There is a There are few products in our lives that 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 drip. That’s all. Google’s new Google TV Streamer is an Android TV faucet that never drips. Once you log in to your various accounts and start streaming, you’ll barely 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, such as lights, speakers, and outlets.
Streaming from phones is simple and easy, and this new $100 streaming device lacks the sometimes shaky performance we saw in last-gen devices like the Google Chromecast and some current-gen TVs running Google’s TV OS. If you don’t like your current TV interface or want to make sure you’re streaming from working apps on a Dolby Vision-enabled device and a wired Internet connection, this is a great option.
Simple setup
The flat, cylindrical streaming device and its pill-shaped remote are about as plug-and-play as it gets, but it’s worth noting that this design is a dramatic change from the Chromecasts of yesteryear. The Google TV dongle no longer hangs off the side of your TV. This Streamer is designed to be displayed loud and proud on a media console.
Photography: Parker Hall
There’s 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 small button that can cause the remote to beep and reveal its location; My forgetful brain thanks Google engineers for this. I wish the Streamer included an HDMI cable, as I had to dig one out of my closet. This was not a problem with its predecessors, which had a built-in HDMI cable.
The remote is large enough that you’ll want to find a flat, cell phone-sized spot to place it; It is not the most convenient, but it is not the most annoying either. The buttons are not backlit, but they are easy enough to see even in low light thanks to the gray-black text on a white background. It’s a simple design with volume buttons on the right side of the remote for easy access and the home button grayed out just above so you don’t accidentally press it in the middle of a movie.
Once you turn on Google TV Streamer, sign in to your Google accounts (and any other streaming accounts you have today) and you’ll be good to go. You can do all of this through the Google Home app if you don’t want to use the on-screen TV keyboard to enter passwords. I was watching Netflix in less than five minutes. (It’s also compatible with all major apps, including Max, Paramount+, Amazon Prime, and Pluto TV.)
A smart home controller
He Google TV Streamer It can act as a smart home display to easily control lighting, security cameras, thermostats, and more if you have all of that connected through Google Home. A screen appears on the right side of the TV screen, called the Home Panel, showing you what you’ve connected and letting you control it. This experience is similar to the Home Panel on the lock screen of the Google Pixel tablet or even 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 offline. I asked Nena Farrell, a fellow WIRED critic and connected home guru, to test out the smart home features and she reported that they work very well. Google Assistant responds to voice commands, and he liked using her TV screen to control the smart home. She successfully used the remote control to turn off the lights even when the TV was off. It can also be used to monitor doorbells and smart cameras, something WIRED editor Julian Chokkattu says is very useful, since you can check for motion alerts without having to search for your phone in the dark during movie night.