The biggest upgrade for smart home users is the new Home panel. This smart home control panel is accessed via a tile in the quick settings panel and lets you control devices connected to Google Home. You can do things like turn lights on or off or dim / brighten, trigger a Movie Time automation, and adjust your thermostat, all from the remote.

Google’s much-anticipated TV Streamer finally launched Tuesday, and the Mountain View company synced its release with a bunch of updates to Google TV. These updates are mainly in three areas: controlling smart home devices,

Google has a new streaming device that makes it easier to watch what you want, when you want — and it retails for less than $100. The Google TV Steamer, released on Tuesday (Sept. 24), boasts two times the memory of Google Chromecast and 32GB of storage for faster app loading and easier navigation.

The new Google Home panel and AI-generated ambient art features are coming to other Google TV devices, and not just Google TV Streamer. Huzzah.

Older Chromecast dongles will soon become historical artifacts. Is the new Google TV Streamer 4K worth the higher price?

If you’re already comfortable with Google's Chromecast, the switch to the TV Streamer will be a smooth experience as the GoogleTV interface remains the same between the two devices. It’s also going to feel a lot snappier and responsive.

One of the features from this new device, the Home Hub, is being made available to existing Google TV devices through an impending software update. The Home Hub won't be able to locally control Matter devices on other Google TV units,