The Google Chromecast with Google TV is your Gateway to Live TV Streaming

Before September 30, a 4K-enabled Chromecast would set you back a minimum of $69, and you were limited by having to use your phone as your remote, jumping around in your launcher to the app you needed to watch the show you wanted. On the day the Google Chromecast with Google TV was announced, I ordered it so I could put it through its paces. Before I go into detail about the setup process and using the device, I’ll mention that if you already have a 4K-enabled Android TV set-top box with a Google Assistant-enabled remote, there’s no compelling reason to switch, even less so given the at-launch limitations of this Chromecast (as I’ll explain later). But if you’re looking to upgrade an old “dumb” TV for the first time, Google’s new dongle is worth your consideration.

The Google Chromecast with Google TV comes with a dedicated remote!

Setting up the Google Chromecast with Google TV

The setup process is pretty straightforward, if somewhat time-consuming. You’ll need to have your phone handy with the Google Home app installed to make setup as painless as possible. The setup process goes as follows (device in parentheses):

1. Pair remote by holding the (TV)
2. Connect Google Home app to Chromecast by scanning QR code (Home app on phone)
3. Connect to WiFi (Home app on phone)
4. Sign in with Google account (Home app on phone)
5. Choose Google services (Home app on phone)
6. Set up Google Assistant (Home app on phone)
7. Choose your apps (Home app on phone)
8. Choose Ambient Mode photo sources (Home app on phone)
9. Set up volume and power buttons on remote (TV)
10. Sign in to your third-party services (both TV and phone — some examples: Netflix seems to be the most tedious, Disney+ can sign in automatically with Google Smart Lock if you already have it enabled on your phone, CBS All Access can sign in automatically when you have the app open on your phone, Amazon Prime Video and ESPN require entering codes on activation pages in browser)
11. (Optional) go back to set up input switcher button on remote by using the remote to go to settings on the TV

Google Home (Free, Google Play) →

Using the Google Chromecast with Google TV

Thanks to the dedicated remote and the Google TV on-screen UI, Google’s new Chromecast is finally able to compete with the streaming stick giants from Roku and Amazon while outclassing them with its traditional phone mirroring capabilities. To clear up any possible confusion, Google TV is the rebranded Play Movies and TV app expanded to add a big-screen UI on top of the Android TV platform. With 8GB of local storage and 2GB RAM, it’s on par with the entry-level NVIDIA Shield TV (though the latter offers MicroSD storage expansion).

Speaking of specs, the processor is a 1.9GHz quad-core Amlogic S905X3, and it streams content at up to 4K resolution with HDR through an HDMI 2.0 connection. Power comes to the device via its USB-C port, and it supports an ethernet connection through an ethernet power adapter sold separately. Curiously there is no Google Stadia support at launch, but it’s expected to come in early 2021 according to the Stadia Twitter account.

Support for Stadia will be coming in the first half of 2021.

— Stadia (@GoogleStadia) September 30, 2020

The Google TV UI improves upon the Android TV interface primarily by consolidating content from your Google Play library and various supported subscriptions you may have such as Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, Sling TV, Amazon Prime Video, etc. The interface you see depends on whether you subscribe to YouTube TV with the same Google account you used to set up your Chromecast. If you do, you’ll see the following tabs: Search, For You, Live, Movies, Shows, Apps, and Library. Otherwise, you’ll see everything except for the Live tab. Below is a screenshot gallery describing what you’ll see on each tab.

While the new Google Chromecast with Google TV is an absolute step up from previous Chromecasts, it’s a definite step down from leading 4K-enabled Android TV set-top boxes. The biggest limitation is its lack of support for any live TV service other than YouTube TV. For this review, I went through the setup process multiple times using different Google accounts so I could use one to subscribe to a free trial of YouTube TV to illustrate the differences in day-to-day use. For instance, as indicated above, the Google TV UI will have a Live tab only if the Google account you used to set up the device has a YouTube TV subscription. If you have multiple Google accounts and you used a different one to set up your Chromecast, you’ll have to add your secondary Google account with the YouTube TV subscription in settings and go to the YouTube TV app in the app section to see live TV. Thankfully, Google is expected to add support for other live TV service providers in the future.

I had some minor quibbles with the remote in my two weeks of usage but otherwise, it’s a stylish and competent offering. The first problem I had was this: While holding the Google Assistant button down and saying “Play Iron Man”, it took me to the movie I purchased a few years ago from Google Play Movies, which was great except for the fact that the title on Google Play Movies maxes out at 1080p rather than the 4K version included with my Disney+ subscription. It goes to show that the results are mostly accurate but not always the best when more than one option exists. Two other minor issues: I wish the remote had a dedicated play/pause button and a dedicated skip-back-10-seconds button like the Roku remote. It’s a nice stylish space saver to consolidate all that functionality into the circular D-pad, but the Roku remote still had those dedicated buttons in addition to the D-pad.

