Google Chromecast w/ Google TV: Evolved & Reimagined While Remaining Great

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I’m sure many of you who own a Chromecast or Chromecast Ultra probably don’t use it as much anymore. Just about all TVs these days can replace what Google’s dongle could do. So what did Google do about it? They upped the ante by evolving it into more.

So we have the new Chromecast w/ Google TV. Not remixed but more so evolved & reimagined. It can stream all of the popular apps, supports 4K up to @60fps HDR, an included remote that can replace your TV one, handle gaming, and Google Stadia support coming soon. So after one week in w/ it, let’s talk all about it, its strengths & limitations below.

You got more or less a similar design as the previous look but flatter. As it looks as if someone sat on it. Of course being more than it was before, the new Chromecast needs more power than your TV’s USB port. You got an actual 7.5W USB-C power adapter to plug into a wall for more power.

Inside of the actual Chromecast dongle is powered by an Amlogic chip, 2GB of RAM, and only got 8GB of storage. No need for another Ultra version of this one as this one already supports 4K@60 fps as well as various HDR formats. More specifically HDR10, HDR10+, & Dolby Vision along w/ Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby Atmos audio formats. And you got 3 color options of Snow, Sunrise, and Sky w/ matching 2 AAA battery colors as well.

The new controller offers a circular D-pad w/ a button in the middle, to handle most of your navigation as well as Play/Pause/Rewind/FF/etc., Home + Back buttons, dedicated Google Assistant/Netflix/YouTube buttons, volume rocker, mute button, TV Input button, a built-in mic, & a Power button. There’s even an accelerometer on board to use the remote for gaming. Yes, this supports gaming w/ a few titles present and full Stadia support coming soon.

The new remote is small & super useful.

The controller is a bit on the slippery slide but feels good in your hand. It’s small enough to have every button accessible as well. I love the remote having its own Power button, TV Input button, & IR blaster to use as a true universal remote control. The native mic on-board is good to hear your commands for Google Assistant. The dedicated Netflix + YouTube buttons can’t be programmed to access other apps natively but w/ a long-press to the YouTube button, you’ll get the option for YouTube TV as well.

Now this isn’t Google’s 1st rodeo in regards to a TV interface. Many moons ago, they had Android TV and had it power many TVs w/ Google Assistant built-in. Looks like from here on out that changes as it looks like we’re shifting to Google TV. Outside of the UI, it does the same thing in regards to offering many apps & games to stream.

It does support tons of apps at launch – at least the popular ones. So you got ABC, Amazon Prime Video, AMC, A&E, CBS All Access, Crackle, Comedy Central, DC Universe, Disney NOW, Disney+, Epix Now, Fox Now, Hulu, HBO Max, History, Lifetime, MTV, NBC, Netflix, Pluto TV, Showtime, Showtime Anytime, Sling TV, Starz, TBS, The CW, TNT, Tubi TV, YouTube, YouTube TV, VH1, & more. Pretty much any service you would want to stream from – save for Apple TV+ of course.

The new UI for Google TV looks clean and close to Amazon’s Fire UI though. Its clean, easy to navigate, somewhat customizable, and a pretty accurate voice search feature. The performance of it all works out pretty well. I only came across the occasional lag or taking a few minutes to load the homepage. Outside of that, it handled everything pretty well.

If you’re YouTube TV subscriber, you’ll see a Live tab to see what content is playing on Live TV. It does a good job in recommendations based off of your viewing. However, it will suggest content from platfroms you’re not paying for though. No pesky banner ads present as the closest thing you get is ‘Trending on Google’ & ‘YouTube Recommended Videos’. Google TV is still powered by Android so you can sideload apps, access developer settings, & more.

More Tidbits:

Supports only one Google account at the current time.
You can utilize Google Assistant to control your smart home products.
You can add a USB-C hub to add things like USB game controllers, thumb drives, & Ethernet adapters.
If you’re playing music, you can group this w/ smart speakers around your home via the Google Home app.
If you’re not the biggest user of Netflix or YouTube, you can download the Button Remapper app to make it open a custom app or take a screenshot.

The new Chromecast w/ Google TV goes from just a dongle to a full-on Roku competitor.

The new + improved Chromecast re-emerges as a must-have in your household – especially cord-cutters. Armed w/ its own UI + powered by Google TV, the 2020 Chromecast can either duplicate or straight-up replace your streaming stick. All of this inside of a powerful package for an affordable price of $50 w/ batteries included.

However, there are some things they can improve on here though. We already got Stadia support on the way but no 4K-upscaling or multi-user support can be key points for some potential buyers to not pick this up. But for the majority of consumers will be pleased w/ this and all it can. Definitely enjoying mines.