Google’s Chromecast lineup was getting a bit long in the tooth. The regular Chromecast could only stream 1080p content, while the Chromecast Ultra added 4K but more than doubled the price, and neither came with a remote or had an on-screen menu system. The new Chromecast With Google TV replaces both of these dated media streamers, offering an excellent 4K experience with a remote, an easy-to-use menu system, and all of the benefits of Google TV in a tiny, $49.99 package. It easily rivals the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, with a sleek interface and loads of functionality, earning our Editors’ Choice for affordable media streamers.
Design and Remote
The new Chromecast is built similarly to the previous models, with a slim, puck-like body on a short cable that ends in an HDMI plug. This version is a bit more oblong than the circular Chromecast, and its smooth matte finish makes it reminiscent of a bar of soap. It’s available in blue, pink, or white, though it doesn’t really matter which color you choose since the device is designed to hang off the back of your TV, unseen.
A USB-C port sits at the opposite end of the puck from the two-inch HDMI cable, for receiving power through the included USB-C cable and wall adapter. A reset button and an indicator LED can be found on the underside.
Once connected, the Chromecast can stream video at up to 4K resolution and 60fps. It supports HDR in both HDR10 and Dolby Vision.
The included remote control is a first for the Chromecast, and it looks and feels like a cross between the Apple TV and Roku remotes. It has a rounded candy bar shape like Roku remotes, with a volume rocker on the right edge, and it features a large, circular direction pad near the top, with two rows of large, round buttons like on the Apple TV remote. The buttons include Home, Google Assistant, Back, and Mute, plus two dedicated service buttons for YouTube and Netflix. A pair of smaller buttons sit below the six larger ones for TV power and input selection, along with a pinhole microphone for Google Assistant.
Google TV
The Chromecast has completely lacked any form of on-screen interface until now. The Chromecast With Google TV features a fully fledged menu system built on the Android TV platform.
This isn’t stock Android TV like you’ll find on some new TVs and media streamers, though. Instead, the Chromecast uses Google TV, a new user interface that better unifies content across different apps and services than standard Android TV. Google TV incorporates content searching, recommendations, and even live TV into the menu system, providing suggestions for what you might want to watch in the middle of the screen.
Google TV opens to a For You tab that displays suggested shows and movies on a row of large, colorful tiles. Installed apps appear on the row below these suggestions, and the ability to resume any content you were previously watching is on a row below that. Scrolling down farther shows additional rows of suggestions based on genre and service.
Other tabs include Apps, Library, Movies, and Shows. Movies and Shows let you browse different films and TV shows, with suggestions ranging across multiple streaming services like Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and Hulu. Apps shows your installed apps, and lets you browse additional apps and services to download on the Chromecast. Library displays any movies or shows you purchased on Google Play Movies & TV.
If you subscribe to YouTube TV, you’ll also see a Live tab. This tab incorporates the live TV service of YouTube TV into the menu system itself, showing the top shows currently available, followed by a grid-based program guide. This tab only works with YouTube TV; other live services like Sling TV don’t integrate into Google TV. If you use Sling TV, the $49.99 TiVo Stream 4K incorporates the service into its live TV guide and interface, though it’s a bit more cluttered than Google TV.
Android TV Features
The new Chromecast still runs Android TV at its core, so it includes all of the same features as other Android TV devices like the TiVo Stream 4K and Sony smart TVs. It supports hundreds of different apps across most major streaming services, including Amazon, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV, Twitch, and YouTube. The Apple TV app is the only big name currently missing from the Google Play store, which means you can’t watch Apple TV+ content.
You can access Google Assistant on the Chromecast by pressing and holding the Google Assistant button on the remote and speaking into the microphone. You can ask Google Assistant to search for content available on Google TV and your installed apps and services, and to open any app with a command. The voice assistant will also provide both spoken and on-screen details like weather reports, sports scores, and general information. Google Assistant can control your smart home devices as well, configurable through the Google Home app (which also lets you set up the Chromecast itself).
Of course, this is still a Chromecast device, so you can stream any Google Cast-compatible content from your phone or tablet. You can also cast Google Chrome tabs from your computer directly to your TV. This was originally the entire functionality of Chromecast devices, and now it’s simply a nice bonus on top of an extensive app-based ecosystem and handy user interface.
The Chromecast With Google TV performed well in tests, with fairly brisk menu performance and fast content loading. I watched shows on Netflix, Sling TV, and YouTube, and switched between different apps quickly and easily. Video looks good, and supported HDR content loads properly.
Easily the Best Chromecast
Adding a remote and an on-screen interface to the Chromecast is appealing enough, but Google TV layers an attractive and accessible menu system on top of that. The Chromecast is an equal to the excellent Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K in terms of affordability and user friendliness, with the extra benefit of being able to cast content from your phone or a Chrome tab. The TiVo Stream 4K is another excellent Android TV-based media streamer available for the same price. It incorporates Sling TV into its live TV guide, but its own menu system is a bit more cluttered, and built a bit less consistently on top of Android TV than Google TV is on the Chromecast. Ultimately, the Chrome Chromecast With Google TV offers more functionality than any other $50 media streamer, and that’s enough to earn it our Editors’ Choice.
