July 24 marked thirteen years since the original Chromecast landed, which sent me rummaging for mine. Thirty five dollars, a stick about the size of a USB drive, micro-USB for power, 1080p ceiling, and no remote at all - your phone was the remote. That last part was the actual idea, and it is the part the whole category has since walked away from.
The line drifted a long way. Second generation in September 2015, plus an audio-only version for speakers. Chromecast Ultra in November 2016 added 4K and HDR. Third generation in October 2018, still a pure casting stick. Then September 2020 brought Chromecast with Google TV, and that was the break - a real interface, a real remote, recommendations, everything the original was designed not to be. A cheaper HD model followed in September 2022, and the successor now is the Google TV Streamer.
I understand why it happened. Casting only works if the phone app cooperates, and once the money moved to on-screen ad-supported home rows, a dumb receiver had no revenue attached to it. But the first one solved a real problem well. It never made me learn its menu, never showed me a row of things I had not asked for, and cost less than a decent HDMI cable.
The 1080p ceiling is what finishes it now, and the scaling on a modern panel is rough. Still, for a bedroom set where all anyone does is throw YouTube at it from a phone, I am genuinely unsure a Streamer is an upgrade.
Anyone still running a gen 1 or gen 3 daily? Mostly I want to know whether current phone apps still cast to them properly or if support has quietly rotted.
The line drifted a long way. Second generation in September 2015, plus an audio-only version for speakers. Chromecast Ultra in November 2016 added 4K and HDR. Third generation in October 2018, still a pure casting stick. Then September 2020 brought Chromecast with Google TV, and that was the break - a real interface, a real remote, recommendations, everything the original was designed not to be. A cheaper HD model followed in September 2022, and the successor now is the Google TV Streamer.
I understand why it happened. Casting only works if the phone app cooperates, and once the money moved to on-screen ad-supported home rows, a dumb receiver had no revenue attached to it. But the first one solved a real problem well. It never made me learn its menu, never showed me a row of things I had not asked for, and cost less than a decent HDMI cable.
The 1080p ceiling is what finishes it now, and the scaling on a modern panel is rough. Still, for a bedroom set where all anyone does is throw YouTube at it from a phone, I am genuinely unsure a Streamer is an upgrade.
Anyone still running a gen 1 or gen 3 daily? Mostly I want to know whether current phone apps still cast to them properly or if support has quietly rotted.
