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Google announced their latest streaming device, the Chromecast Ultra. Chromecast Ultra is the next step to Chromecast where you can simply plug the device into the HDMI port and cast content from the Internet. While the Fire TV Stick is a good competitor to Chromecast, Chromecast has a slight edge in terms of featured content. A lot of apps support Chromecast and even some TV’s have Google’s Casting built in such as Vizio‘s Smartcast. With Chromecast, you can cast content from Youtube and from a Chrome browser. Neat!
What Chromecast distinguished itself apart from the Fire TV Stick is the capability to stream in 4K Ultra HD / HDR. For Amazon, only the Fire TV has this capability.
Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV Stick’s advantage is its access to Prime videos and its library. Amazon also has more 4K content as well as exclusive content. Google Play is lacking in this area.
Both have mirroring capabilities from their respective phones but Google may have a slight edge over the ease of use.
At this event, Google also announced Google Home which has its AI, Google Assistant, which will seamlessly integrate information from various Google apps from calendar, maps, traffic, and location to give you information such as news and weather. Although Amazon’s Alexa is amazing, it doesn’t compare to the integrated offering that Google can offer. This is when the Fire phone’s failure is coming to bite Amazon.
Chromecast Ultra | Amazon Fire TV Stick – Gen 2 | Amazon Fire TV – 2nd Gen | |
Launched | Nov. 2016 | Sep-16 | Dec. 2015 |
Price | $69 | $39.99 | $99.99 |
HD Type | All up to 4K, Ultra HD, HDR | Up to 1080p – 60hz | up to 2160p 4K – 30Hz |
Chip CPU | Marvell Armada 1500 Mni Plus | Mediatek 8127D Quad-core ARM 1.3Ghz |
MediaTek 8173C Quad-core ARM Cortex A72 (2x2Ghz, 2×1.6Ghz) |
RAM | 512mb | 1GB | 2GB |
Storage | 256mb | 8GB | 8GB |
Connectivity | HDMI, Wifi, Ethernet (adopter) | Bluetooth 4.1, Micro USB, HDMI, WiFi | Bluetooth 4.1, Micro USB, HDMI, WiFi, Ethernet, Dolby |
Dimension | 52x52x13.5mm | 86x30x12.6mm | 115x115x17.8mm |
Weight | 40g | 32g | 270g |
Remote | No | Yes | Yes |