The original Google Chromecast device was released in July 2013. This is a small stick dongle with HDMI and MicroUSB ports, designed to be plugged into a television or monitor and essentially act as a wireless conduit between content and a computer device of some description and the computer itself. The Chromecast device works with Android smartphones and tablets, the iPhone, the Chromebook and indeed the Chrome browser as installed onto other platforms. Customers will need a television or monitor with a spare HDMI port, a MicroUSB charger, a compatible Wi-Fi network and of course a device to control the Chromecast with. Where the Chromecast is exceptionally clever is that it does not receive the sent information from the device used to control it, but instead it remotely accesses the content on your behalf and broadcasts it onto the television. This means that for some services, such as when streaming a movie from Netflix or Amazon Prime Video as two examples, our smartphone or tablet may be used as a sort of remote control but does not of the heavy lifting.
Google updated the original Chromecast last year with a new and improved version, plus introduced the Chromecast Audio, which does what one might expect from the title: it allows customers to stream audio from a compatible device via the Chromecast, which may be connected to speakers elsewhere in the house. The Chromecast runs a custom version of Google’s Chrome OS, which itself consists of the Chrome Browser running on top of a lightweight and high performance LINUX base. The dongle has adopted Chrome OS’ secure and easy way of working, including the way that the operating system is updated. Operating system updates are downloaded in the background and in order to update, the device must be rebooted, which typically takes under ten seconds. Furthermore, the Chromecast service has been readily adopted by third party application developers and it’s been well supported throughout the industry.
Today Google announced that it has sold over 25 million Chromecast devices during the keynote speech at the Google I/O developer conference and the device has gone on to become one of its best selling home electronic devices. However, let us not forget that the Google Chromecast has a utility beyond the home: the device can easily be put to use to share a device screen and help in presentations when attached to a projector or big screen. The Chromecast is also an inexpensive device, too, which currently retails at £30 in the United Kingdom or $35 in North America.