Google continues its offensive on the hardware market with a new TV box, the Google TV Streamer. More than just a Chromecast, this discreet device aims to become the nerve center of your living room. Redesigned design, improved remote control, intuitive interface and advanced integration with the connected home: Google is putting all the chances on its side to seduce. But with a price of €119, does the TV Streamer justify its cost in the face of increasingly affordable competition?
Google has been very active in recent months, with a renewal of smartphones, watches and headphones during the summer. As if that wasn’t enough, a new multimedia content player to plug into the TV completes a hardware offering that continues to expand from the American web giant, which is becoming an electronics giant, getting closer to the Apple’s strategy. A distant descendant of the very basic Chromecast, the Google TV Streamer embodies the company’s growing ambition in terms of hardware. An ambition assumed and… conclusive: it is neither more nor less the best TV box of the moment.
What’s new ?
With the TV Streamer, Google is offering for the first time a real TV box, and no longer a stick or a dongle HDMI to plug in and hide behind the TV. Discreet and rather elegant, the TV Streamer will ideally be placed on the piece of furniture near the television. To remember:
- Its new design allows it to offer a real connectivityeven if it remains basic: USB-C for charging, HDMI 2.1 for TV connection, Ethernet if you are ready with your modem/router and you don’t like Wi-Fi, a physical button for reset or ‘find my remote’. Little extra: if you have Google Pixel Buds, it’s very easy to transfer sound to these wireless headphones, rather than to the TV.
- Inside, more more efficient components. Even if Google does not give details, it would be a more robust Mediatek chip than the one that equipped the previous ones dongle4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage. Or a famous upgrade for a smoother interface, and more space for applications. However, let’s be clear: it’s not as responsive as a smartphone equipped with a modern chip; but on television, are we as rushed and demanding?
- The remote evolves slightly, and gains a few millimeters compared to the ‘Chromecast with Google TV’ of 2022, for better handling. The volume buttons have left the edge to integrate, in a more conventional way, the front panel. We still only find the YouTube and Netflix shortcuts there; the other two VOD leaders, Prime Video and Disney+, are missing. Note: a customizable button appears. Enough to launch, for example, another streaming application; or why not control your connected home (as long as you use Google’s Home platform). Of course, it is equipped with infrared to control your television and your soundbar, configuration is instantaneous.
- The box acts as a hub for the smart homeintegrating connected object communication protocols such as Matter and Threads. More generally, your TV becomes a Google home control center, which accepts the majority of connected objects available on the market. This interface turns out to be quite simple and intuitive, the opposite of the completeness sought by Samsung, see my test of their latest TV. For those who have already taken the plunge smarthomeit’s a real plus when you’re watching TV (the rest of the time, using the smartphone’s Home application will be faster…).
To retain
Even if your TV is recent, it is likely that you are not delighted with its main interface, the one which gives you access to your favorite content (it is true that LG and Samsung have made their home screens very detailed, and we often finds advertising there). Google offers you, for 119€a complete option, with remote control, to transcend your video content consumption experience, through all possible and imaginable applications (everything found on the Google Play Store, in fact). It is intuitive and fluidwhile the remote control takes care of everything. And if you have connected objects in your home (camera, light, etc.), the TV Streamer can transform your TV screen into a control center, as long as you first configure your Google Home via the application of the same name .
I don’t really see any fault with the Google TV Streamer, other than the price. It is possible to find TV boxes (Xiaomi for example) running Android for less than €70, but you will not have quite the same experience, and perhaps not the same fluidity; As for the “Google Home” integration, it is exclusive to the TV Streamer. On the other hand, Amazon’s “Fire TV Stick” does a very honorable job considering their price (€35). It’s up to you to choose!
google Google TV Streamer chromecast tv Mathieu’s tests
