New Google Chromecast and Chromecast Audio

It comes with an HDMI cable which magnetically attaches to the back of the disc like device to make it very portable. Simply connect the audio cable to your speaker’s 3.5mm input, and it should be ready to go.

And after the slightly limited audio support from the first Chromecast it’s good to see that the likes of 7digital are now offering Cast support with its new Android app giving it the ability to stream hi-res audio FLAC files to your TV via the new Chromecast. Google says it reduces app load time by as much as 80%. From the ashes of Google+ had come a full-featured service for storing, organizing, rediscovering, and more easily sharing all the photos in your life. (Videos and animations created by Photos can be broadcast as well.) You can also pause broadcasting temporarily while you swipe through your phone before finding the next image you want to share – helpful if bae sent you their nudes halfway through your recent vacation.

It also comes with a couple of new colour schemes too. For example it shows you what’s trending on apps like ESPN, YouTube, and Netflix among others.

Google Photos will also introduce a new feature allowing your friends to join and contribute to your albums, much like Apple’s photo steams.

The New Devices tab in the new Chromecast app now has playback controls, too.

Chromecast sharing is straightforward: when you are on a Wi-Fi network shared by a Chromecast, an icon will appear at the top of the photos app. Tap it and then tap a photo to broadcast it to the screen.

And with the new Apple TV and Amazon’s Fire TV range about to land it’s about time Google got around to announcing what it’s plans are. This feature essentially guesses what you would like to watch and starts caching the stream in the background.

Google launched the Chromecast in 2013, but it was more than a year later when it finally launched the device in India. With the same size and shape as the new Chromecast, though a touch lighter, the Chromecast Audio will do for your old speaker system what the video version has been doing for dumb TVs for years. There’s a guest mode, too.