Chromecast with Google TV – but not from Google

Google discontinued its compact and affordable Chromecast with Google TV in early 2025 in favor of the TV Streamer. Under the Thomson brand, the small streaming gadget seems to live on in some form as the Cast 150.

Thomson Cast 150: Almost looks like a Chromecast with Google TV

With its oval housing shape and short integrated HDMI cable, the Cast 150 looks almost exactly like Google's Chromecast with Google TV, which was launched in 2020. However, the streaming gadget is not emblazoned with the Google “G”, but with the Thomson logo. Nevertheless, the easily transportable streaming dongle runs Google's TV user interface, which is also pre-installed on Google's now discontinued twin and the larger Google TV Streamer.

The biggest visual difference between the products is not in the dongle, but in the remote control, which adopts Google's reference design and also has a “Live TV” button on board. The additional button is part of a new hardware requirement for Google to be allowed to use the Google TV interface.

In its announcement, the manufacturer does not provide any information about the hardware equipment or the Android version. According to Android-TV-Guide, the device contains a quad-core Amlogic S905Y chip, 2 GB of RAM and 8 GB of flash memory, which is not very much. Google's Chromecast with Google TV also only has 2 GB of RAM, but 16 GB of memory.

On the software side, the dongle is based on Android 14. It is difficult to say what the future software support will be like and whether the device will receive an update to Android 16. The streaming device also supports the AV1, VP9, H.264, H.265 (HEVC) and Dolby Atmos codecs.

The manufacturer has not yet revealed when the streaming gadget will be launched and at what price. The company has not yet responded to an inquiry from heise online.

Thomson Cast 150 is manufactured by StreamView

Incidentally, the French company Thomson is not directly behind the Cast 150, but rather the Austrian company Streamview, which was founded in 2019. The company also offers streaming boxes, sticks and smart TVs, which are marketed under the Nokia brand.

The manufacturer sees itself as a European company and assembles its televisions in Europe. By using Google's Android and its expertise with smart TVs and streaming dongles, the manufacturer inspires more confidence than cheap Chinese TV dongles, which have recently attracted particular attention due to pre-installed malware.

(afl)