Paul’s Pixel 10 Diaries: Google on the TV ⭐

I purchased a Google TV Streamer while we were here in Mexico because it was on sale during Amazon’s recent Prime Big Deals Day event. The idea is to see how well it integrates with the Pixel 10 series phones and the broader Google ecosystem, especially the revamped Google Home.

I typically use an Apple TV 4K for the TV interface here in Mexico and in Pennsylvania. And I do so for all the obvious reasons: The clean, nearly ad-free user interface and overall performance, plus most of the content I’ve purchased came from Apple, so I get all the extra features for movies. Tied to that, I’ve pretty much settled into standardizing on Apple at home. But then I’m also always open to change.

And the Google TV Streamer has always been interesting to me. I’ve had the previous generation Chromecast with Google TV dongle for years (back in PA) and while I do like that small device, the performance has always been lackluster. In 2023, I opined that Google needed an Apple TV, meaning a set-top box, not a dongle, with slightly beefier specs. And the Google TV Streamer appears to be just that.

Coincidentally, I (re)evaluated the latest Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max and Roku Streaming Stick Plus, and the Chromecast with Google TV (in lieu of getting the Google TV Streamer at the time) to reacquaint myself with these platforms this past spring. Despite the performance issues, the Google entry is inarguably the best of the Apple TV alternatives. So this seemed like good timing.
? Hardware
Google announced the Google TV Streamer in August 2024 and then shipped the device to customers in late September, so it’s now about a year old. (That’s considerably newer than the latest Apple TV, which debuted in late 2022, but that could be updated as soon as this week.) At the time, it was promoted as being a premium, AI-powered center for home entertainment and smart home, though the Gemini capabilities in this and other Google TV devices are getting a big update soon alongside improvements across the Google Home ecosystem.

For the entertainment minded, the Google TV Streamer supports 4K HDR/HDR10/HDR10+/HLG and Dolby Vision video at 60 FPS, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby Atmos sound, and Wi-Fi 5 (!), Bluetooth 5.1, and 1 Gbps Ethernet connectivity. It has 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage (nice updates compared to the 2 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage of its predecessor). And from a smart home perspective, it’s a Matter hub and a Thread border router; its predecessor only supports the former.

The Google TV Streamer comes in two colors, a quirky Hazel that I love (and bought) and a more traditional Porcelain (off-white). The device itself is an oblong, angled rounded rectangle with a tacky bottom to keep it rooted on the shelf. The back has three ports—a USB-C port for charging, the Ethernet port, and HDMI for video-out—and button for finding the remote.

It’s about as minimalist as this type of thing can get, though Google...