Google now has a new Chromecast device that seems to be taking a cue from Amazon's Fire TV line. In fact, both the recently released Chromecast with Google TV and the Fire TV Stick 4K have quite a lot in common, in terms of design and functionality. However, for those shopping for a new streaming player, which one is the better buy?
Chromecast with Google TV was unveiled in September 2020 and marks a redesign of the popular casting device that allows it to stream content independent of a mobile device. Meanwhile, Amazon has a variety of different versions of its own streaming devices. When it comes to the HDMI stick form factor, the Fire TV Stick 4K, released in 2018, remains Amazon's best option for streaming content.
At first glance, it is difficult to say which of these devices is better. Chromecast with Google TV and the Fire Stick 4K both come with 8GB of storage, support Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HDR10+, and are capable of streaming 4K video at up to 60 fps. Their remotes have a similar design, with a navigation ring surrounding a button to make selections. Though, the Fire Stick remote's thinner ring and larger button makes it a little easier to use. Both remotes also have voice search, with Fire Stick using Alexa and the Chromecast device utilizing Google Assistant. Chromecast with Google TV is slightly faster, having a 1.9 GHz quad-core CPU as opposed to the Fire Stick 4K's 1.7 GHz one, and it also has 2GB of RAM instead of 1.5GB. However, in practice, the two devices seem to handle content equally well.
Where The Chromecast & Fire TV Differences Lie
On the surface, the user interfaces of the Fire Stick TV 4K and Chromecast with Google TV look the same, but there are some key differences. Both devices use a home screen that looks reminiscent of a streaming site, with rows of video content broken into recommendations from different streaming services. However, those recommendations are largely tied to the companies' own services. While the Fire TV Stick does feature some content from Netflix and other smaller streaming services, its home screen is largely littered with Amazon Prime Video content. For those without a Prime membership, this won't be very desirable. Meanwhile, the Chromecast device is integrated with a user's Google account, resulting in an emphasis on YouTube and movie rentals from Google Play. Although, many of the rows of video content are broken into categories, featuring content from other streaming services, such as Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+.
Chromecast with Google TV runs on Android TV whereas Fire Stick 4K runs on Fire OS, which is a proprietary fork of the open-source version of Android. While both operating systems have access to a large number of apps, Android TV is at a disadvantage here. For example, Fire OS has great options when it comes to web browsers. Firefox is available, but the device also comes with Amazon Silk preinstalled, which is a good quality stock browser in its own right. Android TV, meanwhile, doesn't have either and while one might think it would be only natural for Google Chrome to be available for Android TV, that's not the case. Granted, these apps can be sideloaded onto the device, but without a decent browser preinstalled to download the application packages – there are some options but they're not particularly impressive – sideloading gets a lot more cumbersome.
One area where Chromecast comes out on top is casting content. Through the Google Home app, users can easily cast content and share the device's screen with the TV. The Fire Stick 4K can also mirror content via third-party apps, but the success is mixed. Both the Chromecast with Google TV and Fire Stick 4K are available for $49.99 (C$69.99 in Canada). So, ultimately, choosing comes down to what consumers want to use the device for. If they like to rent movies and TV shows from Google Play and cast content from their mobile devices, Chromecast is the better option. However, if they want a better overall experience, with access to more content via web browsing, Amazon's Fire Stick 4K is the way to go.
Source: Google