There are a few products in our lives we want to use all the time and never have to think about. Faucets come to mind—you want your faucet to turn on and off, not leak. That’s about it. Google’s new Google TV Streamer is an Android-powered TV faucet that never leaks. Once you log into your various accounts and start streaming, you hardly notice it’s there, but you’ll have easy access to all your favorite shows and movies. You can even use the remote to control connected devices in your home, like lights, speakers, and plugs.
Casting from phones is simple and easy, and this new $100 streaming device lacks the sometimes jittery performance we saw on last-generation devices like the Google Chromecast and some current-gen TVs powered by Google’s TV operating system. If you dislike your current TV interface or want to make sure you’re streaming from well-maintained apps on a device that supports Dolby Vision and a wired internet connection, this is an excellent choice.
Simple Setup
The flat, cylindrical streaming device and its pill-shaped remote are about as plug-and-play as things can get, but it’s worth noting this design is a dramatic change from the Chromecasts of old. No longer does Google’s TV dongle dangle off the side of your TV. This Streamer is meant to be displayed loud and proud on a media console.
Photograph: Parker Hall
There is a single HDMI 2.1 port, a USB C port for power, and an Ethernet port for wired internet. On the back next to the ports, you’ll see a tiny little button that can make the remote beep and reveal its location; my forgetful brain thanks the engineers at Google for this. I wish the Streamer included an HDMI cable, as I had to fish one out of my closet. This wasn’t an issue with its predecessors, which had a built-in HDMI cable.
The remote is large enough that you’ll want to find a cell-phone-sized flat spot to put it—not the most convenient thing ever but not the most annoying either. The buttons aren’t backlit, but they’re easy enough to see even in low light thanks to grey-black text on a white background. It’s a simple layout with volume buttons on the right side of the remote for easy access, and the home button in grey just above so you don’t accidentally press it in the middle of a movie.
Once you turn on the Google TV Streamer, log in to your Google accounts (and whatever other streaming accounts you have these days) and you’re good to go. You can do all this via the Google Home app if you don’t want to use the onscreen TV keyboard to enter passwords. I was watching Netflix in under five minutes. (It also supports all the major apps, like Max, Paramount+, Amazon Prime, and Pluto TV).
A Smart Home Controller
The Google TV Streamer can act as a smart home display to easily control lighting, security cameras, thermostats, and more if you have that stuff connected via Google Home. It pulls up a screen on the right side of the TV screen, called the Home Panel, and it shows you what you have connected and allows you to control it. This experience is similar to the Home Panel on the lock screen of the Google Pixel Tablet or even on many Android phones.
I’m not a smart-home guy; I use a few Alexa speakers to set alarms and play Spotify, but the rest of my house is woefully unconnected. I asked fellow WIRED reviewer and connected-home guru Nena Farrell to test the smart home features for me, and she reported that they work very well. Voice commands to Google Assistant are responsive, and she liked using her TV screen for smart home control. She successfully used the remote to turn off her lights even when the TV was off. It can also be used to monitor smart doorbells and cameras, something WIRED editor Julian Chokkattu says is very handy, as you can check for motion alerts without having to find your phone in the dark during movie night.