Man, can we say it? Is Chromecast dead? I still have a few of the ol' dongles kicking around, ready for when needed. But, they've been replaced by devices that can live more permanently, and more readily interactive (i.e. there's a remote, so I don't need to use my phone); like the newer Chromecast with Google TV. The iterative nature of these devices with Google have been pretty cool, I remember the original Google TV - the Logitech Revue.
But here we are at the most recent and Google has decided to officially drop the Chromecast name from the device, this is just the Google TV Streamer. This is no longer meant as a device that hides away at the back of your device, it's meant to really mimic and compete alongside the Roku and Apple TV devices out there, bringing some prominence to your device.
Okay, let's dive in. First let's unbox this $129.99CDN device
With it open, and trying to weigh the difference in price from the previous version at just $70 to this model at $130... where's the big difference?
Sure, the specs do say that there is more 'oomph' within the new model (upped the RAM from 2GB to 4GB, upped the 8GB storage for 32GB, it does have ethernet...); but I'd never noticed any stutter from our main unit. There is the feature of it now being a 'matter hub', which, as techy as I am, never really quite understood -- best I could get to understand it was that: instead of communicating commands to your 'smart things' it normally would send the command up to the cloud, the cloud then routs it back to the device - whereas a hub allows it to go directly to that device. I'm probably oversimplifying it.
Okay, so that's the invisible difference, and not sure I'd really say I'd notice if it didn't have it.
What I did notice it didn't have is an HDMI cord. See, didn't think much of it when unboxing as, well... none of the other models have ever really needed it. The cord was attached. They came with 'an outie'. This just has the port... an 'innie'. So, in order to connect it to the TV you need a cord to connect that innie to an innie, so that $130 device just became a... $140 device.
Then there's the question of putting it on something. We just bought a new TV and wall mount and really took the time to hide all the cables away and make it 'plain' (we also don't have any cable boxes to worry about), so now to put this somewhere for me, adds some questions, and potentially some more holes in my wall (I hate fishing those cables through). You can't just use a USB port on the back of the device.
I do like how it's fairly innocuous to look at, the white, goes well with our fake fireplace mantle, but it just meant something more to consider, where the previous I didn't have to. I guess I could hide the streamer behind the TV with a coiled up loop of HDMI cable, but that feels somehow more cluttered.
But let's get on to what it does have.
It has the option for 'some' of your Google Home items, with a special panel on the home screen.
Now, keep in mind, that I didn't have it at first. Even did a firmware update, but it wasn't showing... everything on the internet said to 'reboot it, and it will show up'. Well, I thought the update where it rebooted was enough. Nope. After your update, give it another reboot, and sure enough it'll be there.
To get it you go to the FAR right option, where settings are, and you can see a new panel that isn't on the older models, for Home.
Open that up and you get to see some, not all, of your smart home devices. Most notably, you get to see the cameras you now have. Well, I can see 3 of them, but not my 3rd party camera. Not sure if that's just a glitch (sometimes it just unadds itself in the app; but it's still there on my phone).
It's nice to have, and it will even display on screen when the doorbell is rung (and assuming you could then talk back through it with the remote).
My favourite thing with this, by far, is that it has a 'remote finder'.
Seriously, I can't believe they haven't had one already. My older Rokus have, and they are a godsend.
At the back of the unit there is a button... hit it and the remote starts to beep. So simple.
Speaking of the remote, they've changed things around. I'm not a huge fan of change for change's sake, and I feel like that's what's happened here.
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It's taller, and the order of the buttons is monkeyed with. Volume controls are now on the face - not on the side (but that's how it is on my phone, so it worked). They moved the home button ... I can't tell you how many times I've hit 'mute' now by accident.
What was the 'input selector' button is now replaced with an 'action' key, so you can map it to whatever you want (but we can't change Netflix...).
What was cool was that how just getting the device set up, it automatically knew it was my Samsung TV and adjusted the remote accordingly. No having to "and is your volume changing now? how about now" to play with the IR settings.
There also is this option to connect your wireless earbuds to it to listen to so you're not bothering the rest of the family late at night.
I don't recall previous models having that feature.
All in all, it's almost exactly the same model as last year, but at almost double the price, missing an HDMI cord and a different remote.
Honestly, I'd personally stick with the Chromecast with Google TV as my device of choice, but there are reasons to swap, and your situation may warrant that:
- Ethernet - can you really stream 4K via wifi reliably?
- Futureproofing - more storage and more RAM means more runway for it to last against what's goin to come down the road
- Smart home integration - being able to view your cameras on the TV or having a Matter hub so that your smart items talk to each other better
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