Google’s clever little Chromecast dongle is now available to buy in the UK for £30, as well as ten other countries.
Just as UK retailer Dixons revealed a little too early this week, Google’s Chromecast has finally made it outside of the US. It’s now being sold in the UK, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden. In other European countries Chromecast will cost 35 whilst in Canada it will be $39.
Numerous retailers will be selling Chromecast, including Amazon and Google itself, via the Google Play Store. In fact, if you’re in one of the above countries then you can head to the Play Store now to find Chromecast front and centre on the home page.
Chromecast is a simple dongle that connects to any HD TV via HDMI. In essence, it turns any regular HD TV into a smart TV because it allows you to beam videos, music, movies and more from a smartphone, tablet or laptop to your TV. This can be done on an Android phone or tablet, iPhone, iPad or even a Chromebook, Windows PC or Mac.
The uses of Chromecast will no doubt expand as Google updates the software, but for now it offers features such as YouTube, BBC iPlayer, Netflix and of course, Google Play content. You can rent a movie on your Android phone from the Play Store and stream it to your TV wirelessly, for example. Alternatively, if you have a laptop then you can hit a button within the Chrome browser to mirror your screen onto your TV.
Perhaps the only downfall of Chromecast is that it does not draw any power via the HDMI connection and so you must connect a USB cable as well. This is all well and good if you have a TV with a USB port right next to the HDMI socket, but for those who don’t have a USB port on the TV then the solution is another plug at the mains.
Right now Chromecast is in stock at the UK Play Store and will ship within 2 business days.