Google has announced two new Chromecast devices designed to take over your living room with faster wireless video and audio streaming and an affordable £30 price tag.
The new Chromecast for video streaming is a substantial upgrade on the original and will bring the streaming device up to speed with the likes of the Apple TV and Amazon's new Fire TV. Google first launched its original Chromecast two years ago and claims to have sold more than 20 million of the HDMI dongles.
The biggest external difference is that the new Chromecast is not a USB stick -- it's now circular to accommodate the new streaming technology on the inside. It also comes in three different colours, black, coral and lemonade -- better known as red and yellow.
As it's no longer a stick-style device, Google believes it'll take up less room and be way easier to plug into the back of your crowded TV via its new, built-in flat HDMI cable.
Like its predecessor, the Chromecast's job is to stream content via Wi-Fi from a phone, tablet or PC. The difference is that inside the Chromecast there are three Wi-Fi antennas that will support the newer dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac version.
Dan Saunders, Google's head of Chromecast for northern Europe, believes this will provide a “more robust, high quality streaming experience for less buffering than you would have found previously with the Chromecast”.
Content can also come directly from apps and the new Chromecast is smart enough to pre-load the media it thinks you might like. So Netflix will start prepping for your next binging session by loading up the player and even buffering the video it thinks you're going to want to watch. This sounds smart and useful, but we'll have to see it in real life to judge how accurate it's going to be in the long run.
The new Chromecast will also be able to stream multiplayer games straight from phone to TV screen. Apple announced a similar functionality in its new Apple TV, with both devices now able to turn a smartphone into a big-screen games console controller.
The Chromecast app is being upgraded too. Your phone will no longer be a simple setup remote but more of a comprehensive content hub capable of searching for exactly what it is you're looking for. Available for both iOS and Android, the app has new universal search functionality to show recommended content that's already Cast-enabled on any service.
Also announced was Chromecast Audio (pictured above), a new dongle that can turn any speaker into a wireless sound system by simply plugging it straight into the AUX or optical port.
Not only can it stream content from various devices over to the Chromecast Audio, just like the Chromecast, but Google has also teamed up with a number of different music streaming services, including Spotify.
Both new Chromecast devices cost £30 and are available from the Google Store now.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
