Google TV Streamer review: Phoning it in

The Google TV streamer is a $100 streaming box that doesn’t quite justify its premium price.

While it’s slightly faster than Walmart’s excellent Onn Google TV 4K Pro, which–at $50, costs half as much–the two products’ core streaming features are comparable, and the Google TV Streamer’s remote control is more limited. The biggest value-add is its functionality as Matter smart home controller with a built-in Thread border router. If that sentence means nothing to you, you’re not missing much.

Google TV’s software still excels at sorting through movies and TV shows, and the Google TV Streamer is the speediest way to run that software. But if Google really wants to separate itself from third-party Google TV hardware—and from other high-end streaming players—it ought to try a little harder.

The Google TV Streamers’ specs facilitate shorter load times and smoother navigation than cheaper streamers.

What’s in the box

Google didn’t just ditch the Chromecast branding for its latest streaming box, it also dispensed with the dongle design in favor of an oblong, inclined device that’s meant to sit atop (or inside) your entertainment stand.

The box connects to outlet power via a 6-foot USB-A to USB-C cable and included adapter, but you’ll need to supply an HDMI cable to connect with your TV, as Google opted not to include one. As with other high-end streamers, Google’s box supports 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos.

The Google TV Streamer has a 1Gbps ethernet port around back, and it uses Wi-Fi 5 for wireless connectivity. Bluetooth 5.1 is on board for pairing wireless earbuds, headphones, or game controllers, but there’s no built-in USB port. That means you’ll need a separate USB-C hub for external media, wired game controllers, and webcams.

This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best media streamers.

An expanded remote

The Google TV Streamer’s remote control is slightly taller than earlier Chromecast with Google TV remotes, making room for top-facing volume control buttons. It also puts the home button in a more logical place, directly beneath the directional pad at the top.

At the bottom-right, a programmable star button replaces the old input switcher. You can still have it switch TV inputs, but it can also launch a favorite app or pull up a smart home control panel. It’d be nice to see a few more shortcut possibilities, such as links to the Bluetooth pairing menu, the free TV section, or your watchlist.

The nicest new remote feature is a remote-finder function, with a chime that’s triggered by pressing a button on the Google TV Streamer’s backside or asking a nearby Google Assistant device where the remote went. Walmart’s Onn Google TV 4K Pro and the Roku Ultra have similar features.

Equally notable is what’s absent: There are no proper fast-forward, rewind, or play/pause buttons as you’ll find on Roku and Fire TV devices, and no shortcuts for the settings menu, live TV channel guide, or profile switcher as seen on Walmart’s Onn remotes. The remote isn’t backlit, either.

As before, the remote’s IR emitter allows it to control external soundbars and A/V systems, even if they’re not connected via HDMI-CEC. A pair of shortcut buttons are also on board for Netflix and YouTube, and the latter can be mapped to open YouTube TV or the YouTube app’s Music section.

How does the Google TV Streamer perform?

The Google TV Streamer has a faster processor than any Chromecast device—reported by Android Authority to be a quad-core Mediatek MT8696, but unconfirmed by Google—and its 4GB of RAM is more than than any other Google TV streaming player. It also includes 32GB of storage, quadrupling the older Chromecast with Google TV models.

In practice, those specs facilitate shorter load times and smoother navigation than cheaper streamers. Side-by-side with the Onn Google TV 4K Pro, the Google TV Streamer was often a few seconds faster at launching apps and less likely to stutter while loading menus. The difference isn’t night-and-day, but it is noticeable.

But Google TV’s software limitations still slow things down. Unlike Apple TV and Fire TV, the Google TV platform does not offer a shortcut to jump between recent apps (at least not without third-party app workarounds), and it lacks system-wide picture-in-picture support.

And while several apps offer their own multiview features, not all of them support those features on Google’s platform. MLB TV, Fubo, and ESPN all support split-screen viewing on Apple TV devices, for instance, but not on the Google TV Streamer.

One other confounding issue: Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football streams top out at 30 frames per second on the Google TV Streamer. Other apps don’t have this limitation—and neither do other Google TV devices—so hopefully it’s something Amazon can address.

Google TV software

While the Google TV Streamer runs on the Android TV operating system, “Google TV” refers to the device’s home-screen system, which recommends things to watch and helps you keep track of movies and shows. Pick your streaming services during setup, and the home screen will suggest content that mostly—but not always—aligns with those choices.

As you start watching, the home screen’s “Continue Watching” row will fill up with movies and shows in progress, so you can jump back in without having to hunt through individual apps. I wish this section appeared at the very top of the home screen instead of several rows down, but it’s still a great feature, and unlike Apple TV’s similar “Up Next” feature, it even integrates with Netflix.

Google TV isn’t as useful for keeping track of live sports, though. You’ll see some live sporting events promoted on the home screen and through a “Sports” sub-menu, but you can’t customize it with your favorite teams, and the information on where to watch is often incomplete. (For instance, it lists Sling TV as the sole option for Major League Baseball’s ALCS coverage, omitting all other live TV streaming services and Max as a standalone option.)

Surprisingly, generative AI only plays a bit part on the Google TV Streamer, with machine-generated plot synopses and review summaries when you click on a movie or show. While Google Assistant still handles voice commands admirably, it’d be nice to see the kind of AI concierge that Amazon is now building into Fire TV devices.

All the Google stuff

AI aside, the Google TV Streamer has all the same ecosystem tie-ins as other Google TV devices.

Despite the lack of Chromecast branding, for instance, you can still use Google Cast (the feature formerly known as Chromecast Built-In) to stream video or music from a phone, tablet, or computer. (But like other Google TV devices, you’ll still need the actual remote to control volume.) Screen mirroring is also supported from Android phones and the desktop Chrome browser.

Google Photos integration is a standout feature as well, turning your TV into an extra-large picture frame when it’s in screen saver mode. Assuming you’ve enabled face grouping in Google Photos, the TV can automatically rotate through pictures of specific family members, friends, and pets.

Smart home controls, meanwhile, are dependent on what you’ve set up in the Google Home mobile app. Using the Google TV Streamer’s quick settings menu, you can view camera feeds, adjust lighting, control smart thermostats, and more.

If you’ve bought into the Matter smart home standard, the Google TV Streamer also functions as a hub, allowing it to control Matter-compatible devices over your local network. It includes a Thread border router as well so it can connect to devices that use Thread radios instead of Wi-Fi. Whether Matter is worthwhile is well beyond the scope of this review, but most smart home gear today does not depend on Matter, and if you’ve set it up in Google Home, you can control it with any Google TV device. (There are also many other ways to bring a Matter hub with Thread into your home.)

Should you buy a Google TV Streamer?

While using the Google TV Streamer, the adjective I keep coming back to is “fine.” It’s a speedy enough streaming box with solid Google TV software, and the remote has some incremental improvements over Google’s earlier streamers.

As a flagship TV product from Google, however, it’s not particularly ambitious. The Nvidia Shield TV was doing AI-enhanced upscaling five years ago, and the Apple TV 4K is using machine learning for dialog enhancement and in-home karaoke. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Fire TV Cube offers flawless hands-free control.

The Google TV Streamer offers none of those things. Hands-free voice control is absent, and AI features are minimal. There’s no promise of exclusive feature drops like we see on Google’s Pixel devices, and Google guarantees only five years of software updates, versus seven years on its latest smartphones. Google couldn’t even muster a recent app switcher to take advantage of the Google TV Streamer’s extra RAM.

It just feels like a missed opportunity overall. Smart home enthusiasts might still find this streaming box worthwhile, but Google TV fans should seek out Walmart’s Onn Google TV 4K at half the price.