Google Chromecast making a shock return, but from an unexpected source

It was a sad day when Google decided to retire its Chromecast devices in favour of the Google TV Streamer. Some preferred the hidden dongle form factor over a set-top-box, but after stock ran out, that was it. The Chromecast with Google TV was gone for good.

Or, at least, that's what we thought.

TV brand Thomson has brought the device back from the dead, at least in spirit, with its Go Cast 150 streaming dongle. It's essentially a Chromecast in all but name, and has Google's blessing.

Running on Google TV and in a very familiar form factor, the Thomson alternative seems to be ideal for those lamenting the loss of the original. It is a 4K Ultra HD device with all of the services you'd expect.

It is powered by a Quad-Core-Cortex-A35 processor with an ARM Mali-G31 GPU. There's 2GB of RAM on board and 8GB of storage, which very much puts it in the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max category.

The Cast 150 has Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support on board and, just like the Chromecast, plugs straight into a HDMI port on the back of your TV.

It connects to the internet via dual-band (2.4GHz / 5GHz) Wi-Fi and has Bluetooth on board, but there doesn't seem to be anyway to secure a wired feed.

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The remote looks very Google-esque, with hotkeys for the major services – Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video and Disney+.

It has voice support too, of course.

I managed to catch up with the new dongle during a Thomson launch event in Vienna and for all intents and purposes, it seems to be a Chromecast reborn.

I didn't get much of a chance to see it in action – that's coming soon – but as a fan of Google's original, it already appeals. Hiding it around the back of the TV is preferable to placing a box in front. As long as it's as powerful as the Streamer, of course.

That remains to be seen – along with regional availability and pricing. However, if the Go Cast 150 performs as well as hoped, Thomson will surely have an eager audience waiting.