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With the relatively quiet launch of the 3rd generation Chromecast, many of us were wondering what – if anything – is the advantage of buying a new Chromecast. While there’s a mysterious inclusion of a Bluetooth radio in this new Chromecast, it is still not clear why it is there.
Apart from this trait, the 3rd generation of the Chromecast doesn’t bring much difference to the table. It looks a little cleaner, and is apparently a bit faster, but the general user won’t notice much difference from the second-gen offering. In fact, I have a free one from the Google event and I’ve still yet to actually set it up in the house.
One feature we really got pumped about, however, was the ability for the 3rd-gen Chromecast to become part of a speaker group in your home. For me, this is a HUGE feature. The best speakers in my house are attached to my TV, so I’ve always wanted to include them in my main floor speaker group with a Google Home Mini and standard Google Home, but I’ve not been able to up to this point.
My one real reason for actually setting up this new Chromecast is now going away with the arrival of speaker grouping for all 2nd-gen Chromecast and Chromecast Ultra units.
While 9to5 Google reports this as a response from a Google Support email, the nature of the response seems clear that this feature is due by the end of the year for all Chromecast users not using the first generation device. You can head over to their site to see the actual email, but I feel very confident this will be available in the next 30-60 days, and I’m excited to see it happen.
Perhaps that means a giveaway of a 3rd-gen Chromecast from the Google Event is in order, then? Stay tuned!
