Chromecast finally does what you thought it would do
Look in the Play Store over the next few days for the Chromecast 1.7 app, as Google is finally adding in the functionality we always assumed we’d get – the ability to mirror the screen of any Android device directly to the TV.
Google posted earlier today on its Chrome Google+ page that mirroring would be available soon, and as Google’s rollouts go it appears it’s showing up in the hands of everyone but you and me first, so this is a game of hurry up and wait essentially.
Mirroring the display to Chromecast was one of the reasons I purchased the thing last year. That and streaming movies from my computer without requiring the XBOX 360. The lack of that ability is one of the reasons I originally rooted one of my Chromecasts, but unfortunately there wasn’t too much developed for a rooted Chromecast even though the rooted updates have still been coming via Team Eureka.
I’ll point out that uninstalling and reinstalling the Chromecast app from Google Play doesn’t get you up the the 1.7 version you need to be at. It still sent me a 1.5, which for me now it’s just a game of waiting to see when this drops.
If you’re brave and feel like trying a beta APK for 1.7, there are copies floating around somewhere, although you might have to uninstall these later in order to get the official version to install. Haven’t had a chance to play with that yet, but will shortly.
It’s great to see some movement visible from the people who brought us the device. I was beginning to think that they’d finished with the development as it’s been out for a long time now with very few visible changes to the end users.
You can also get some instructions on the new 1.7 over at the official support page if you’re interested.
