When a company drops a handful of press images alongside the announcement of a new product, we rarely get to see the back of the thing. And I get it — there’s nothing particularly photogenic about a bunch of ports and cords. And that’s mostly true of the new Google TV Streamer, which looks more like a router than it does a successor to the venerable Chromecast dongle.
But we did get the briefest glimpse of the rear of the device in Google’s promo video. In it, you see the USB-C power cable and a hint of the Ethernet port. And those are great.
But it’s a little button that’s I’m really excited about, because it adds a feature that not every streaming device has — a foolproof way to find a missing remote control. Press the button, and the new Google TV voice remote starts chirping, making it easier to find. That’s a feature that Roku has long had on its devices. And now Google’s got it, too.
It’s a two-part deal. You need a tiny little speaker in the remote control to make some noise, first and foremost. And to make things really easy — so that I don’t have to fire up an app on my phone or use voice commands — you then just press the button on the back of the Google TV Streamer. Simple.
That’s something that Apple TV 4K — which is still our pick for the best streaming device you can buy, though it may well have some competition now — doesn’t do. (I had to buy an AirTag and a case to replicate that feature. It works great, but it wasn’t free.)
Here’s to hoping that Apple and Amazon and anyone else slips in this little quality-of-life winner in their next devices. You might not use it often, but it’s a lifesaver when you need it.
