The Google Chromecast has been on sale in the UK for nearly two months now, giving the £30 dongle more than enough time to embed itself within the public consciousness.
And with sales of the device being pretty fantastic already (it sold out on launch) it’s clear that consumers are liking it — but what about the British press? What are they saying about it?
Chromecast UK Reviews
It’s not hard to find press coverage of the device, even if the majority of outlets seem to have trouble describing what it does in a single sentence!
The Daily Mail (no groaning at the back) give the HDMI dongle a respectable 4/5 stars, and seem especially impressed by its size, remarking that“The Chromecast does what really well-designed products tend to do: it vanishes”.
Stuff.tv match the Mail’s score and tout the device as the fastest route to ‘Netflix nirvana’. The reviewer, Sam Kieldsen, espouses the usual (and somewhat justified) complaints regarding the sort of apps available, but this – and still-ropey web-casting experience – aside he seems sold on the promise and the price.
Over at The Guardian Samuel Gibbs offers up a more modest review. His chief criticism, like Stuff.tv’s above, stems from the lack of big name streaming services supporting it, something he feels competing devices do offer. That gripe aside, Gibbs concludes that Google’s commitment to ‘rapid automatic updates’ should see more functionality added in the future. He gives the device 3/5 stars.
In the print press the device got a small mention in the technology section of The Daily Star in March, while free London paper The Metro also carried a piece.
More recently, Issue 343 of fortnightly technology magazine ‘Web User‘ covers the Chromecast in depth in a feature that says the device ‘changes everything’.
Google #chromecast gracing front page of latest issue of @webusermagazine – nice! pic.twitter.com/cYZrw9DljK
— OMG! CHROME! (@omgchrome) April 25, 2014
It wins 4/5 stars with the magazine saying that it “compares favourably with similar devices…offering a similar resolution for a lower price.”
On the whole the Chromecast has been warmly, and optimistically, welcomed by the British press. But the only reviews that matter to Google will be the ones from users.
Do you have a Chromecast? What rating out of five would you give it?