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24 Hours With the Google TV Streamer 4K: Worth It?

2024 · From the Tech with Asher channel · Watch below or read on

After a full day with the Google TV Streamer set up and running, the picture is clear: this is a good streamer with a genuinely useful smart home layer, held back by two decisions that keep it from being a great one.

The feature that sells it: your doorbell on your TV

I borrowed the doorbell off our front door to demonstrate this properly (my wife was thrilled). Ring the bell, and a notification appears over whatever you are watching; open it and the doorbell camera feed fills the screen. You see who is there without leaving the couch. One honest limit: you can view the visitor, but you cannot talk to them through the TV.

The smart home layer, in practice

Scroll to the right on the home screen and Google Home is built in: favorite devices, lights on and off, dimming, thermostat changes, all from the couch. The remote's mic button does the same by voice. There is even a custom button, a small star on the remote, that you can bind to Google Home or a favorite app, one press and it opens. Even the Apple TV remote does not have that.

Fun surprise: AI screen savers

In the screen saver settings there is a custom AI option: describe an idea, futuristic robot in my case, and it generates artwork for your idle TV, three options at a time, regenerate until you like one, save. It is a toy, but it is a good toy, and guests notice it.

Flaw one: Wi-Fi 5 in a Wi-Fi 7 world

A brand new streamer shipping with two-generation-old Wi-Fi is hard to excuse. Ethernet rescues it entirely, and there is Bluetooth audio out for pairing a speaker or soundbar, but out of the box on wireless, this device is behind the curve it just launched into.

Flaw two: the smart home controls are shallow

Compared to the Google Home experience on a Pixel Tablet or Nest Hub Max, the streamer's version is a surface. Tap into an individual device and half the time it will not open the detail view at all, telling you it is not possible here. For toggling favorites it is fine; for actually managing the home, the tablets stay in charge. Oh, and you can pair a mouse to it, which genuinely works for search, a strange and delightful footnote.

The verdict

If your home already runs on Google gear, doorbell, thermostat, lights, this is an easy yes, wired to Ethernet and paired with the star button. If you are hoping the TV becomes your home's deepest control panel, it is not that yet. Good streamer, promising hub, one software update and one radio away from great.