A surprise developer preview of Android 11 for Android TV has been released by Google, but the most exciting thing is that it confirms the existence of a new Android TV-based dongle.

We’ve known for a few months that Google is planning a replacement for Chromecast Ultra and that the device is apparently codenamed Sabrina.

This new device appears to be more of an Apple TV or Fire TV rival rather than just a device to cast from your phone. It seems to be quite a capable device, with Dolby Vision support, a low-latency gaming mode (potentially to work with Stadia) and HDMI 2.1.

There’s not a lot of detail in the video – it’s just an outline render of an oval device with ‘G’ logo plugged into the back of a TV. But there have been numerous leaks and we’re now starting to build up a picture of what it’ll be like – that oval shape has been outed before, for example.

We’re expecting the Android TV dongle to debut soon, but we’re also expecting Android TV to be rebranded as Google TV at some point since that seems to be the way Google’s thinking is currently headed. There's also a possibility it could have Nest branding. 

Certainly, we’d have thought the new dongle could be with us around the same time as Android 11 launches – this is usually in August or early September.

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