Google Chromecast 2.0 unveiled: faster, more colorful and still just $35

In addition to the Huawei Nexus 6P and LG Nexus 5X, Google also unveiled a brand new version of their streaming stick, Chromecast 2.0 with a brand new look. It now has a new circular design, the HDMI cable is looped inside a circular logo-shaped unit.

Chromecast 2.0 offers the same HDMI dongle functionality as its predecessor, but comes with enhanced features. Now there are three antennas inside and support for 5GHz 802.11ac WiFi for stutter free high quality streaming. The HDMI cable is flexible, making it easy to attach multiple devices to your TV. Unfortunately, there is no support for streaming 4K content.

There is also a new feature called 'Fast Play' which will allow Chromecast to establish a connection quickly and play content more seamlessly after you press the ‘Cast’ button. There will also be support for ‘content feeds’ which could probably be your social media feeds or image feeds, which you can choose to display when your Chromecast is in the standby mode.

Developers will now be able to render a game on both the smartphone screen and large screen TV allowing users to control the game via the smartphone. More contents will make its way to the Chromecast. Sling TV and Showtime are now available for Chromecast while MLB, CBS sports and other services will follow later. For pictures, users will be able to check out Getty Images, Flickr, Facebook and 500px. The new Chromecast now supports Google Photos.

The Chromecast app also gets an upgrade. In addition to the standard pairing functions, it now focuses on content discovery. It has a new search feature, which lets you search for Chromecast-compatible content from apps including YouTube, Google Play Movies, Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO and other. Plus, there is a new 'What's On' feature that automatically pulls content from streaming services and presents it to users.

The Chromecast 2.0 is available in three colors- Black, Red and Yellow. It is priced at $35 and will be available in 17 countries at launch.