Google’s budget Chromecast could fix a big annoyance with the 4K model

 But by selling it with only 1.5GB of RAM, it can cause additional problems.

It is now widely known that Google is developing a new, less expensive Chromecast. The device, which is poised to emerge, has been the subject of rumors since the beginning of this year. It would appear that the affordable Chromecast would run Android 12 and support streaming content in Full HD. The stick has already been approved by the FCC, been photographed, and had information about its price in Europe released. Now, developer Kuba Wojciechowski claims to have obtained access to the streaming stick’s internal firmware, disclosing some of its crucial specifications.

Wojciechowski thinks the gadget will probably have the July build already loaded. The term “Chromecast HD” is used to describe the streaming device, which may end up becoming its ultimate marketing name. The firmware is built on top of Android 12 and Google TV. For comparison, Android 10 is used by the current Chromecast with Google TV. The firmware confirms that the stick will have an AV1 decoding Amlogic S805X2 CPU. This will have 1.5GB RAM instead of the 4K model’s 2GB RAM, which is a reduction. Despite Google recently rolling out some CPU and RAM optimizations for the existing Chromecast, the reduced RAM does not augur well from a performance standpoint.

Thankfully it seems like Google might’ve learned something from their mistakes when developing this new device.

— Kuba Wojciechowski⚡ (@Za_Raczke) September 12, 2022

According to Google’s most recent GMS rules, every device running Android 13 needs to have 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage in order to use the Google Play store’s apps and services. The next Chromecast HD won’t be able to update to Android 13 because it won’t match the standards.

Chromecast HD would reportedly rely on the NXP 88W8987 chipset, which supports dual-band Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.2, for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth communication. The software also includes a diagram of the remote that resembles the Bluetooth remote from the 4K model.

A/B virtual partitions for seamless upgrades are supported by the Chromecast HD, according to the firmware, which is more crucial. This prevents the device from downloading any updates to /storage. They will instead be immediately streamed to one of the virtual partitions. As a result, even if the streaming stick does not have enough free space, you can still install the most recent update on it. This has been a significant problem with the current Chromecast with Google TV, but it appears that the firm will fix it on the less expensive device.

Google’s upcoming Pixel hardware launch on October 6th is where the Chromecast HD is most likely to be revealed.

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