The Chromecast with Google TV is one of the most popular and iconic products Google has launched since it began manufacturing hardware. However, the firm discontinued it last year, replacing it with the Google TV Streamer. If you miss the Chromecast with Google TV, the Thomson Cast 150 may be a good alternative—if you can buy it.
The main virtue of the Chromecast with Google TV lies in its ease and simplicity of use. It’s a plug-and-play device that you connect to your TV’s HDMI port and a power source. From there, you’ll have immediate access to all your favorite streaming apps. In fact, it lets you enjoy the entire catalog of Android TV/Google TV apps from the Play Store and the Google Assistant. Furthermore, the dongle was quite affordably priced, both in its standard and 4K versions.
The latest Google TV Streamer is a good product, but it’s simply not the same. The “dongle” form factor is now a more traditional set-top box device. Furthermore, it’s also considerably more expensive—twice as much at full price. Unfortunately, Google discontinued the Chromecast with Google TV dongle with no intention of offering an alternative. So, it’s up to third-party providers to do this.
Thomson Cast 150, the spiritual successor to the Chromecast with Google TV
In this context, the Thomson Cast 150 was born. It’s a Google TV adapter that recaptures the essence of the beloved Chromecast with Google TV. It features the same dongle-like form factor, even maintaining the clean white case. The device supports 4K content playback, making it a direct replacement for the Chromecast with Google TV.
Regarding its tech specs, there’s a quad-core Cortex A35 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage. An ARM Mali-G31 GPU handles graphics processing. These are fairly basic specs, but enough to run all your favorite streaming apps. It also supports Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision for supported products and content. The Thomson Cast 150’s voice remote is the main difference from Google’s. It integrates Google’s latest guidelines, including the new “Live TV” button.
While everything looks pretty good, product availability could be an issue for you. Thomson primarily operates in Europe, which is a barrier for the US public. US customers could import the dongle, but that would increase the final price—which is still unknown, by the way.
That said, it would be great if more brands followed this path and offered alternatives to fill the gap left by the discontinuation of Chromecast with Google TV.
