A new Chromecast is coming at the same September 29th event during which Google is expected to announce two new Nexus smartphones.
Expected to do away with the first Chromecast’s dongle form factor, the new Chromecast, which may cost more, appears to be more akin to a circular set-top box, according to documents obtained by 9to5Mac.
In addition to having a beefier processor, the new Chromecast will support homescreen “feeds,” likely allowing users to connect to Twitter, Facebook, or various news publications, to be displayed as a screen saver.
The new device will have faster WiFi, supporting the 802.11ac standard, as well as “Fast Play,” allowing content to buffer and begin playing more quickly than before. Because the current $39 CAD Chromecast doesn’t have much internal storage, content needs to be sufficiently buffered before streaming, delaying the start of videos and songs.
9to5Mac also has information on a dedicated Chromecast Audio box, which may plug directly into powered speakers to allow them to play content through the Cast for Audio standard announced at CES.
[source]9to5Google[/source]
