Developed TV Box

Review: Google TV Streamer - Smart TV for Everyone

With Google's latest TV box, you get a fast and smooth interface that shows available content, a new remote control with voice control, and features to control your smart home, all in one.

Erik Mörner

Published 11 November 2024 - 11:11 Modified 24 January 2025 - 17:04

With TV Streamer, Google definitely takes a step away from its original Chromecast. Back then, Chromecast was a way to really cheaply get content from your mobile to an external speaker and big screen. Now, that function is integrated into something completely different. Still, there is the possibility to send audio and video wirelessly from a mobile to the TV box, regardless of whether your phone is an iPhone or an Android.

Google TV Streamer makes content from your subscribed services, Google's own and others, available on your TV. This includes everything from YouTube to Apple TV, Netflix, Max, Spotify, Amazon Prime, and Disney Plus. The services are available as apps in Google TV, and you also get all available content, regardless of service, presented in a clear way.

Personal lists and recommendations

TV Streamer is connected to your Google account so that you can have your own list of movies and series you can watch and get personal recommendations. It is also possible to add multiple accounts so that each family member gets their own apps and recommendations. In addition to movies and series, there is also a limited ability to control your smart home via the TV. I can bring up a panel that sits on the edge of the screen, over what I'm watching, and there I can control, for example, lighting and other smart devices.

Everything is controlled with the included remote control. From the previous model, "Chromecast with Google TV," the remote has grown a bit and received volume buttons among other buttons, instead of previously on the side. It has simply become a bit easier to handle. Additionally, the device you place by the TV has grown significantly and is now no longer a dongle that sits behind the TV but a box you should place next to or behind the TV. At the same time, the price has almost doubled, and it's hard to see what has actually improved.

Unnecessary price increase

When I bought my Chromecast Ultra in 2017, it cost 776 SEK and gave me the ability to stream 4K movies to my TV from any computer or mobile. The phone was used as a remote control. In 2022, Google switched to Chromecast with Google TV, packed with its own remote control but kept the price at just under 800 SEK. Now there was integrated Google Assistant, apps, and its own interface to navigate through on the TV screen.

With the new TV Streamer, much remains the same, but the device has become significantly larger, with an integrated smart hub function for the smart home, and it has gained more RAM and storage capacity. And so the price has been raised to 1400 SEK. You also have to buy an HDMI cable to connect the TV Streamer to the TV as no such cable is included in the package, but once you've done that, it's easy to get started. Several of my streaming services log me in automatically because the password is already saved in my Google account. For others, I have to log in by using a QR code that is displayed and then confirm the login on my mobile. Convenient as well.

Not just TV, the smart home too

It's worth pointing out that even the old existing Chromecast with Google TV has the same interface that we get here and has also received an update to integrate the control of smart home devices. This means that currently, thanks to its significantly lower price and smaller format, making it easier to hide away, it could very well be the better purchase.

I don't think much of the new smart home control features on the screen, which are now available in both TV Streamer and the old Chromecast with Google TV. To turn my smart lights on and off, I have to press several buttons, and it's much easier to ask Google Assistant to do it either with the remote control, on my phone, or on my smart speakers. Additionally, the function in the panel on the screen is limited, so when I try to control several of my other smart devices here, besides lighting, I only get the message 'This action is not supported on TV.' Google Assistant can handle much more.

The TV box itself, which is Google TV Streamer, consists of a plate about the size of a mobile phone, and on the back of it, there is an input for the power cable, for HDMI, and Ethernet. There is also a button that you can hold if you lose the remote control, which then beeps until you get help finding it. Google TV Streamer connects to the network via Wi-Fi or Ethernet, so you can choose that yourself.

Basically, the Google TV streamer is a good product. It makes your streaming services easily accessible and it still functions as a Chromecast so you can stream content from your mobile to your TV. Considering the price and what Google previously offered, it is less value for money compared to what we were spoiled with in the now-discontinued Chromecast.