Google killed Chromecast. We'll miss a friendly

When it comes to our televisions, the HDMI dongle has been the ideal companion for more than a decade.

But the company has decided to entirely abandon it and will only sell the new Google TV Streamer, which is substantially more expensive but does not offer any features that are particularly superior to those of the previous model.

It is time for Google to stop eliminating products and services that are of high quality. For such a long time, it has been engaging in this activity that its cemetery is already at capacity. We had become accustomed to it eliminating a majority of wonderful services, such as Google Reader (what a loss), but its most recent action in this regard is a sad and tragic development.

This is due to the fact that Google has recently discontinued the Chromecast. The introduction of the new Google TV Streamer (4K) signals a significant turning point in the company’s hardware strategy. This device totally replaces the Chromecast family with this device, which is quite a bit more expensive but does not appear to be significantly superior to the Chromecast family. The shitification of technology has emerged once more in this instance.

An HDMI dongle that enabled us to watch video that was streamed from our smartphones on our televisions was introduced by Google in 2013, when it released the first edition of its Chromecast product.

The first member of a remarkable family of devices that enhanced the viewing experience of television was introduced at that time. Despite the fact that they were initially timid, these solutions matured throughout the course of the first few years, beginning with the second generation Chromecast (2015) and continuing with the third generation Chromecast (2018).

There was, however, a significant shift in the year 2020. It was at that time that a device came out that, in my perspective, was very close to being perfect: the Chromecast with Google TV (4K). Adding a remote control and making the device independent from the mobile phone was a huge success, and this solution quickly became one of the ideal accessories for our Smart TVs, allowing us to enjoy a wider variety of material on our televisions.

Although it was not precisely inexpensive, the Chromecast with Google TV (4K) was a really good option. At the time of its inception, it was priced at 69.99 euros; however, throughout the course of time, it became feasible to find it at a significant discount at specific moments. However, from that point forward, it appeared as though Google had made the decision that it was not going to be significantly better.

The Chromecast with Google TV (HD) was a downgraded edition that merely dropped capability for 4K and allowed for a more reasonable choice that released at a price of €39.99. In point of fact, there was never a real successor to that product. Instead, we saw a degraded variant of the Chromecast.

Despite this, the Chromecast with Google TV, in any of its multiple iterations, was still an excellent choice for those who want to enjoy a wonderful television experience. The version of Google TV that is available on these devices provided and continues to provide one of the greatest user interfaces for products of this kind. Additionally, the gadget and its remote were excellent in terms of their simplicity and features.

Chromecasts were a hit with us, and Google made doing so simple. It is possible that the introduction of the new Google TV Streamer (4K) would have been a more ambitious component of that idea; however, this is not the case. Although Google will continue to service existing devices, it will no longer produce any new Chromecasts and will only continue to sell them until it runs out of stock. This decision was made after the company determined that it was time to discontinue the Chromecast.

And this is a terrible tragedy.

The shitification of technological methods
A discussion on the topic of mierdification has already taken place in the past. This is a free translation of the term “enshittification,” which was invented by the author Cory Doctorow, who has been expressing his disapproval of this kind of occurrence for a considerable amount of time.

His application of this word is particularly focused on the development of social platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and he makes the following statements regarding these platforms:

In addition, this is precisely what is taking place with Chromecast users. In the beginning, they were beneficial for users, then they were beneficial for business clients (who, in the end, ended up receiving advertisements and having their experience get worse), and now they are exclusively beneficial for Google itself.

With the introduction of the Google TV Streamer (4K), you now have access to a device that, in essence, enables you to improve your profit margins at the expense of your customers. It would have been extremely simple to continue providing the most cost-effective choice with the Chromecast coupled with Google TV (4K)/(HD), but unfortunately, this will not be the case. Those products are doomed to perish.

It is likely that Google had the foresight to see that if it had retained such gadgets, sales of the new items would have been minimal. What’s the answer? You should get rid of them and only provide the choice that is the most expensive and slightly more advanced in terms of its features.
A set-top-box version of the new Google TV Streamer (4K) is available for purchase. It is no longer a product that is concealed behind the television; rather, it is a product that aspires to be in plain sight, similar to other products in this version such as the Apple TV 4K or the Amazon Fire TV Cube. These products are more ambitious, more powerful, and more expensive than the HDMI dongles that are found in products such as the Chromecast or the Fire TV Stick.

Google killed Chromecast. We’ll miss a friendly

By knl9j

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