When Google TV was announced in September 2020, it was promised that we'd see new devices running Google TV in 2021. At CES 2021 - running as a digital event - we've seen the launch of new televisions that will offer Google TV.

Google's new TV experience - and let's be clear that Google sees this as an experience rather than a platform - was first launched on the Chromecast with Google TV. That's a device that we love: it offers access to pretty much all of the streaming services that you want, it's easily searchable via voice thanks to the integration of Google Assistant, and it offers Chromecast skills too.

As a streaming device Google TV has obvious advantages, so the move over to being the user interface for the TV will be interesting to see exactly how it will all integrate. There are greater challenges, especially if you have people connecting third-party devices to those TVs too, although Google TV can incorporate "Live TV" in a tab alongside movies, shows, apps, and other sections.

Sony was confirmed as a brand that would be adopting Google TV at that original announcement in September, but it's now been revealed that the Bravia XR televisions will be offering the Google experience.

Sony's new flagships televisions in the Bravia XR series includes new Master Series TVs, the Z9J and A90J, the A80J OLED, the X95J and X90J. That spans 8K and 4K models with a variety of screen technologies, there's HDMI 2.1 support, Netflix Calibrated Mode and IMAX Enhanced Mode, in a full range of sizes.

Whether there will be other TVs launched offering Google TV in other categories from Sony, we don't yet know.

Sony isn't the only company to be offering Google TV, as TCL has also announced that it will be offering a Google TV series in 2021. Again there's a full run of display tech options, including 8K, Mini-LED and QLED models.

TCL says that these TVs will be initially available in the US, but would be coming to other areas of the world too.

We don't know if other manufacturers will follow suit, Philips is a large user of Android TV, but we're not expecting the company to announce its 2021 televisions until later in January.

Google TV aims to curate and recommend content for you, taking all the streaming services that you use and allowing easy access so you can resume playing or discover content that's related to what you've been watching in the past. It offers a fresh and clean user interface, and for the Chromecast, a great remote that makes it really easy to skip around and access everything.