Google’s long-awaited Amazon Fire TV stick competitor is almost here. Ahead of the company’s hardware event on 30th September, the new ‘Chromecast with Google TV’ has leaked in full. Earlier this week, an ‘alleged’ photo of the packaging was leaked (thanks to stocking team at Walmart), and then the flood of leaks started. It’s now leaked to point where retailers like The Home Depot and Walmart are now, shamelessly, selling the devices.
Chromecast with Google TV
Thanks to folks over at Reddit, we now know almost all the details of the upcoming device, including the images and videos of the device and even a UI walkthrough video that shows us all the features of it. Starting with the leaked images, thanks to the Reddit user u/fuzztub07, we can see the ‘pebble’ like design of the device. This design was first reported by XDA-Developers, under the codename ‘Sabrina’, which has Google branding in the front and power button at the back.
Looking closely at the images reveals that Google has upgraded the Chromecast from MicroUSB to USB Type-C for power. It retains the good-old HDMI port for connecting to the TVs.
Other contents in the box include the remote and the power brick for, obviously, powering the device. Google will also bundle 2 AA batteries that’ll power the remote.
The video shows the box in its entirety. As we can see, the new Chromecast with Google TV will be 4K HDR compatible. On the front are some of the logos of the companies whose apps (like Netlfix, Disney+, Hulu etc.) will come pre-installed on the device.
Taking a closer look at the remote
Taking a closer look at the remote, it follows the same oval-ish design of the Chromecast. There are two dedicated app buttons on the remote, presumably YouTube and Netflix, that will launch these two apps with a click of a button. Google’s continued push for Google Assistant can be seen here as there’s a dedicated button for that too. The Redditor, u/fuzztub07, also claims that with the new Chromecast users will be able to press down Back + Home buttons together to control the volume of the TV, via CEC.
Hands-on with the device
The Redditor also posted a hands-on video with the new casting device, which gives us a clear look at the device’s walkthrough UI. As we can see in the video, the device will run on Android TV 10 and will have 8 GB of onboard storage. Though only ~4GB will be available to the end-user. There are separate rows for games that can be played using the bundled remote or a dedicated gaming controller. Google might even launch a Stadia app for the device, seeing the push for a separate gaming tab.
Thanks to the benchmark apps, we now know that the Chromecast with Google TV will be powered by a quad-core Amlogic CPU clocked at up to 1.9GHz and only 2GB of RAM.
New Chromecast: Pricing and Availability
Google is expected to officially reveal this device tomorrow, at the company’s hardware event (where we might even get the first look at Pixel 5?). And if the folks over at Walmart and The Home Depot are to be believed, the device will sell at a price of $49.98 in the United States. In India, the device might sell in the price bracket of Rs. 2500 – Rs. 3500. We’ll update the article as and when we hear more about the device.
Also Read: You Can Now Cast Google Meet and Duo Calls To Your TV