Google’s new Chromecast offers new and improved ways to find all kinds of entertainment and take your mind off the endless doom that is 2020.
This revamped Chromecast is a far cry from the $35 streaming stick that first hit stores in 2013. The new update adds an updated user interface and throws in a remote for good measure. What’s noticeably missing, however, is a way to access Apple TV content.
“The addition of Google TV and remote control to the latest Chromecast is a game-changer for cord cutters,” Brett Atwood, an associate professor at Washington State University who focuses on emerging trends in consumer and entertainment technology, said in an email interview. “Before this release, there was no compelling reason for existing owners to upgrade.”
The Chromecast is a sleek, hockey-puck-shaped device that shares the minimalist design of Google's other products. It's powered by an accompanying 7.5-watt power brick rather than the USB cable offered with some other models. Its $49.95 price tag is comparable to rivals like Roku's Streaming Stick Plus and Amazon's Fire TV Stick 4K , but the new Chromecast beats out some of its competitors on pure specs by offering 2GB of RAM rather than the single gigabyte on Amazon's device.
