Got my Chromecast yesterday

schneid wrote:
I got mine when released. Cost $11 net with the Netflix credit. Other than trying it out, it remains unused. I wanted to connect with my VZW unlimited data plan and stream with my S3. Can't do it. The CC and source must be connected to the same WiFi network. You cannot do WiFi and a hotspot on the S3 at the same time. I can connect the CC to my android tablet and connect them both to the hotspot and that works. Unfortunately, all I can then stream is Netflix, Youtube and Google online music. My Roku does all that. As of yet, one cannot cast from the Chrome browser in Android. Must be Windows or Mac. I can also connect my phone and tablet directly to my TV's via HDMI which is much easier and will display whatever the device is displaying provided the DRM tickets are punched.

CC is supposed to have a great future ahead of it but for me, for now, it's a novelty.

Yes, I can see where not being able to use the hotspot on your phone would be a limiting factor to use the Chromecast in the RV. I have 2 smart TVs in my RV so don't need to use it there.

I don't have a smart TV in the stick house which is where I use the CC. I have a Blu-Ray player but it has only 3 apps, Netflix, Pandora and some Best Buy service. The CC beats that right out of the box with the potential to be much better.

Just using the CC for watching Netflix in my stick house is so much better than using the app built-in to my Blu-Ray player. The ability to use a keyboard to type in search items as opposed to using the laborious search facility within the app is well worth the cost of admission. Using the letter-by-letter selector with cursor keys in the app takes probably 50 times longer to use than typing the search in using the keyboard on my laptop.

The CC may not be for everyone but it works great for me and I firmly believe there will be many more capabilities added to it once Google allows developers to release apps they are currently working on.