A new feature from Google that we have been seeing on our Android devices and Android apps for some time now, is the Google Cast feature. A peculiar icon—like a television screen paired with a Wi-Fi logo—seems omnipresent in Android Lollipop and higher, although earlier iterations of the cast feature can be traced back to Android KitKat. This cast feature lets you pair your mobile device with a compatible Chromecast device that can receive the data 

your mobiles project your local Wi-Fi network and send it, via the device, to a compatible television screen or 

a monitor. Chromecast was initially 

a line of digital media players 

marketed by Google, the media 

players would interface with your Android devices and allow you to project your mobile screen to a bigger screen, like a television screen.

This feature has developed quite considerably through the many versions of Android and now can project your webpages, media and music 

to the Chrome browser on your 

computer. Although casting to an incompatible device other than Google Chromecast devices is not supported natively by the built-in Chromecast feature, there are third-party software that can help you perform that sync. Although Google Chromecast devices aren’t available on the Nepali market, if you can procure one internationally, they aren’t very expensive and can make interfacing with all of your digital devices simple. Google sells them for about $35 and although we don’t have access to media streaming sites like Hulu, although the recent introduction of Netflix in Nepal seems promising for the future, it still works really well if you want to stream to you TV though your laptop for phone. 

Moving on to when you don’t have access to these devices or simply don’t want to invest in one, there are plenty of third party applications that will help you interface with your computer without the need for any specialised hardware. One of the more popular and easy-to-use apps free on the Play store is AllCast, an app developed by the team behind Clockwork Mod. AllCast has a companion Chrome App for the Chrome browser on your PC and interfaces with it, like Chromecast, via the local Wi-Fi network. The App is very simple to use and when I tried it, it worked without any problems and the streamed very well, without any stutters or buffering, even when I was streaming 1080p videos. I did run into a few problems during my initial run through of the app, the app has an option of streaming documents off of your Google Drive but for some reason, I could not get it to sync and I would get an endless load animation. The companion app on the Chrome Browser also had a few shortcomings, for example, I could not control the media in any way through the app and had to resort to controlling it through my phone. 

Turning it full-screen for when you’re streaming videos also seems to be a hassle because you can have access to the full-screen button only at the very initial start-up of the applications and if you happen to miss it and start streaming, there seems to be no option to blow it into full-screen mode, for some reason. And you also have to bear with a huge ‘Upgrade to Premium’ icon at the bottom of your screen if you happen to be on the free version, it can get annoying. 

But even taking in account all of the shortcomings of the app, it still provides you with a great feature that you could get creative with. The app allows you to stream any kind of media to a larger screen, this could mean a laptop, a desktop computer or a television screen. It also makes it really easy for you to access your local media, without having to plug-in your laptop through the HDMI cable or transfer them to a USB Flash-drive. This works very well if you have a desktop connected to a fairly large monitor because the computer is already connected to the internet so setting up the app is fairly easy. All you need to do is download the AllCast receiver extension for the Chrome browser on your PC and download the AllCast app on to your Android device through the Play Store. Syncing is also simple: all you need to do is fire up the Receiver Chrome App on your computer and the Android version of the app with prompt with a window that will show you your device. A simple tap on the device you want to stream is enough to get it up and running. 

To get it to stream on your television that doesn’t have an internet connection or don’t have access to the Chrome Browser, you might need a more elaborate setup. If you have an old laptop that no one uses anymore, you could turn it into a media centre for your television. All you need to do is connect it through a HDMI cable and you have a PC running on your television, with Wi-Fi connectivity. Since you have access to an entire working PC on your TV, you could fire up Chrome and stream through all AllCast to your television screen. Although not the ideal setup, it could be a cool creative workaround if you want to enjoy local media on your television. You have access to local media on the laptop itself and you could also stream via your phone if you want to. 

To interface with the computer, you could download a remote app on your phone and turn it into a remote for the laptop, this works really well with media centres that are designed to work on a big television screen. Windows Media Center, the native media centre that comes bundled with Windows, has some good remotes on the Play Store. It’s even better if you phone has an IR blaster because you could control both your television and your laptop via your smartphone alone. 

AllCast brings a much needed feature to your Android phone. Although Google had already introduced it before, the ability to actually use the technology without the need for additional hardware is always welcome. AllCast brings an essential feature that is much needed in our device integration lifestyle, where we are constantly connected to multiple devices at the same time. It brings simplicity to every-day tasks, like when you want to cast a presentation on to a bigger screen or when you want to play music on your elaborate music system connected to your PC via your phone. AllCast brings a very versatile feature but a very important one as well, especially in today’s multiple device-driven world.