Conclusion

It seems to me that Google was targeting the Roku Stick and the Amazon Fire TV stick when they released this new Chromecast with Google TV. Had they been targeting Android TV set-top boxes, they would have had Stadia support at launch and support for more live TV service providers. If that is the case, I’d say Google hit it out of the park (which is more than I can say about the Cubs lately, but that’s another story). Google TV, despite its bugs and its occasional latency, does what Roku and Amazon have not done: consolidate content from multiple services so the TV shows and movies take center stage, not the apps. Also, the Chromecast continues to offer the unparalleled phone mirroring it has been known for over the last seven years. The $49 price provides support for 4K content at $20 less than the Chromecast Ultra and keeps the Google Chromecast with Google TV competitive with other 4K streaming sticks.

Google Chromecast with Google TV

Google has upgraded the Chromecast with a full-fledged, Android-based operating system called Google TV. They also equipped it with a remote, making the $49 dongle your one-stop shop for live TV streaming.

Pros:

Cons:

Photos by Adam Conway

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Samsung looks to Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo handsets for its Exynos chips

Samsung is reported to be looking to supply its Exynos chip tech to third party phone brands including Xiaomi and Oppo, following successful cooperation with Vivo during 2020. The deal would be for low-end SoCs for budget and mid-range smartphones, for which Samsung’s internal demand has decreased.

The Exynos AP (application processor) range was the mainstay of the company’s own products until the mid-2010s, but since then, Samsung Electronics System LSI, the division which produces Exynos has begun to look externally, citing low-profit margins for internal deals, compared to signing new clients.

The current flagship Exynos 990 was passed over in favor of the more universally recognized Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, for the South Korean variant of the Samsung Galaxy S20 series, which is said to be a major reputational setback for the Exynos AP.

It’s believed that the next-generation chip, the Exynos 1080 is the target for these new customers – boasting a 5nm micro-fabrication process and based on Coretex A78 CPUs and Mali G78 GPUs. A successor to this – the Exynos 2100 – is due in 2021.

After supplying Chinese maker Vivo with Exynos 980 and 880 units in early 2020, it is looking to other Chinese makers such as Xiaomi and Oppo, to avoid being snarled up in the ongoing feud between the US and China. In fact, the current battle has created the demand for Exynos chips, as the globally distributed Chinese vendors adopt an aggressive stance to take advantage of Huawei’s blanket ban in the US and consequential freezing out of the Google ecosystem central to the commercial Android platform.

For the impressive, but relatively unknown Samsung Exynos range, getting a foothold in growing brands, albeit for low-end chips, could kick-start a rise in recognition which may lead to orders for high-end chips further down the line. Who knows – we could see Samsung Exynos SoCs back in Samsung Galaxy flagship devices in a few years time.

---

Source: Business Korea
Story Via: GizmoChina

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Samsung looks to Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo handsets for its Exynos chips

Samsung is reported to be looking to supply its Exynos chip tech to third party phone brands including Xiaomi and Oppo, following successful cooperation with Vivo during 2020. The deal would be for low-end SoCs for budget and mid-range smartphones, for which Samsung’s internal demand has decreased.

The Exynos AP (application processor) range was the mainstay of the company’s own products until the mid-2010s, but since then, Samsung Electronics System LSI, the division which produces Exynos has begun to look externally, citing low-profit margins for internal deals, compared to signing new clients.

The current flagship Exynos 990 was passed over in favor of the more universally recognized Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, for the South Korean variant of the Samsung Galaxy S20 series, which is said to be a major reputational setback for the Exynos AP.

It’s believed that the next-generation chip, the Exynos 1080 is the target for these new customers – boasting a 5nm micro-fabrication process and based on Coretex A78 CPUs and Mali G78 GPUs. A successor to this – the Exynos 2100 – is due in 2021.

After supplying Chinese maker Vivo with Exynos 980 and 880 units in early 2020, it is looking to other Chinese makers such as Xiaomi and Oppo, to avoid being snarled up in the ongoing feud between the US and China. In fact, the current battle has created the demand for Exynos chips, as the globally distributed Chinese vendors adopt an aggressive stance to take advantage of Huawei’s blanket ban in the US and consequential freezing out of the Google ecosystem central to the commercial Android platform.

For the impressive, but relatively unknown Samsung Exynos range, getting a foothold in growing brands, albeit for low-end chips, could kick-start a rise in recognition which may lead to orders for high-end chips further down the line. Who knows – we could see Samsung Exynos SoCs back in Samsung Galaxy flagship devices in a few years time.

---

Source: Business Korea
Story Via: GizmoChina

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Google Keep will lose its Chrome app in February

Google Keep will lose its Chrome App in February, as part of the company’s long term plan to kill off all Chrome Apps in favor of universal progressive web apps. Users of Google’s note-taking app who access it through the Chrome app are being greeted with a banner warning that “Keep will be moving from the Chrome app to your browser soon” and suggesting that users upgrade to the extension and website instead.

