pre-selected and not all games are ready to play instantly.
The “Read” tab is like an Amazon Kindle without you having to have Amazon Kindle. It basically is a rearrangement of the Google Play Books app that lets you read different books and novels. Unlike the other two, this one seems to only have a plug for Google Play Books. This section has recommendations as well. It also has audiobooks, which some have a trial for you to listen to.
According to Google, “starting this month, Entertainment Space will be available on Walmart onn. tablets. And later this year, Entertainment Space will roll out globally on new and select existing Android tablets from Lenovo™, Sharp and more”
There is no word yet for international release.
Source: Google Blog