Smarter Way to Watch TV: TV-Stick

How many of us ever have connected our Laptop to our LCD TV for watching movies on a bigger screen?? Perhaps, everyone! Given our ‘geek’ nature, we are always on lookout for gadgets, which provide us more entertainment, better connectivity, higher productivity (really?)

The electronic hardware companies have too many devices to offer: smart phones, tablets, phablets, net-books, notebooks, hybrid tablets, compact PCs, Workstations, Smart TVs and so on. Unlimited ways to get connected to the World! But, the question remains, what will suite your need and which one to buy? Also, given the Indian economy, none of these devices are easily affordable, since the branded ones come with a premium price tag. Not to forget, the product life cycle of electronics is shortening day by day, and by the time you reach home after purchasing one of these devices, a new one would have been launched in the market! Compatibility of these devices is another issue, and hence data management across various devices becomes even bigger challenge.

 What is TV-Stick?

With snowball effect of Android devices / app market, many companies have come up with innovative solutions, to deal with many of the above issues. “Android-Stick” or “TV-Stick” is one such attempt in this direction. Based on the philosophy of reusing exiting resources, using open source software, and minimizing acquisition cost, TV-Stick offers a versatile solution to convert an Idiot-Box to a Smart-TV!

A TV-Stick, mostly Android based (some Linux versions also available), comprises of minimalist hardware to reduce size and acquisition cost. Little bigger than a memory-stick, a TV-Stick can be compared to a smart phone, except it does NOT have: Various sensors (accelerometer, light sensor, proximity sensor, gyro, etc), Sim-card slot, and touch-screen! Instead, it packs various input-output ports, which may include HDMI output, few USB inputs, expandable memory slot, mic input etc. So how does it work without a screen? As the name suggests, a TV-Stick connects to TV’s HDMI port, and displays everything on TV screen. Various USB input ports are used for connecting multiple devices, such as mouse, keyboard, external HDD, external mic etc. Processing takes place inside the TV-Stick, with its decent processing power (1-1.6GHzs), onboard RAM (~1GB) and Android OS. On-board Wi-fi module can communicate with domestic Wi-fi router, to access internet, or to communicate with other devices connected to local network. Applications can be installed from Android Play Store, as done on smart phone, and photos/videos can be stored/run from internal memory / expandable memory / external HDD. Being Android based, it can run most of the applications, which run on your smart phone, including web browsing, media applications, YouTube, social networking, IMs, Maps, email clients, organizers, document readers and so on….

Why TV-Stick?

Since TV-Stick is toned-down Smart phone, what is the need of having it, when most people (read ‘everyone’) already own smart phone? Well, with the prevailing philosophy of ‘bigger the better’, we are always looking for bigger screen phones, and many people are shifting to phablets and even tablets, just to enjoy the media on bigger screen. But watching media on your HD TV with friends/family is a totally different experience! Only high-end smart phones support HDMI output, using which phone’s screen can be duplicated on TV, not to mention, micro-USB to HDMI converter cables are expensive and rare to find!  Also, after connecting the phone to the TV, it is difficult to operate it, since phones don’t support external mouse/keyboard. Other option is to use a laptop with VGA or HDMI out to stream display on TV. But with all physical constraints (laptop size, battery life, connector cables etc.), this may not be a comfortable solution for daily use. Given the low price of TV-Stick (~INR 5k), it can be used as a dedicated device to connect the TV to internet, as well as use various other applications on TV. It ensures reuse of the old LCD TV, and can also save money one may plan to put in buying a smart TV (smart TV costs INR ~10k more than a regular LED TV). As technology advances, it is economical to upgrade the TV-Stick only, while keeping the same old TV. TV-Stick is definitely not a replacement of any existing devices, but definitely a useful addition to the gadget fleet!

Where do I get TV-Stick?

TV-Sticks are available online on various virtual stores, including ebay.in, homeshop18.com, junglee.com, naaptol.com, snapdeal.com etc. starting at INR 4,500. Home grown company, Micromax has also introduced SmartStick for INR 5,000. Various reviews are available online, such as here. While buying one, ensure that it has sufficient processing power and RAM, to run most of the applications, sufficient storage or supports expandable memory, keyboard, mouse and Wi-fi. Some TV-Sticks come with wireless mouse and keyboard in the box itself.

How do I use TV-Stick?

Ensure that your TV has HDMI input port. You may also need HDMI extension cable if you want TV-Stick to hang from the TV. A Wi-fi router with a fast internet connection will help you connect with online world; otherwise you can use TV-Stick for just offline content. USB or wireless mouse/keyboard will be required as input interface. A Google account is required if you wish to download apps from Play Store.

What else?

TV-Stick or Android-Stick is just one way to enhance your entertainment experience. While most TV-Sticks run on google’s Android OS, Google itself is focusing on many other such devices. The most talked about is google’s Chromcast. Although similar in appearance, Chromecast is very different from Android-Stick. Chromecast works as a wireless interface between your smart phone / laptop and TV, to stream the media or duplicate the screen. It also needs to be connected to wireless internet, for online video streaming. However, controlled by smart phone or laptop (via android app), the online videos are directly streamed to Chromecast, and not via phone or laptop. Unlike Android-Stick, a Chromecast can not work independently as a mini computer. A detailed comparison of two can be read here. Chromecast, though not available in India yet, can be purchased from abroad and easily setup and used in India without any restrictions.

Other devices offered by Google include Chromebox and Chromebook. Chromebox is much like Android-Stick, with further more capabilities (inbuilt mic, serial output, multiple screen support, cloud storage etc.), but for a price. Chromebook is google’s laptop, based on chrome OS, and run everyday applications via Chrome web browser. All google’s devices support the philosophy cloud storage and cloud computing, rather than storing data offline.