You can create your own Keep app by going to the Keep website and creating a windowed Chrome shortcut of it.

The news isn’t a total surprise. Last month Google finally gave a timeline for the end of Chrome Apps, which confirmed that support would continue until June 2021, with an extra year for Chrome OS devices and specialist apps with a Device Policy integration.

Alas, Google has clearly decided that it’s going to start pulling its own apps before that date. One side effect of this is that the option to keep Google Keep on your Chrome OS lock screen will also be removed. This will frustrate some users who rely on the lock screen option for speedy notetaking. Moreover, Keep Chrome App users will not be able to access their notes offline after support finishes, though access from Android and iOS will continue.

Google is keen to remind us that the end of Chrome Apps is not the same as the end of the more versatile Chrome Extensions, which will carry on as before: “Google will continue to support and invest in Chrome Extensions on all existing platforms. Fostering a robust ecosystem of extensions is critical to Chrome’s mission and we are committed to providing a useful extension platform for customizing the browsing experience for all users.”

To celebrate the transition, Google Keep will be getting a new icon, already appearing for some desktop users.

---

Source: Google Support Article
Story Via: 9to5Google

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Google Keep will lose its Chrome app in February

Google Keep will lose its Chrome App in February, as part of the company’s long term plan to kill off all Chrome Apps in favor of universal progressive web apps. Users of Google’s note-taking app who access it through the Chrome app are being greeted with a banner warning that “Keep will be moving from the Chrome app to your browser soon” and suggesting that users upgrade to the extension and website instead.

You can create your own Keep app by going to the Keep website and creating a windowed Chrome shortcut of it.

The news isn’t a total surprise. Last month Google finally gave a timeline for the end of Chrome Apps, which confirmed that support would continue until June 2021, with an extra year for Chrome OS devices and specialist apps with a Device Policy integration.

Alas, Google has clearly decided that it’s going to start pulling its own apps before that date. One side effect of this is that the option to keep Google Keep on your Chrome OS lock screen will also be removed. This will frustrate some users who rely on the lock screen option for speedy notetaking. Moreover, Keep Chrome App users will not be able to access their notes offline after support finishes, though access from Android and iOS will continue.

Google is keen to remind us that the end of Chrome Apps is not the same as the end of the more versatile Chrome Extensions, which will carry on as before: “Google will continue to support and invest in Chrome Extensions on all existing platforms. Fostering a robust ecosystem of extensions is critical to Chrome’s mission and we are committed to providing a useful extension platform for customizing the browsing experience for all users.”

To celebrate the transition, Google Keep will be getting a new icon, already appearing for some desktop users.

---

Source: Google Support Article
Story Via: 9to5Google

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It’s not just you: Gmail is having an outage in some regions

Some of Google’s services have been facing server issues for the past few hours, causing problems for users around the world. Services affected at the moment include Gmail primarily, with users in India, Europe and parts of the USA complaining that they are unable to sign in to the service and access their emails.

Down Detector is showing a spike in complaints related to connectivity issues for Gmail. Here is the outage map for the service at the time of writing:

The G Suite Status Dashboard indicates that other Google services are not facing server issues, and it’s just Gmail that is having a service disruption.

The official Gmail Twitter account further confirms the service disruption as users complained about their inability to log in and send emails. The G Suite Status Dashboard mentioned the following update:

Our team is continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by 11/3/20, 7:30 PM with more information about this problem. Thank you for your patience. The affected users are unable to access Gmail, but we’ve provided a workaround below.

Please use Gmail mobile apps

There is currently no ETA on when the services are expected to resume normal functioning. The outages do not affect all users of these services, and in this case, only a smaller number of users are affected. Google advises using the Gmail mobile app for accessing, but we haven’t spotted any user reporting success with this.

We’ll update the article when we get more information on this outage.

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It’s not just you: Gmail is having an outage in some regions

Some of Google’s services have been facing server issues for the past few hours, causing problems for users around the world. Services affected at the moment include Gmail primarily, with users in India, Europe and parts of the USA complaining that they are unable to sign in to the service and access their emails.

Down Detector is showing a spike in complaints related to connectivity issues for Gmail. Here is the outage map for the service at the time of writing:

The G Suite Status Dashboard indicates that other Google services are not facing server issues, and it’s just Gmail that is having a service disruption.

The official Gmail Twitter account further confirms the service disruption as users complained about their inability to log in and send emails. The G Suite Status Dashboard mentioned the following update:

Our team is continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by 11/3/20, 7:30 PM with more information about this problem. Thank you for your patience. The affected users are unable to access Gmail, but we’ve provided a workaround below.

Please use Gmail mobile apps

There is currently no ETA on when the services are expected to resume normal functioning. The outages do not affect all users of these services, and in this case, only a smaller number of users are affected. Google advises using the Gmail mobile app for accessing, but we haven’t spotted any user reporting success with this.

We’ll update the article when we get more information on this outage.

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