Google TV Streamer review – it’s a Chromecast on steroids and a smart home hub

The new Google TV streamer is basically a Chromecast on steroids with a smart home hub thrown in.

It’s a lot bigger than the Chromecast with Google TV and you can’t hide it out of sight like you could before.

Under the hood is a more powerful processor that’s 22 per cent faster than the previous Chromecast and packing twice the RAM.

We could easily notice that as we navigated the menus and opened and switched between apps.

Another great addition is the Ethernet port.

The old Chromecast could only be connected to wi-fi, but the Google TV Streamer lets you plug in an Ethernet cable enjoy much faster speeds.

That’s what we’d recommend because you’re limited to Wi-Fi 5 on the device.

Now that should be fine even when streaming 4K wirelessly but if you can connect with a cable take that option.

The old design included the short HDMI cable integrated into the design, but the Google TV Streamer now has a HDMI port so it’s BYO HDMI cable.

And it still has the Chromecast functionality built-in so you can still cast to the device if you need to.

It has a handy remote complete with a voice control option and a customisable favourites button.

If you misplace the remote, you can easily find it thanks to a new feature that allows you to ask Google to make it ring.

With the voice control, it does a great job understanding what you’re telling it to look for whether it’s specific titles or requests like “movies starring Sylvester Stallone”.

Google TV Streamer interface will be familiar to Chromecast user with the options at the top being For You, Movies, TV Shows, Apps and Library.

For You offers the top picks based on what you’ve been watching and searching for.

When you are looking at a movie it shows you where you can watch it.

The dashboard can offer recommendations on the home page from the various services you’ve subscribed to.

You can also set up multiple profiles so your recommendations remain your own.

Naturally you’ve got all the major services like Netflix, Disney+, Stan, Prime, Paramount+ and many others.

There are lots of other apps which can stream movies and internet channels for free.

But there are a few noticeable omissions like the Kayo and Binge apps.

There would be a lot of people buying a product like the Google TV Streamer because their smart TV doesn’t offer the Kayo sport app so not having it at launch will be a disappointment for some users.

Kayo and Binge was available on the Chromecast which makes it even more curious why they are not on Google’s latest device.

We’re assuming these apps will become available on the platform sooner rather than later.

Quality-wise, the Google TV Streamer can handle 4K along with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos sound, so you are getting a great experience on your TV and sound system.

A welcome addition to the Google TV Streamer is the Google Home hub where you can see, control and monitor your smart devices.

It has Matter onboard – this is a new universal platform standard that will recognise and link a wider range of smart home devices.

You can also create routines for bedtime, when you get home and when you want to watch a movie so lights will turn on or off, blinds will be open or closed – you get the picture.

We were also able to monitor our security cameras on our TV using the Google TV Streamer.

But it does take a few taps on the remote to locate the Google Home section which is why we programmed our favourite key to do the job.

Now one press of the button with the star icon presents all our connected devices and we can instantly access them.

The Google TV Streamer is available now and is priced at $159.

VERDICT

The Google TV Streamer is a leap forward on the Chromecast with improved performance and added features including being able to aggregate all your smart home devices in one place. It’s an affordable and useful addition to meet your entertainment and smart home needs.