Yesterday, alongside the new Nexus 7 tablet, Google announced Chromecast — a small dongle that allows you to stream content to your TV from your Android or iOS device. Chromecast can essentially turn your TV into a smart TV in terms of functionality, even if it lacks TV specific applications. That said, those of you who own a Google TV television or set-top box need not worry that your device has been one-upped, as Chromecast support is said to be coming to Google’s television service in the future.
Exactly how Google TV and Chromecast will intertwine isn’t quite clear, but it’s likely the most simple of guesses, in that GTV will simply support the dongle for content ‘casting’. Some Google TV boxes ship with a media server application, allowing you to stream content from your computer via DLNA, so the idea of Chromecast might seem a little redundant. Still, we’re definitely glad to see that Google hasn’t completely abandoned it’s TV service, especially when we were expecting a (worth while) announcement during Google I/O earlier this year.
If you don’t own a Smart TV, Set-top Box, or other smart device, we’d suggest you look into the Chromecast dongle before you spend $99+ on such a device. The Chromecast may lack apps and other TV-centric features, but it will most likely fit the bill for a large chunk of users who want to access their favorite content on their televisions. And at $35, even Smart TV owners are still considering the dongle. I know I am.
[Via: Engadget]