Google’s subsequent streaming gadget shall be a set-top field

You’ve got purchased your final Chromecast. 9to5Google has published images of Google’s subsequent streamer, and it is a dongle no extra. The brand new ‘Google TV Streamer’ has a set-top field design, which means that each the dongle design and Chromecast title are being consigned to the historical past books.

The brand new gadget has a sloped, huge pill-shaped design, which is far wider than it’s deep, and the printed pictures present a white mannequin. It isn’t clear whether or not different shade choices shall be out there as they’re with the Chromecast with Google TV.

The brand new streaming gadget is prone to be formally introduced on the Made by Google occasion on August 13, the place the Google Pixel 9 shall be launched formally launched, regardless of the Pixel 9 Professional having already been revealed.

No extra Chromecast dongle

The gadget marks the primary set-top field from Google

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Prior incarnations of the Chromecast have been dongles that plug into an HDMI port and conceal away, dangling like a vestigial tail out of the again of your TV. The primary era mannequin was the one model with out a versatile cable, being designed as a stable stick.

The brand new Google TV Streamer marks a significant new route for Google streaming units, being the primary time that the corporate has produced a set-top field that is designed to be positioned in entrance of your TV quite than hidden away on the again.

The photographs additionally present the brand new distant, which appears to be like much like the distant that ships with the Chromecast with Google TV, but it surely’s not precisely the identical. Beneath the directional pad on the high, it seems to keep up the identical eight buttons from the earlier mannequin, which embrace House, Mute, Again, YouTube, Netflix, Energy, and Enter/Supply. The Google Assistant button has been changed with a easy microphone icon, however most likely fulfills the identical perform.

The largest change is that the quantity controls have now moved to a rocker on the entrance of the distant; on the Chromecast with Google TV, they’re discovered on the right-hand facet. This could make the distant simpler to make use of, particularly in the event you’re right-handed, because the facet buttons could be a little awkward to succeed in.

Why is Google making a set-top field?

It might be greater than merely taking up the Apple TV

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There are a couple of doable the reason why Google has made this transfer. The obvious is that it desires one thing to compete with different fashionable set-top bins such because the Apple TV. Nevertheless, the form of the brand new design might trace at one other doable cause.

Many units are in a position to begin streaming audio or video from one gadget to a different just by bringing the units shut collectively. For instance, in the event you’re taking part in music in your iPhone, you’ll be able to hand it off to a HomePod simply by holding your iPhone near your HomePod. Google has an analogous characteristic with Pixel phones and tablets that means that you can forged music out of your cellphone to your pill or vice versa simply by bringing the units shut collectively.

It might be the case that the lengthy, flat design of the Google TV Streamer is meant to facilitate the flexibility to stream content material to your TV by bringing your cellphone close to to the set-top field. That is pure hypothesis, nonetheless; it might merely be making an attempt to imitate the design of the large pill-shaped digital camera bump on the upcoming Pixel 9 Professional.

Chromecast with Google TV

Google’s newest model of the Chromecast gives streaming from your entire favourite companies on a small and reasonably priced gadget that can disguise away behind your TV.