Chromecast with Google TV review – access the latest streaming content in 4K for under $100

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• VERDICT

The Chromecast with Google TV is a great solution for anyone who wants to experience the latest streaming apps in 4K quality. And for less than $100 you might want to buy one for every TV in your house.

There are so many streaming options and content available and if you have an older TV or a smart TV that doesn’t have all the streaming apps you want, then the new Chromecast with Google TV is what you need.

Priced at just $99, Chromecast with Google TV is capable of 4K streaming and includes access to Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime, Disney+, YouTube and catch-up apps for free-to-air channels including 9Now, ABC iView and 7 Plus.

And with the Google Play Store onboard you can also install apps including Binge, Hayu and Kayo Sports, Optus Sports and many, many more.

Where necessary users need to have subscriptions to these services to access them on Chromecast with Google TV so all you need to do is sign in on these apps to start watching.

Included with the Chromecast with Google TV is the Chromecast dongle itself, a power cable and power brick and a remote control.

Previous versions of the Chromecast required users to use their smartphones as the remote control.

But not so this time. The remote control with Chromecast with Google TV is small and light and provides an easy and fast way to get to the content you want to watch.

The remote can even control the volume on your TV and turn in on and off.

It also provides voice control through Google Assistant so you can easily search for content by title, actor, genre and even by mood.

Setup is really easy – it can be done either through the Google home app or entirely on the TV using the remote control.

For users who don’t want to include their smartphone and reduce the complication, setup via the TV is probably the best option.

If they don’t already have one they’ll need a Google account which can easily be created.

otherwise it’s simply a matter of logging in to your Google account and setting it up.

For our review we connected Chromecast with Google TV and had to wait patiently for a firmware update before connecting to our home network.

Once connected and updated, we could then choose the apps we wanted to include on our home screen.

This would be a welcome feature for customers who may have older TV’s or a more recent TV that doesn’t have all the streaming apps built in.

Disney+ and Kayo Sports, for example, are not available on all smart TVs.

If your TV is running the Android operating system then you can simply download those apps to your TV.

But for those that are not, you needed to purchase a product like Apple TV which cost hundreds of dollars.

With Chromecast with Google TV, that problem is solved for just $99 – a remarkable price for a device that can not only offer access to all of these streaming services but also offer it in 4K.

For customers with older TV’s the Chromecast with Google TV is also a godsend because it turns their TV into a smart TV.

And for users with older smart TV it makes that an even smarter TV and now brings streaming apps like Netflix and Stan, now standard on newer smart TVs, to their fingertips.

But another great feature of the product is the dashboard which arranges and suggests content.

It groups movies and TV shows into genres and time periods.

It derives all of these selections from the apps you have installed.

So the movie recommendations, for example, are gathered from the streaming apps you have installed so suggestions are coming from Prime, Stan, Netflix and any others you have installed.

Sports lovers can also enjoy Kayo Sports, Optus Sports and download and subscribe to the NFL, NBA and MLB apps of you’re a fan of American sports.

The only downside is that the Google TV has a few seconds lag when switching between apps.

The Chromecast with Google TV is available now in snow (white), sunrise (pink) and sky (blue) and is priced at $99.

VERDICT

The Chromecast with Google TV is a great solution for anyone who wants to experience the latest streaming apps in 4K quality. And for less than $100 you might want to buy one for every TV in your house.