The first Google Chromecast is now a memory: although it continues to remain in service, in fact, the device for transforming a television into a smart TV will henceforth be updated only for the newest versions, leaving aside the first generation to favor subsequent releases. And for each evaluation of merit it is necessary to start from an important fact: the first edition of Chromecast is now over 5 years old.
Chromecast, space for new generations
To notice this choice is 9to5 Google, which in the list of updates has noticed how the version of the system for the first generation of the device has been stuck for some time now. While the "production" firmware has generally arrived at 1.40 and the "preview" firmware at 1.42, for the first Chromecast the logs indicate a firmware version stopped at 1.36. In short, no updates have been released, nor are they expected to be released.
To a request for clarification on the matter, Google glossed over explaining how further security updates will be guaranteed for a long time to come: affirmation that guarantees the goodness of the device in terms of bugs, but at the same time a sort of confirmation between the lines of the fact that the device will no longer find updates in terms of functions. The choice is also entirely acceptable: new versions, more reliable and performing, were released later and can guarantee a better experience for the end user. Google therefore intends to guarantee continuity to the product, but at the same time intends to focus its energies on the development of new solutions for the new generation Chromecasts.
Many things depend on the firmware: the version of the apps installed, the functions of Chrome, the final streaming experience for the user. This is why Google has probably chosen to cut the first dead branch: the Chromecast series is destined to grow further, in direct competition with the Amazon Fire TV Stick and other solutions, so the group leaves the old versions aside and favors hardware replacement to favor software enhancement.
Who owns the first version of the device, in short, is warned: at the first offer it is better to switch to a new Chromecast, so as to guarantee many more years of gaming, video, navigation and so on.
Source: 9to5 Google Google, the first Chromecast has passed
