I swapped my Fire TV Stick for the Google TV Streamer — then one glitch almost ruined it

For the past five years or so, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K has been my trusty streaming companion. Everything was going fine until maybe a year ago, when I noticed the interface had gotten quite sluggish, switching between apps became a chore, and the buttons on the remote would sometimes stop responding. Having outlived its usefulness, I decided to ditch it and get the Google TV Streamer earlier this year.

Google launched the TV Streamer in 2025 as the successor to the Chromecast with Google TV. The main perks of the new model include improved performance, an Ethernet port, and Google Home integration — all super-useful features that I wanted and that were missing on my old Fire TV 4K. Setting it up was very easy with the Google Home app, and the interface’s fluidity was a refreshing upgrade from the clunky Fire TV software.