Google has been trying to figure out how to attack the living room for quite some time now. This year, with the launch of the Nexus Player, they showed that they were heading in a new direction. That said, Brad noted a few shortcomings in the Android TV experience when he reviewed the Nexus Player last month.
Fortunately, you’re not stuck with Android TV if you own a Nexus Player. Flashing Android 5.0 onto the device is a fairly simple process now thanks to Lollirock, a port of the full Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system for the Nexus server from the developer of DroidMote. .
Just download the firmware, reboot your device into bootloader mode, and use fastboot to flash the software just like any other custom ROM.
When the Player restarts, you’ll be greeted by a standard-issue Android interface. There are a couple major advantages, too. For one, you’ll have access to a web browser. Chrome and the Android browser come standard, but you can install your personal favorite thanks to advantage number two: Google Play access.
Now, just because you can install whatever you want doesn’t mean every app or game is going to run smoothly — or at all, for that matter — on the Nexus Player. Still, it’s nice to have options, and loads of them should work just fine.
With its 1.8Ghz quad-core Atom chip, the Nexus Player certainly packs enough power under the hood to offer a decent desktop experience; it doesn’t need to be relegated to set-top duties. And on another good note, reverting to the stock Android TV software isn’t a big deal, either; just grab the image from Google and flash it to the Nexus Player and you’re right back where you started.
via CNX Software
Lollirock rocks just got my default nexus player and I just don’t get it, think its crazy that google has created TV. Use droidmoteserver or client with a android phone, cast our play native with a controller but that remote sucks big style. Zulu the guy on XDA forums providing lollirock is an absolute genius for proving vanilla lollipop on the player.
Can I (Without any rooting etc) plug in external storage and both save and run games/apps from that external storage?
Good news.
Now, can we run the Leanback Launcher with this? Best of both worlds…