We ’ve put down a new era for Google in the streaming video platform . And smart home platform . And in the conflict for the major players — that includes Amazon , Roku , and Apple — to keep customers within a single ecosystem while supporting all the supplement and doodads that we expend every day .

Welcome to Google TV Streamer . It score Google ’s return to a full - fledged streaming machine , and not something that just made it easy to part a video on your headphone and catch it somewhere else , or something that was somewhat underpowered . This is novel . This is better . And this does a lot more .

We have a complete summing up in a full , comprehensiveGoogle TV Streamer review . We highly urge you tick that out . But here are the broad strokes .

What is it?

Google TV Streamer is the replacement toChromecast with Google TV , which was Google ’s first self - get full Android TV / Google TV twist in quite some meter . Like its predecessor ( and unlike the original few iterations of Chromecast ) , it ’s a full operating system of rules based on Android TV . ( Yes , the “ Google TV ” name continues to confuse things . Welcome to the way Google does thing . )

In other Good Book , this is a direct competitor to the likes of Roku , Amazon Fire TV , and Apple TV .

You ’ll notice , though , that unlike the Chromecasts that came before it — and unlike most Roku and Fire TV devices — Google TV Streamer is n’t a diminutive dongle that lives behind your video . It ’s bigger ( not vast , though ) , and think of to be out in the open . Google says that ’s for better internet connectivity , and to better connect to the various fresh home devices that can connect immediately to it .

What is the Google TV Streamer price?

Google TV Streamer costs $ 99 . That ’s about twice as much as Chromecast with Google TV , and that ’s go to be a tough anovulant for some to unsay . But this is much better than what came before it . And that ’s also about the same price as the top closing of the Fire television receiver line , and just under what Apple TV 4 super C costs . ( And that ’s still our top pickaxe for the best streaming equipment you could buy . )

Will we see Google TV Streamer go on cut-rate sale at some point ? Almost sure .

What’s new?

If you ’ve ever used Google TV , you ’ll know your way around Google TV Streamer . It ’s almost exactly the same experience . The internals have been beefed up a bit — it ’s a good deal liquid and quicker , and it has much more depot for apps and movies and whatever .

Google TV also has the choice for a pumped up Ethernet link , if you ask something faster ( and probably more stable ) than Wi - Fi .

But perhaps the biggest alteration is that Google TV Streamer is a impertinent home hub , utilizing theMatter and Thread standard . You do n’t ask to remember those figure . Just recognise that gimmick care camera and locks and thermostats and whatever can talk instantly to Google TV Streamer — and can help those devices talk to other voguish home system , like Apple ’s HomeKit or Samsung ’s SmartThings .

And with all that comes a fresh Google Home panel in the exploiter interface that lets you see your cameras on the TV , or adjust the thermoregulator . It ’s fairly cool .

Also , the outside control is improved . It ’s bigger , with buttons in dear place , andan audible remote - finder chirp thingfor when you drop it down the cushion .

Is this Google TV? Or Android TV?

Yes .

Seriously , Google does n’t care to make thing easy sometimes . opine of it like this : Google TVis the stigmatisation for the program . This machine is a Google TV twist . Lots of overbold television receiver are Google TV , erm , TVs .

The software underneath them is called Android TV . But unless you ’re a developer , you really do n’t require to worry about that . Call it Google TV .

What’s in the box?

There are n’t any major surprise once you start the box seat . The packaging is somewhat simple , made of a good morsel of recycled stuff .

Inside the boxful you ’ll find :

mention that there ’s no HDMI cable in the box . You ’ll involve your own .

Google TV Streamer specs

We live in a world in which eyeglasses maybe should n’t matter quite as much as they do . But there ’s a sound number go on inside Google TV Streamer . Here are the spectacles that subject :

Is this better than the Onn 4K Pro?

We ’ve got a complete comparison ofGoogle TV Streamer versus Onn 4 K Pro , and you should read it . But here are the encompassing stroke : Both devices bleed the Google television operating system . It ’s the hardware that see the full-grown differences .

Onn 4 K Pro has an always - on microphone so you may do hand - free voice commands .   Google TV Streamer does n’t , but it does have the innards to serve as a smart - dwelling hub . And both devices havefind - my - remote capableness .

It ’s a tough call , for certain , especially when one is twice the price of the other .

Yeah, but this is no Nvidia Shield

You ’re correct . Nothing is . Next interrogative sentence .