The Google TV Streamer might be the Apple TV 4K rival we’ve been waiting for

Google isn’t waiting for its upcoming hardware event to announce the Chromecast’s successor. Alongside the new, sleeker Nest Thermostat, today, the company is introducing the Google TV Streamer, a $99.99 set-top box that improves upon the Chromecast with Google TV with substantially better performance, Thread and Matter integration, and useful new features like a remote finder.

Yes, there are some Gemini AI tricks thrown in, and with other hardware upgrades like a built-in ethernet jack, the Google TV Streamer seems poised to be a much better entertainment hub than its predecessor. The only downside? Since it’s not a dongle anymore, you’ll have to provide your own HDMI cable when it ships on September 24th.

The sloped, low-profile device comes in two colors: porcelain (white) and hazel (dark gray), with the latter being exclusive to the Google Store. Unlike the Chromecast, which could be hidden away behind your TV, the Google TV Streamer is designed to sit underneath it and be seen — without standing out from your other home decor. Part of why Google designed it to be placed out in the open is because the device includes a Thread border router and connectivity support for Matter.

And that brings us to a key new feature: with one button press on the remote, you can pull up a Google Home panel on the right side of the TV screen, giving you easy control over your smart home devices and cameras from your living room couch.

That’s handy, and the Thread hardware is a nice bit of futureproofing. But at its core, the Google TV Streamer is still mostly an entertainment gadget. Google seems to recognize that customers have long been hoping for a more powerful device that doesn’t suffer from the lag and navigation hitches of the underpowered Chromecast with Google TV. The new hardware has a processor that’s 22 percent faster, double the RAM, and 32GB of integrated storage. That CPU bump probably means this thing still falls short of the Nvidia Shield TV and Apple TV 4K, but it’s something.

Hopefully, those changes will be enough to make the Google TV user experience much smoother and prevent the Streamer from getting bogged down over time. Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos are both present like before, and you can still cast content to the Google TV Streamer as always. The Chromecast name might be gone, but the functionality isn’t. This also has to be among the first streaming devices to be powered over USB-C. Other tech specs include HDMI 2.1a, Wi-Fi 5, gigabit ethernet, and Bluetooth 5.1.

The bundled remote looks similar but has undergone some nice design tweaks: the volume buttons are now right on the face instead of on the side, and Google has added a customizable button. You can set it to open the aforementioned Google Home panel, launch your favorite streaming app, or switch HDMI inputs. One of the best additions of all is a remote finder button on the back of the Google TV Streamer. Press it, and the remote will emit a beeping sound so you can easily track it down in the depths of your couch cushions.

On the software side, Google is tapping Gemini to provide viewers with “full summaries, reviews, and season-by-season breakdowns of content” as you browse. Otherwise, it’s the same Google TV interface as before, which already provided personalized recommendations and helpful context like Rotten Tomatoes scores for movies, so the new AI features aren’t exactly game-changing. You can create generative AI screensavers that are shown when the Google TV Streamer is in ambient mode, which sounds like the kind of thing people will try once or twice and then never use again. The ambient mode can also showcase your Google Photos albums, which I’ll definitely use.

I’m looking forward to reviewing the Google TV Streamer to see whether the company has finally produced a respectable foe to the Apple TV 4K. Google has always prioritized value and price over performance, but the new hardware upgrades and smart home features have me thinking that it just might have landed on the right formula this time.

Unfortunately, there’s still well over a month and a half to go before we all find out together: the Google TV Streamer will be available starting September 24th for $99.99.