Review: Google TV Streamer (4K)

There are a few products in our lives we want to use all the time and never have to think about. Faucets come to mind—you want your faucet to turn on and off, not leak. That’s about it. Google’s new Google TV Streamer is an Android-powered TV faucet that never leaks. Once you log into your various accounts and start streaming, you hardly notice it's there, but you'll have easy access to all your favorite shows and movies. You can even use the remote to control connected devices in your home, like lights, speakers, and plugs.

Casting from phones is simple and easy, and this new $100 streaming device lacks the sometimes jittery performance we saw on last-generation devices like the Google Chromecast and some current-gen TVs powered by Google’s TV operating system. If you dislike your current TV interface or want to make sure you’re streaming from well-maintained apps on a device that supports Dolby Vision and a wired internet connection, this is an excellent choice.

Simple Setup

The flat, cylindrical streaming device and its pill-shaped remote are about as plug-and-play as things can get, but it's worth noting this design is a dramatic change from the Chromecasts of old. No longer does Google's TV dongle dangle off the side of your TV. This Streamer is meant to be displayed loud and proud on a media console.

There is a single HDMI 2.1 port, a USB C port for power, and an Ethernet port for wired internet. On the back next to the ports, you’ll see a tiny little button that can make the remote beep and reveal its location; my forgetful brain thanks the engineers at Google for this. I wish the Streamer included an HDMI cable, as I had to fish one out of my closet. This wasn't an issue with its predecessors, which had a built-in HDMI cable.

The remote is large enough that you'll want to find a cell-phone-sized flat spot to put it—not the most convenient thing ever but not the most annoying either. The buttons aren't backlit, but they're easy enough to see even in low light thanks to grey-black text on a white background. It’s a simple layout with volume buttons on the right side of the remote for easy access, and the home button in grey just above so you don’t accidentally press it in the middle of a movie.

Once you turn on the Google TV Streamer, log in to your Google accounts (and whatever other streaming accounts you have these days) and you’re good to go. You can do all this via the Google Home app if you don’t want to use the onscreen TV keyboard to enter passwords. I was watching Netflix in under five minutes. (It also supports all the major apps, like Max, Paramount+, Amazon Prime, and Pluto TV).

A Smart Home Controller

The Google TV Streamer can act as a smart home display to easily control lighting, security cameras, thermostats, and more if you have that stuff connected via Google Home. It pulls up a screen on the right side of the TV screen, called the Home Panel, and it shows you what you have connected and allows you to control it. This experience is similar to the Home Panel on the lock screen of the Google Pixel Tablet or even on many Android phones.

I’m not a smart-home guy; I use a few Alexa speakers to set alarms and play Spotify, but the rest of my house is woefully unconnected. I asked fellow WIRED reviewer and connected-home guru Nena Farrell to test the smart home features for me, and she reported that they work very well. Voice commands to Google Assistant are responsive, and she liked using her TV screen for smart home control. She successfully used the remote to turn off her lights even when the TV was off. It can also be used to monitor smart doorbells and cameras, something WIRED editor Julian Chokkattu says is very handy, as you can check for motion alerts without having to find your phone in the dark during movie night.

Those are awesome features for folks who will use them, though it’s worth noting that this runs on a Thread border router to allow you to connect devices to your network, which is different than the Apple TV 4K, which is a bona fide smart hub that things can connect to directly.

Voice search for streaming material is great at looking up relevant shows or movies by name or searching for actors or directors you like. I did notice that if you have a voice command for a show on Netflix, for example, the back button on the remote takes you back to the main menu, not the Netflix app itself. It’s a small but annoying bug.

Otherwise, using it to find shows and movies is as simple as ever, and it does a decent job of recommending content in various genres if you’re “feeling lucky” and want to search based on things like “Irreverant 2007 Comedy” or “Keanu Reeves Action.”

Google has integrated its Gemini large language models into the Streamer, offering AI-enhanced summaries of shows and movies, and the ability to craft AI-generated screensavers. I like this but ultimately changed it back, as I'm fond of using Google Photos as my screensaver. I like walking into my room and seeing a photo of my wife, dog, or daughter, and I have misgivings about AI art in general. One smart feature I like is the ability to pair headphones to the TV Streamer, which lets you keep watching in the living room when others skitter off to bed.

Easy Streaming

There are a few reasons apart from the smart-home controller integration that might see you wanting to upgrade to this or another higher-end streaming device over the Google, Roku, or other smart interface built into your TV. For me, the main one is speed and stability.

Modern Google TVs always work great for me, but the built-in interface can be a bit laggy, especially when flipping between apps. With upgraded processing power, 4 GB of RAM, and 32 GB of internal storage, the new Google TV Streamer never hung on a menu or felt slow. It was smooth sailing from the moment I turned it on. It quickly booted and I was able to load apps instantly. I compared it to the built-in Google interface in a Hisense projector, and though the look and feel were identical, I found the outboard box ran smoother.

The only downside is that the Google TV Streamer employs Wi-Fi 5 instead of a more modern standard like Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7. It just means you won't be able to take advantage of the speed improvements you get if you upgrade your router, though the Streamer will continue working fine. That said, the built-in Ethernet port helps lessen this problem. I am soon moving somewhere without super-fast internet, so it’s nice to ensure I’ll get the fastest speeds when streaming 4K content, so I never get downgraded by buffering.

I plugged it in and tested it wirelessly, and never noticed streaming issues with the Google TV Streamer, even when streaming at max bit rate with Dolby Vision (the best high dynamic range format widely in use right now, in my opinion). I also like that there is now a favorite button on the remote, which I programmed to open my Plex app, where I keep rips of my discs.

There are some good competing products. The main options worth checking out are the Roku Ultra ($100), which has a simpler interface but lacks the smart device controls, and the Apple TV 4K ($129), which is a more iOS-friendly version of this for a bit more cash.

I prefer the Google interface to Apple's, as I use Android, but I still find myself waffling between the Roku and the Google streaming devices, because they're both so good and easy to use. For now, I'd call it a toss-up based entirely on which ecosystem you prefer (and probably how many smart devices you have). Roku has a backlit remote, but Google can turn on the lights. You'll have to decide which is best for you.