Google’s new TV Streamer has big, Chromecast-sized shoes to fill

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

Ask around, and you’ll find out that the Chromecast is one of the most universally loved pieces of Google hardware in the last decade or two. It’s also one of the most popular and most successful products the company has ever built, with Chromecast sales reaching 55 million by 2017. The number must’ve easily doubled since then.

Personally, I’ve had at least one Chromecast since the original’s announcement. I’ve upgraded every time a new Chromecast came along, I’ve lamented the death of the Chromecast Audio, and I’ve sighed in frustration at the limited specs of the Chromecast with Google TV. When its follow-up ended up being a cheaper, less powerful HD Chromecast, I resigned myself to keeping my 4K Chromecast longer and hoped a true successor would soon emerge.

We’ve been hearing about this mysterious new Chromecast for a while now, and we were hoping it would be announced this year. But a new 9to5Google leak recently suggested that Google could be ditching the Chromecast dongle form factor in favor of a new ‘Google TV Streamer‘ that looks like a squashed Pixel Tablet dock, and, well, let’s say that this has me a bit worried.

If Google wants to come out from behind the TV and sit front and center in my living room, it has to earn that spot.

Just looking at this tabletop design, a lot of thoughts sprung to my mind. The first one is that this is no longer a tiny dongle you hide behind your TV or inside your cabinet; it is now a proper TV console element that seems to be designed to be displayed below or next to your TV. As someone who’s just now going through a whole house decoration project, I can tell you that people like me, no matter how tech-oriented they are, will think twice about running two extra wires and displaying one extra piece of plastic on their TV console.

To its credit, the new TV Streamer looks sleek and modern, but I just know this white color will attract and show dust like a magnet. Maybe a few different color options would help?

And if I were to make a concession and dedicate a space to Google’s hardware front and center near my TV, I need it to do more than just look pretty in white. That slanted pad had better do something to justify its size and its upgraded position. A smart speaker for voice-free controls? A wireless charger for my phone or its own remote? A tap-to-play Ultra wideband-powered feature that transfers music and videos from my phone to the TV? Yes, please, any or all of those! Otherwise, this is getting tossed inside the TV cabinet with the other set-top boxes that I use but don’t want to look at daily.

The Streamer should bring in extra functionality so I don't end up with a useless white slab in front of me the whole time.

The larger size should also, hopefully, be a side effect of better hardware and extra functionality. An Ethernet port for a more stable connection, a more powerful processor with more cooling room, more storage than the measly 8GB in the current high-end Chromecast, and a proper USB port — these would all be very welcome additions. Honestly, what I really would love to see is a proper successor to the NVIDIA Shield TV line-up, but that may be pushing my trust in Google a bit too far. We’re likely to see something more in the middle between the current Chromecast and the flagship Shield TV series.

Actually, I’ve had my eyes on the excellent Walmart Onn 4K Pro streaming box for a couple of months now because of its extra hardware features, and I’d hate for Google to trail around, uh, Walmart, for pity’s sake, in tech hardware. The new Google TV Streamer should at least be in that same ballpark in terms of functionality to vie for a spot in our best Google TV boxes recommendations.

Of course, not all of these wishes will come true, or this new Streamer may end up costing an arm and a leg. But I really hope Google has thought about what it needs to bring to the table to 1) overcome the famous Chromecast brand name and 2) earn its right to graduate from the shadows and into our living room’s spotlights.