Wanting again at 11 years of Google streaming

Google’s Chromecast is not any extra. With Tuesday’s introduction of its successor, the corporate laid to relaxation the model that kicked off 11 years in the past with a novel product that helped transfer streaming onto the middle stage of residence leisure. With the Google TV Streamer taking the baton, it’s time to look again at 11 years of Chromecast.

Google’s casting-centric model arrived on July 24, 2013, with the first-generation Chromecast. The streaming stick plugged straight right into a TV’s HDMI port and lacked a distant management. As an alternative, you fired up content material utilizing a cellular gadget or pc.

Most significantly, the progressive gizmo solely value $35. This was when an Apple TV set-top field began at $99, and app-laden televisions have been nowhere close to commonplace. Even Roku’s same-generation Streaming Stick, which landed a yr earlier, value $100. Oh, and it required a TV licensed as “Roku-ready.”

When confronted with pricier choices, it was arduous to withstand the Chromecast. And many individuals felt that means: The stick shortly bought out. And it hung round for longer than most tech merchandise, as the corporate solely retired it last year.

Engadget applauded the gadget. Our evaluate praised it as a wholehearted recommendation “for anybody who’s been in search of a straightforward, unobtrusive solution to put some brains into their dumb TV.” The gadget was Google at its finest: Innovating in a extremely accessible, inexpensive and device-agnostic means.

What adopted have been years of iterations as rivals pushed out competing merchandise, and Google responded with extra trendy options and redesigns.

The second-gen model from 2015 switched to a dongle kind issue with a magnetized again and HDMI plug. The identical yr, Google launched a music-focused sister gadget, Chromecast Audio (with a vinyl record-inspired look). Chromecast Ultra, the primary stab at a higher-end mannequin, landed in 2016 with 4K streaming and Dolby Imaginative and prescient help. A third-gen model adopted in 2018 with sooner speeds, Nest speaker integration… and never a lot else.

This decade, we noticed the awkwardly branded Chromecast with Google TV (4K) in 2020 — now with a distant!! — and the Chromecast with Google TV (HD) in 2022. In hindsight, the unusual naming might now be seen as the corporate’s first nudge towards a rebrand.

This brings us to at this time, as Google bids adieu to its streaming wunderkind—no less than beneath its outdated title. The Google TV Streamer, with its sleek wedge shape and unique hazel color option, is taking on in a a lot completely different panorama than we noticed 11 years in the past.

The Chromecast, particularly that progressive first-generation mannequin, helped push us into the streaming-first world many people have lived in ever since. That’s very true when you think about its impression on rivals. Roku’s second-generation Streaming Stick from 2014 dropped from $99 to $50 and ditched its doomed “Roku Prepared TV” requirement. In the meantime, Amazon noticed a gap and launched a Fire TV Stick (additionally in 2014) that value $39.

With out that first Chromecast mannequin, it’s arduous to inform how that panorama might have seemed completely different within the following years.

It isn’t too late to dip your toes into the nostalgia pool and decide up a Chromecast, as Google says the outdated gadgets will stay available on the market whereas provides final. Crucially, the corporate’s promise of safety updates and help stays unchanged, so there’s no want to worry for those who not too long ago picked up one of many soon-to-be-extinct gadgets.