Most of us have heard about Chromecast at least once in our life. Chromecast is so famous that millions of fake replicas of Chromecast dongles are on the market. If you are an office person, a gamer, or an enthusiast who wishes to mirror the screen to a TV or convert old TV into a smart one with it but is unsure & confused about it. Don’t worry.
In this blog, we will review Chromecast dongles in detail, discuss their features, their pros & cons, compare them, and much more. So, if you want to make a smart purchase, follow us to the end.
“Chromecast is a screen mirroring and media streaming tech developed by Google.”
Chromecast is very famous these days. You can find its dongles almost everywhere in the world. Even its mirroring chips are integrated into TVs by manufacturers. Technically, Chromecast is just a mirroring software you can easily download from the internet.
There are 3-kinds of Chromecast forms;
i) A Classic Chromecast that only allows screen mirroring. It comes both in software and a dongle form. ( discontinued model)
ii) Chromecast Ultra, which also offers online gaming services and casting. (discontinued model)
iii) A advanced Chromecast, or Chromecast with Google TV, has a media streamer and screen mirror tech. This media streamer allows a TV to access the internet and various sites like Youtube, Chrome, etc. It comes only in dongle form.
The first Chromecast dongle was released in 2013, and at that time, it was made just for screen mirroring. But in 2020, Google announced that it would integrate its Chromecast with Google TV chips.
According to a report from 2017, there were about 55 million Chromecast dongles sold, and it’s been 6 years since that time so you can estimate roughly 200+ million units sold worldwide.
Google Chromecast dongles offer a variety of features, some of which are;
“The first and foremost feature you can find in basic, Ultra, and Google TV Chromecast dongles is screen mirroring.”
Screen mirroring is a very important feature, from playing mobile games to giving PC presentations on a big-screen TV.
You see, Chromecast has a built-in receiver antenna, and when you connect the Chromecast dongle to a TV. The receiver accepts the signals from mobiles/PC and displays them on the TV.
It doesn’t matter if the TV is smart or not because Chromecast works independently so that you can cast phone to TV or mirror PC to TV.
“Chromecast with Google TV dongle offers all the functions you can find on smart TVs, including streaming from famous apps like Netflix, Amazon, Youtube, etc.”
In simple words, Chromecast with Google TV is a smart motherboard. Just like the big motherboards in smart TVs, but it is way smaller and packed inside a dongle. And when you connect this dongle to a non-smart old TV, it will convert this TV into a smart one, just like Android TVs these days.
Like other smart TVs, Chromecast with Google TV allows you to watch hundreds of streaming apps( Netflix, Amazon, etc. ), download games from the play store, and much more.
Until 2020, Chromecast dongles were only equipped with screen mirroring. Still, recently Google updated their Chromecast with Google TV service and saved their users thousands of dollars from buying new Android or Apple TVs.
“Using a Chromecast remote speaking function, you can control all your home lights, Air conditioners, etc.”
Most of you are familiar with home assistant devices like Amazon Alexa Echo dots, Google Home speakers, etc. And by using these Home assistant devices, you can control all of your home smart electronics in 2-ways;
●Verbally giving a command to these devices
●With dedicated apps from your phone
But these smart home assistant devices are too costly. Fortunately, the latest Chromecasts are equipped with Smart home features. And you can control your home electronics by pressing a button on the remote and speaking into it.
“Chromecast with Google TV also offers Play store service so users can download games and play them directly on the TV.”
You can play games with a remote, mobile phone, or game controller. This is a useful feature for kids; parents don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on dedicated PlayStations.
“All the photos & videos from your PCs, smartphones, and other devices Google Photos apps will be synced onto your TV automatically so you can enjoy them anytime you like.”
You see, Google Photos is an app made by Google, and you can download it on smartphones, PCs, tablets, TVs, etc. When you add photos to this app, they are saved online, and if you use the same Google account on another device, the same photos will appear there. And this is the reason when you open the Google Photos app on your TV, all the photos from other devices get synced there automatically.
Both of their Gmail login accounts must be the same for files from Google Photos to show on TV from your other device, like a smartphone. Moreover, only those photos will appear when you add yourself to the Google Photos app, while all other photos in your mobile gallery will not be shared, so you don’t have to worry about privacy.
“Chromecast with Google TV also allows users to use browsers like Chrome, Firefox, etc., and do a web search just like on computers.”
Searching for news, reading books, and watching the news is much more fun on a big tv screen than on a small PC. To write the news, users can use their mobile keyboard to enter long questions and directly search on the TV.
“Like Android phones, it also gives its users Google Assistant service, using which you can verbally ask for the weather, time, alarm setups, song playing, opening an app, etc.”
Google Assistant makes the searching process much faster and is very helpful, especially when you get home tired and don’t have the energy to type anything or go through complex remote control buttons. It is also helpful for kids and adults who only know how to speak.
Currently, Classic Chromecast, which was used for mirroring only, and Chromecast Ultra, which also gives access to gaming and mirroring, have been discontinued; you can’t buy them from the Google store.
Now, only Chromecast with a Google TV dongle is being manufactured, and it comes in 2-models, such as;
● HD Version
● 4K Version
We will compare both of them below for your easiness;
| Chromecast with Google TV HD Version | Chromecast with Google TV 4k Version | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29.99 | $49.99 |
| Casting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Resolution | Up to 1080p | Up to 4k |
| Google TV | ✓ | ✓ |
| Google Assistant | ✓ | ✓ |
| Smart Home function | ✓ | ✓ |
| Voice Remote Control | ✓ | ✓ |
| Support Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Support Windows | ✓ | ✓ |
| Support Airplay ( iPhone/iPad/Macbook ) | X | X |
It has tons of beneficial features but like any other electronic device. It also has its demerits and the details of which you can see below;
+ It has amazing mirroring speed.
+ It is cheap compared to the advanced features it offers.
+ Unlike other streaming dongles, it is easily available worldwide.
+ Chromecast saves money by converting an old TV into a smart one.
+ It offers a voice remote control, which is useful, especially for adults & kids who can’t write properly.
+ It is compatible with all kinds of Android & Windows devices.
+ With the Smart Home function built into the Chromecast, you can control all your home electronics.
+ It also offers Google Play Store from where you can download anything like games, educational apps, etc.
+ It offers a voice remote control, which is useful, especially for adults & kids who can’t write properly
+ With the Smart Home function built into the Chromecast, you can control all your home electronics.
+ It offers nearly limitless streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc.
+ It also offers Google Play Store from where you can download anything like games, educational apps, etc.
– It’s expensive for normal buyers.
– You have to wait many days for delivery.
– It does come with a 1-year warranty, but as there are no Google service centers in many Asian countries so the warranty is useless.
– If you are only buying it for mirroring, unfortunately, it is no longer available with only a casting function, and you have to buy an expensive one with Google TV, which is a waste of money.
– Chromecast doesn’t support Apple Airplay so it won’t work directly with iPhones, iPad, and Macbooks. However, you can install third-party apps on your Apple devices to make them work with Chromecast.
Chromecast is amazing, and no one can deny that. But it has a main problem: it can’t support Airplay, so you can’t mirror your TV with iPhones, Macbooks, or iPads ( without using third-party apps ).
Moreover, suppose you are only buying it for screen mirroring. In that case, it’s a waste of money because there are so many Chromecast alternatives, one of which is third-party cast to TV apps that you can install from the internet in minutes, and they are also free. One of such app is FlashGet Cast.
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