At the beginning of last month, Google hosted their own event to show off some upcoming products, and chief among them were the new Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, the first phones to be designed and manufactured by Google. Of course, the Internet giant didn’t just have a couple of phones to show off, as they also announced the new Google Home speaker – which goes up for sale today, by the way – and the new Chromecast Ultra. You might be wondering what makes any Chromecast “ultra”, but 4K playback is probably one of the things that will, as is a low price of just $69. For those that pre-ordered the Chromecast Ultra, it appears to be shipping out to customers today.
The Chromecast first started out as little more than a way to get YouTube or Netflix on to your TV, but it has since spawned a massive array of different apps and even a whole host of games, too. With the Chromecast Ultra, Google have beefed up the design they used for last year’s refresh of the Chromecast, and of course added support for 4K playback. They didn’t stop there though, as TVs that support it will also get HDR, or High Dynamic Range, content as well as Dolby Vision, too. To push all of this extra data, the Chromecast Ultra now supports dual-band 802.11 n/ac WiFi, and will stream shows even quicker than before. That’s not bad for a neat little disc that plugs directly into your TV and then fades away into the background.
Customers that pre-ordered the device are now reporting that it’s shipping out, which will be a nice surprise to those that were prepared for something of a delay in getting their hands on one. Regardless of whether or not you’ve pre-ordered one, however, the Chromecast Ultra is only as good as your connection and the services that offer 4K right now, which appears to be pretty slim. For $69 though, the Ultra will make a nice Chromecast option for those happy with 1080p content, as well as those that were a little disappointed by the WiFi capabilities in the previous Chromecasts. if you’re thinking about getting one after reading this, the best place to do so is from the Google Store and clicking the button below will take you there.