Thomson has introduced a new streaming device called the Cast 150, which closely resembles the now-discontinued Chromecast with Google TV. This new Google TV dongle includes an updated remote featuring a dedicated “Live TV” button. Earlier this year, Google made the decision to discontinue the Chromecast with Google TV, replacing it with the new Google TV Streamer. While the original Chromecast had a compact plug-and-play design that directly connected to a TV’s HDMI port, the new Streamer adopts a more typical set-top box form factor.
The price point is another notable difference—while the old Chromecast was affordable, the 4K model of the new streamer comes at a significantly higher price. Fortunately, Thomson’s Cast 150 hits the market as a viable alternative, maintaining the familiar dongle-style design for easy connections to HDMI-equipped screens. It supports 4K streaming, positioning it as a suitable replacement for the Chromecast with Google TV 4K. Powering the Cast 150 is a quad-core Cortex A35 processor coupled with an ARM Mali-G31 GPU, 2GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage.
Furthermore, it supports advanced audio-visual features including Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. One of the most significant updates lies in the design of the remote. The Cast 150 remote adheres to Google’s new reference design and prominently features the Live TV button. This addition aligns with Google’s recent confirmation that future Google TV devices will include a dedicated button for accessing live content.
The remote maintains other common shortcut buttons for popular streaming services such as Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, and Disney Plus. Pricing details for the Cast 150 have not yet been disclosed, but there is hope that it will be similar to the previous Chromecast with Google TV. Availability might be a challenge as Thomson primarily operates in Europe, meaning interested buyers in the U.S. may need to consider overseas purchases or imports, potentially increasing the overall cost.
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