New Chromecast and Chromecast Audio Announced

Google confirmed yesterday that sales have now topped 20 million.

The new Chromecast will still sell for $35 in the United States – the exact same price as the previous generation.

The new Chromecast has been completely redesigned. No word on when it, or the new Chromecast, will hit in-store retailers. Just plug it into an available HDMI port on your TV and pair it with one of the aforementioned portables. This, however, is only available in black.

Google says that apps that use Fast Play load 80% faster than those that don’t. Previously, Chromecast and whatever device you were using to control Chromecast didn’t talk to each other about what you were casting until you started casting it. No more waiting for that loading circle of death on Netflix! So you can browse through photographs on your phone, while viewing pictures on your TV, and your browsing photo activity will not be mirrored on your TV. Of course, that could change when we get the new version in for testing.

Why go for an audio-only Chromecast when the fully-functional one is so cheap, right?

At Google’s event yesterday evening, the company unveiled the previously leaked Chromecast, but this isn’t a Chromecast 2 as we first thought it would be, this is the Chromecast Audio, a similar concept but with a focus on music streaming rather than every media. With a bunch of the wee devices you’ll be able to group them together to all play the same tunes.

The big news is the new dedicated audio streamer. Now there’s an updated model with improved Wi-Fi plus a dedicated audio device to plug into pretty much any Hi-Fi, amp, radio or set of speakers you may own. So any device on your Wi-Fi network can be used as a remote control.

The second-gen Chromecast was announced alongside a brand-new product – Chromecast Audio, which hooks up to any standard speaker via a 3.5mm jack, RCA or optical input, and lets users cast their music over WiFi.

At the bottom of the What’s On menu, you’ll also find a master list of any Cast-compatible apps you’ve downloaded, which saves the hassle of having to maintain a separate folder on your phone or tablet home screen. That answer is simple: the regular Chromecast doesn’t output audio through any connection other than HDMI.