The Overlooked Potential: How Google Failed Its Chromecast

Despite its immense popularity, Chromecast has remained one of the most frustrating brands in Google’s portfolio. What started as a daring project that broke the rules of TV slowly descended into a bland, neglected mess. Google now says that the era of Chromecast is over, but early adopters know that Chromecast has been dead for years.

The original Chromecast was an incredibly ballsy and forward-thinking device. It broke all the standard practices that were established by Roku and TiVo at the beginning of the streaming era—Chromecast didn’t have apps, it didn’t have a home screen, and there weren’t any advertisements baked in the operating system.

More importantly, Chromecast didn’t use a remote control. This streaming device relied entirely on Google’s “Cast” protocol . If you wanted to watch a show or movie, you had to beam it to your Chromecast from your phone, tablet, or laptop. Customers who were lucky enough to grab the short-lived Chromecast Audio, a cheap streaming with a 3.5mm output, enjoyed a similar experience for music. (Naturally, these devices could also be controlled through Google Assistant voice commands and routines.)

Streaming services were happy to build Google Cast support into their respective apps, as it eliminated the need to build new, TV-specific apps. And if a platform refused to join the bandwagon (Prime Video being the most notable example), it didn’t really matter. You could Cast anything from the Chrome browser on your phone or laptop, be it Prime Video, a legally-questionable sports streaming website, or a static blog.

But Google failed to properly support its original collection of Chromecast streamers, which slowly grew more and more unusable . And, in 2020, we saw the launch of Chromecast with Google TV . This product supported the Google Cast protocol (most modern streaming hardware does), but it pivoted into the realm of the milquetoast; it came with a remote control, a home screen, apps, and plenty of advertising opportunities .

While the original Chromecast was daring, lightweight, and exciting, the Chromecast with Google TV felt slow and boring. It was also shockingly buggy and rarely received updates . Of course, Google’s transition to this mainstream product design was inevitable. Most customers celebrated the Chromecast with Google TV because they preferred a more traditional TV experience. And, from a business standpoint, the original Chromecast was kind of foolish. A $30 device without an app store or built-in advertisements isn’t exactly a major profit driver.

Now, Google is saying goodbye to the Chromecast brand. The company’s new Google TV Streamer is basically just an upgraded Chromecast with Google TV, but the name change makes sense, as Chromecast has been dead for a long time. And, to Google’s credit, the new streaming device looks like it may avoid the pitfalls and glitches of its predecessor. It has an appropriate amount of storage and RAM, it features a built-in LAN port, and it can act as a Matter smart home hub.

Will the Google TV Streamer receive better software support than its predecessor? Uh, I don’t plan on being a guinea pig, but if you want to be first in like for the Google TV Streamer, you can pre-order one for $100. For clarity’s sake, I should note that the Chromecast with Google TV will still work for some time, it’s just discontinued.

Source: Google

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