For a while, I recommended the Fire TV Stick 4K Max and the Google TV Streamer to anyone looking for a solid Android streaming experience, mainly because they were well-priced and packed plenty of premium features. But a lot has changed in just the past few months.
Back in June, Apple raised the price of the Apple TV 4K from $130 to $200 because of the ongoing global memory shortage, triggering a domino effect of price hikes across the streaming hardware market, with Roku raising prices in July and Amazon following in August.
Some Fire TV Sticks didn’t go up in price as much as others, with the Fire TV Stick HD getting just a $5 increase. But the Fire TV Stick 4K Max took the biggest hit, jumping $25 from $60 to $85.
Google was the one company that held out the longest, but at the beginning of September, it finally raised the price of the Google TV Streamer from $100 to $150, a whopping 50 percent increase.
That means that in just the past month, two of the most popular Android streamers have gotten significantly more expensive. And what were once arguably some of the best-value streaming devices around aren’t nearly as appealing anymore.
So, if you’re looking for an Android streamer, what’s the best option now? Thankfully, there’s a solid alternative to both Android Fire TV Sticks and the Google TV Streamer, and, most importantly, the price is actually worth it.
The Onn 4K Pro is still just $60
It shares a lot of similarities with the Google TV Streamer
If you haven’t heard of the Onn 4K Pro, it’s essentially Walmart’s version of the Google TV Streamer. It looks remarkably similar and supports many of the same features, including Google TV (Android), HDR10+, Dolby Atmos, and Dolby Vision. The hardware is also solid, with a quad-core CPU, 32GB of storage, and 3GB of RAM.
But most importantly, the Onn 4K Pro’s price is the real highlight. Walmart has kept it at just $60 since the new version launched earlier this year, making it $25 cheaper than the Fire TV Stick 4K Max and a whopping $90 cheaper than the Google TV Streamer.
For a while, Walmart struggled to keep the Onn 4K Pro in stock due to demand, but that’s finally changed. There’s been a massive restocking recently, and the Onn 4K Pro is now much more widely available to ship across the U.S., whereas just a month ago, it was practically sold out everywhere.
Compared to the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, I think the Onn 4K Pro is a much better buy given Amazon’s recent price hike. The Onn 4K Pro has double the storage (32GB vs. 16GB), more RAM (3GB vs. 2GB), an Ethernet port, and a USB port, all while costing less. Also, with Amazon confirming that all future Fire TV Sticks will run Linux-based Vega OS rather than Android-based Fire OS, if you want a better Android experience in the long run, it’s best to choose a Google TV device now.
That said, the Google TV Streamer is a little tougher to compare because the Onn 4K Pro has a couple of hardware compromises. The biggest is RAM, with the Onn 4K Pro offering 3GB compared to the Google TV Streamer’s 4GB. Its Ethernet port is also considerably slower, with the Onn 4K Pro limited to 100Mbps (10/100) while the Google TV Streamer has Gigabit Ethernet. However, the Onn 4K Pro does have one hardware advantage over the Google TV Streamer: Wi-Fi. It supports Wi-Fi 6, while the Google TV Streamer oddly tops out at Wi-Fi 5. That said, given that the Onn 4K Pro costs just $60, I think the RAM and Ethernet compromises are more than worth it when you’re saving $90 compared to the $150 Google TV Streamer.
- Brand
-
Onn
- Wi-Fi
-
Wi-Fi 6
- Ethernet
-
100Mbps
- Supported video
-
HDR10+, Dolby Vision
Streaming is only getting more expensive
The era of cheap streaming hardware is over
The past year has been a tough one for streaming. First, the cost of streaming itself started climbing, with all the major services, including Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, and Apple TV, raising their prices over the last year. And now, on top of streaming services costing more, the hardware we use to watch them is getting more expensive too, because of the ongoing global memory shortage, which has effectively ended the era of cheap premium streaming hardware.
It especially sucks to see the Fire TV Stick 4K Max cost $85 now after being one of the best-value streamers for years. Even on sale, it usually drops to around $50, which is closer to its old regular price rather than the $35-or-so sale price I was used to seeing for so long. The Google TV Streamer is even more disappointing, as I think $150 is simply way overpriced for what you get.
And it’s not just Amazon and Google, either. As I mentioned earlier, Apple kicked all of this off by raising the price of the Apple TV 4K to $200, and Roku followed shortly afterward by increasing the prices of all its streaming sticks and the Roku Ultra. The Roku Ultra now costs $150 instead of $100, which is the same $50 increase Google gave the Google TV Streamer.
So, if you’re looking for a reliable streamer that runs Android and gives you the freedom that comes with it, including sideloading apps and using third-party apps, it’s hard to argue with the value of the $60 Onn 4K Pro.
Considering how difficult it has been to find one in stock for so long, and the fact that it’s finally widely available, I’d seriously consider picking one up sooner rather than later, before it’s out of stock again, or something happens to its price. After all, who knows if Walmart is also considering raising the price of the Onn 4K Pro soon? I hope not, but given what Apple, Amazon, Google, and Roku have done, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Onn 4K Pro eventually went up in price. But fingers crossed that doesn’t happen.
