The Google TV Streamer is one of the best streaming devices, delivering top-notch visuals and impressive performance. It’s an improvement over the Chromecast 4K since it features more storage and an upgraded remote with Find My support. The Streamer supports Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, and HDR10+. While the $100 Google TV Streamer outperforms the Chromecast with Google TV, it lacks a few features that would have made it the ideal streaming device.
Read our review
Review: The Google TV Streamer is a better Chromecast, but not much more
At twice the price of Google’s last 4K streamer, I expected better
5
The Google TV Streamer does not come with an HDMI cable
Not everyone has a spare lying around
Google’s decision not to include an HDMI cable with the Google TV Streamer is baffling to me. While it appears to follow the trend of Apple and Amazon shipping their streaming boxes without one, it is still annoying. Most buyers upgrading from Chromecast with Google TV may not have an extra HDMI cable lying around since the dongle has a built-in plug.
It is even more frustrating that the Streamer costs twice as much as the Chromecast with Google TV (4K), and you must buy a new HDMI cable. Even if you have a spare cord, you may not get the best experience if you do not own an HDMI 2.1 cable.
4
There’s no hands-free voice control
You need a remote to use Google Assistant on the Google TV Streamer
It’s disappointing that the Google TV Streamer lacks hands-free voice controls, while other streaming devices like the Roku Ultra, Nvidia Shield, and Fire TV Cube support the feature. While Chromecast devices never offered it, I wish the pricier Streamer had hands-free Google Assistant.
Annoyingly, one way to control the device with your voice is by spending more money to buy a smart speaker. If you don’t mind using the remote, you can invoke Google Assistant by pressing the microphone button. Still, it isn’t as convenient as hands-free access.
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3
The Google TV Streamer doesn’t support Wi-Fi 6
No Wi-Fi upgrade here
The Google TV Streamer only supports Wi-Fi 5 or dual-band 2.4/5GHz 802.11ac. The omission of Wi-Fi 6 support can be an issue if you have a smart home setup with many devices connected to the network. Wi-Fi 6 offers numerous improvements over Wi-Fi 5, like faster speeds, lower latency, and better performance. The Google TV Streamer lags behind other streaming devices with Wi-Fi 6 support, like the Fire TV Cube, Fire TV Stick, Roku Ultra, and Apple TV 4K.
2
You can’t access Google Photos
It would be nice to view photos on the big screen
Android 14 for TV lacks a standalone Google Photos app, meaning you can’t access your photos using the Google TV Streamer remote. Meanwhile, Apple TV users can view photos on the big screen via the built-in iCloud Photos app. If Android TV had a dedicated Google Photos app, you could set your favorite albums as screensavers. Surprisingly, there’s no such feature yet. As a workaround, you can cast photos to the Streamer using your phone, but nothing beats the convenience of directly accessing an app onscreen.
1
No ad-free experience
You can’t escape advertisements on the Google TV Streamer
For a premium device like the Google TV Streamer, the prevalence of ads is a big disappointment. Its interface is cluttered with content recommendations that don’t add much value. Sponsored content and recommendations occupy most of the home screen. Google isn’t the only company stuffing ads in its UI. Fire TV and Roku follow the same practice. However, an ad-free experience should be the norm if you pay for a premium streaming device.
To be fair, the Google TV Streamer offers a minimalist apps only mode if the interface is too overwhelming for you. It removes advertisements and content recommendations from the Google TV UI. The downside is that it also strips away some crucial Google TV features like Google Home integration, Google Assistant, and Library tabs.
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Is the Google TV Streamer worth the price?
The Google TV Streamer isn’t a perfect streaming device due to the lack of Wi-Fi 6 support, missing HDMI cable, absence of hands-free voice control, and advertisements. However, it offers improvements over Chromecast devices, like an in-built Ethernet port, more storage space, an improved remote control, and better performance. It also supports most audio and video formats.
If you’ve purchased a Google TV Streamer, you can customize your streaming experience by tweaking a few settings. If you face technical or software issues, you can troubleshoot common Google TV problems and get your TV up and running.
Google TV Streamer
- Operating System
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Android TV OS
- Resolution
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4K at 60FPS
- HDR support
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Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+, HLG
- Audio codecs
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Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Atmos
- RAM/storage
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4GB/32GB
- CPU
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MediaTek MT8696