this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2024
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You mean twice the ram (1 gig more than the shield), 4 times the storage (32 gigs), and a better remote (chirping find my remote feature, programmable button, and less shitty volume buttons)?
Yep. Sure sounds worse considering it also supports all the same features of the chromecast 4k and AV1 decoding.
My Chromecast has no storage and no remote. It's fine.
None of which changes the fact that it's more expensive and clunkier, and none of which feels necessary.
I don't need any of that. I just need a cheap dongle that can run one app
Most of the appeal of the Chromecast is that it's a dongle you plug in once and never have to see again. It doesn't need high performance and 32 gigs of RAM. It needs to play video. That's its entire purpose. It's controlled by any phone on your wifi, it doesn't need a remote.
For most users, this is an expensive downgrade.
The remote was the biggest upgrade for me on the Ultra though. I always struggled to find my phone and do stuff on it just to watch some YouTube or Netflix videos. And the Kids don't even have a phone and they want to watch on the TV in the livingroom too sometimes. With the remote it's easy for everyone to use it without fiddling with the Phone.
My parents have the one without the remote and they basically never use it because my mom doesn't have a mobile phone and my dad newer has it with him, it's always not charged or in some other room.
Or you can use it's remote and not need to use your phone for absolutely every little thing.
And ethernet port!
Yes! I hadn't seen that highlighted anywhere in articles really, only saw it on the damn Google Store after looking just now.
Seems an all around solid update on the previous device.
Just gotta stick FLauncher, SmartTube, Jellyfin, and Stremio on it and it seems solid.
I changed from FLauncher to Projectivity Launcher a little while ago and definitely recommend it
My wife is used to FLauncher and will probably get annoyed if I change the Shield's interface (again...) but maybe I'll try it out on the Google TV Chromecast I have for holiday trips.
I'm in the same boat, so when I changed to Projectivity I made it look pretty much the same. It's now just so much easier to manage.
I just hope this is still possible on the new one, I can see a future where they make it impossible but hopefully not yet.
I agree that it's a good upgrade too, the only dowside is that it's not portable anymore, I used to take it with me on any travel to have my own home theater set up like I like it with me when I was living in Hotels and AirBnB's for a year on business travel. Especially in Asia the TVs are in the local language and I never have any idea how to change the language from Korean or Japanese to English so I can use the TV. But putting in the dongle and turning on the TV was always possible.
I doubt they'd block alternate launchers as they seem happy enough hosting them on Google Play.
Side-loading will be safe as Android being open is its whole deal. The EU are forcing Apple to be more open so there's no way Google wants a target on their back.
And now I can install all those things without worrying about my internal storage filling to capacity!
You can get an Ethernet adapter for the Chromecast
Yeah, exactly. You needed to buy an extra adapter before. Now you don't.
This TV Streamer costs significantly more than a CCwGTV combined with an adapter.
Regular Chromecast work perfectly as YouTube jukebox.
It's also twice the price of the Onn 4k Pro (Walmart house brand) that's built on the same chip and has the same features running the stock Google TV experience.