Google ChromeCast: The $35 TV Video Streaming Device Unveiled; Also Works On Rival iPhone And iPad Devices

On Wednesday, a Google Press event was successfully held in San Francisco dubbed as "Breakfast with Sundar Pichai." During the event, new details about the upcoming Chrome and Android products were released such as Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, Nexus 7 2 and a new product called the Google Chromecast.

The $35 Google Chromecast is a two-inch TV device and as Wall Street Journal described it, it "looks like a thumb drive, plugs into the HDMI port of a TV and can be controlled by a person's mobile device or laptop using a wireless Internet connection."

After plugging Google ChromeCast into the TV, selecting the appropriate 'input' and downloading an app on to the mobile device or onto the computer,users of device can already easily stream video content from their mobile devices to their HD TVs. The mobile device or the computer needs to be within 20 feet off the TV and it should be on the same Wi-fi network as the Chromecast device.

Pichai said, as quoted from a post on NBC News, "The average household has three televisions," further pointing out that a lot of users are struggling to get video content from their mobile devices to their televisions. And to offer a solution to this problem, Google released ChromeCast, which obviously is based on Chrome.

To select the video to watch, users need to press the "cast" icon within the app that you want to play on your TV. YouTube, Google Play Music, Google Play Movies are supported. Furthermore, Google is currently offering a promotion: get free 3 months of Netflix when you purchase Chromecast. The volume and playback can be controlled through the mobile device.

Another interesting thing about Google ChromeCast is that aside from working perfectly well on Android and Chrome-based devices, this TV Video plug-and-play device also supports rival iOS devices such as the iPhone and the iPad.

Available for only $35, Google Chromecast was released on July 24.