Google TV Streamer: Our new entertainment and smart home hub
blog.google
blog.google
"Doesn't stand out in your home" - The chromecast wasn't even visible, so this is a clear downgrade. Why would they even bring it up.
I wanted to love Google Home. I don't have Apple products, and the Alexa app was horrible. But alas, it was Googled. It became such a clusterfuck of convolution that it's not even usable for me anymore. I was using it on my Google Apps email, which I switched from to a regular gmail (because youtube premium wasn't available on Google Apps, neither was Google Home integration with my calendar), and now I can't move my devices to my new account.
All of this, on top of the fact, that Google has proven to be the least trust worthy company when it comes to managing users' data (arguably tied with Meta). I can't wait until my house starts shouting ads at me, or 24/7 listening 'to improve ad quality' becomes standard.
Take me back to IRC and phpbb.
With Google's reputation as a PII devouring monster to feed its advertising business, I know which home automation hub I will choose.
It's not going to drive upgraders either?
More memory, better chipset - These are weird, hard sells for normal people. The previous device could already play 4k HDR streams as well as anything. It improves loading times of apps? So what? You can download more apps? Most TV apps are sized on the order of tens of megabytes, why do I need more storage?
AI features. I don't want any of these, who wants any of these? AI summaries: Shows already have summaries, but now I guess I can have them written by a machine instead. AI screensavers: You have to be kidding, that's not a selling point. I also assume all of this could have been a software update on the old device since it's probably on-cloud.
Smart home features. Again, they could just been a software update? And who wants to turn on their TV and browse through their Google TV's interface to get to their smart light controls or whatever? We have phones and we have voice assistants already.
I just can't understand this. Am I missing something?
* Remote
* Ethernet option
* Able to play AppleTV
* An app that organizes media and looks like it keeps track of what's on all of your paid streaming services.
They're going more into the direction of Roku, which is easier for boomers and up to use because it works more like what they're used to already.
Using AI to predict what people want to watch won't work.
I use Chromecast and what I want is a rechargeable remote control.
I want a decent user interface that makes it clear what I have selected.
Voice control I find absolutely useless.