You may well be looking at Google's new Android TV dongle. Back in early March, we noted Google's plans to launch a new media streamer based on Android TV with the codename 'Sabrina', a long-awaited update on its Google Chromecast Ultra.
The updated dongle was slated to come with an all-new dedicated remote, which would probably look similar to the Apple TV 4K remote and would feature a microphone and dedicated Google Assistant button.
Now, we have some leaked images. These were first reported by tech development community XDA Developers from a "pre-release firmware build" shared by recognised XDA developer deadman96385.
Within the firmware was a marketing video, purportedly created by a designer at Google. According to the file’s metadata, the video was made in October 2019, so it's possible the design might have been tweaked since then, but we doubt there will have been a dramatic shift from the device shown in the promotional video.
Said video is titled “OOBE_End,” where “OOBE” stands for “out-of-box experience,” and it's shown to the user at the end up of setup. The video gives an overview of the Android TV streamer, remote, and new Android TV software. The picture above was posted by XDA and shows the remote, which does indeed look rather similar to an Apple remote – but note the dedicated Google Assistant button.
As for the dongle itself, it has a slightly more oblong shape than the Chromecast Ultra’s rounded design. Also, where Google’s third-generation Chromecast and Chromecast Ultra are only available in black and white, it seems that Google’s new Android TV dongle will also come in a new light pink hue.
There's also a chance this new Google Android TV dongle might launch under Google’s Nest branding, with the ability to work together with connected Google Nest doorbells and video cameras.
As for pricing, there's still nothing concrete, although we'd expect it to come in below £80/$80/AU$120 – the Google Chromecast Ultra cost £70/$69/AU$99 at launch.
Obviously, such leaks should be taken with a pinch of salt in, so when we know more about pricing, the product name, and an official launch date, we'll let you know.
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