Google is making your Android tablet more like a small TV than a big phone

Google’s Entertainment Space for Android tablets allows you to view all of your movies, games and books in one place. Rather than needing to access different apps to find what you want to watch, play or read, Entertainment Space puts in all on one screen – like on Google TV.

The app is divided into three simple tabs: watch, games and read (we’re not sure why games wasn’t game or play, either). The watch tab is, obviously, where you will find all of your video content. This includes any video you have saved on your device, content that you have rented or bought from Google TV and recommended videos from YouTube. It can also pull in recommendations from Twitch, Hulu and a range of other streaming services.

The game tab is where you will find all the apps you have already downloaded to your computer – with recently played games highlighted so you can quickly jump back in. It also pulls in recommendations from Google Play Games. One nice touch here is that it supports instant play, so you can try out new games without having to download them.

• Google Maps update makes planning road trips much easier
• RIG Pro Compact controller for Xbox is the first to feature Dolby Atmos
• Motorola Edge replacements leaked

The final tab, read, has you covered for those quieter times. You’ll find your library of downloaded titles, as well as suggestions from Google Play Books. As with the games, it allows free previews of titles. It will also highlight discounted books.

The Entertainment Space is finally addressing what most of us use tablets for, and while the solution is hardly groundbreaking, it is a nice feature that I feel most people will make use of. It’s a similar idea to Apple’s TV app, but actually goes further with the books and games. The feature is due to feature on Walmart’s onn. tablets this month but will roll out globally to all Android tablets later in the year.