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.
I don't need any of that. I just need a cheap dongle that can run one app
The dongle still works. They reached market saturation with people who just want a dongle. They can't realistically be expected to produce these forever.
I mean I'd hope so because eventually this one I have won't work like the previous one so I'd like a similar product when that happens not this 99 dollar box thing. I guess I hope someone else will continue making cheap dongles I think walmart has their own thing
Facebook marketplace is absolutely loaded with these for less than $20. Let's recycle the existing stock.
Because that’ll last
Will it, though?
"Sorry this device is too old to support the newest software update. For your convenience we have bricked it. Please see your authorized dealer to purchase an upgraded device"
Sure, give me a single example where a chromecast device was taken off the chromecast protocol. Even their original Chromecast Audio device which was discontinued and taken out of production over 5 years ago still functions to this day.
Cast protocol is only one of the many many things that you can stream through a chromecast device.
Regular Chromecast work perfectly as YouTube jukebox.
What do you mean regular Chromecast?
Just regular Chromecast, not that Google TV stuff. That round dongle that does nothing but accept casting streams via that cast button in many Android apps.
So the one from 2013? Sure. It was fine for that. This is a different thing, as not every device, service, or whatever supports casting. I wish they did, but they don't.
Secondarily, I don't want to use a screen to control a screen. I prefer a physical remote that I can have muscle memory for.
But I get why people liked the device. I did too. But fortunately or unfortunately, it's been 10 years and technology has moved. Which is probably why they are giving this a new name being an generally good upgrade on the last Chromecast 4K.
Christ, this one even has a built in Ethernet port and doesn't put strain on my HDMI port by just dangling there.
Well, the story is about Google ending that line of products.
With a direct successor product that contains all the same features as the last Chromecast device. If you are mourning the loss of the casting only Chromecast, that died long ago production-wise.
Late 2022 is not long ago.
The last casting only device (Chromecast Gen3) was originally released in 2018 (6 years ago). They stopped selling it in 2022. And it is still supported with updates. They supported the original with 10 years of updates. If all ya wanna do is cast, keep using it. I personally want more than a cast point.
Great. Where did I say you cannot have that? You're acting weirdly defensively for something nobody is trying to take away from you. OK, maybe Google will in 2 years. All I said was that for casting the regular Chromecast is fine and you're turning that into something overly emotional for no reason.
I'm not emotional, I just find the rage about this topic insane as they legit just changed the name of a product and gave it good iterative upgrades over the previous model by addressing their customer pain points. Especially when the casting feature is now highly integrated across most modern devices. It's not like someone said they will never make a cheaper device than this one. And frankly, if one wants to point to enshittification of Google products, there are much better places to point than their hardware division.
Sorry if I appear emotional? I don't feel emotional. I'm just responding in a way I feel is rational to the barrage of comments replying to me. If anything, there seems to be an emotional charge in the opposite direction. But I'm sure that's just in my reading 20 of them directed at me. I'm genuinely excited about this product because it shows that Google cares about a product I like to the point where they want to make it better.
Yes, you are and you must have me confused with someone else because I made no emotional / rageful comments. The only emotional between you and me is you and I don't care to engage any longer.
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.
They're supposedly using pretty much the same chipset. So the most important part is still underpowered, these Android boxes generally work fine even with 2-3GBs of RAM.
From OP article
It's supposed to use S905X3 with ARM Cortex-A55.
There's already plenty of devices on the market with this chip, and it's fine, but in real world as a user you won't really see any improvement over something like a nearly 10 year old Nvidia Shield that's still using a more powerful chipset.
Which is sad for a new device...
Does Nvidia even make new mobile chipsets still? At least... Relatively cheaply? I know there's something of an Nvidia tax.
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 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.
You can get an Ethernet adapter for the Chromecast
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.
My Chromecast has no storage and no remote. It's fine.
Cool. Keep using it.
Until services stop supporting it.
until they decide that their new device needs more sales, so they depricate the protocol and you can't use it anymore
Deprecate the casting protocol? Sure Jan. The new device still supports casting.
Chromecast ultras are already broken if you try to use your own DNS.
They killed support for the first gen Chromecast and the YouTube "app" has been broken for 3+ years. They'll just stop supporting it one day and you'll have to buy a new one.
Oh no, my $40 device won't work after ELEVEN years. I'm being abused!
Truly a golden era
That's the only reason I had to replace my previous 2 steaming devices.
The streaming backend got updated and the app in my device no longer supported it. And there was no updated app made available for that device.
You haven't been paying attention to Google in the last few years, have you?
None of which changes the fact that it's more expensive and clunkier, and none of which feels necessary.