I've been playing with the EZCast 4K device for a while now, and I have to say that Google Chromecast's better priced competitor does exactly as advertised.

We covered the product presentation and unboxing on a previous post, where we also talked a bit about the company behind the software (and hardware product) and their impressive results : their platform is now used by millions of users worldwide.

EZCast 4K makes, as the name says, casting easy. You can add many different sources of content to your old HDMI-enabled TV with minimal costs. Anything goes - Windows PC's (or tablets), Android or iOS devices - or any device supporting Miracast, AirPlay or DNLA.

Setup and first boot

The EZCast 4K is very easy to setup :

• - like any HDMI dongle, it will connect to your TV or monitor. If the HDMI port is hard to reach, you can use the provided HDMI extender
• - you will need to provide some power to the device and this is quite easy - you can use the micro-USB cable to draw power from one of TV's USB ports or you can use the hardware switch found on the device to power it via MHL
• - change the TV/monitor to the corresponding HDMI port and you'll see the below image, which shows the SSID and the password
• - install the EZCast app on your phone/tablet
• - connect the phone/tablet to the SSID provided above - just to setup the wireless connection
• - in the EZCast app, use the first icon on the top-right, the blue "V" to select the device to connect to
• - after that, you will be presented to a full menu: EZChannel, Music, Video, Photo, Camera, Web, Cloud Storage
• - start casting!

There's a blue LED light that shows that the device is turned on and it only gets a bit warm under heavy, prolonged use.

You can see the SSID you need to connect to only once (to setup the wi-fi details), and the right corner has the number of connected devices (just one at the time the screenshot was taken).

EZCast 4K usage (Android)

There are over 4 million users that installed the EZCast app, and according to an infographic the company released on their website, most of them use EZCast from Android or their Apple devices.
I've tested with my trustworthy Samsung tablet - simply head to Google Play and install the EZCast app.
As soon as the app is installed you can select the device to connect to as in the below image.

When connected, you get the standard menu with the main options.
The "EZChannel" section aims to provide you with a sort of dashboard for your videos from multiple sources. You will need to join the 1.1 million registered users they already have in order to get suggested videos, and you can use it to autoplay some videos (could be a veru cheap "digital signage" device).
The other options are self-explanatory, and the only thing I noticed that's worth mentioning is that you get a nice equalizer when playing an audio file, but you don't get the filename or artist...yet.

Let's review the settings menu for a bit, in order to get a better image of the EZCast 4K's capabilities.
There interface language can be changed to much more than English and Chinese - speaking about English, the interface is almost perfectly translated, the EZCast team did a good job there (this shouldn't be even mentioned in a review, but if you see enough Chinese devices as I did, you came to appreciate this).
The theme can be changed also, although there aren't many options to choose from at this time.

You'll want to change the output resolution to match your needs - the device can handle a number of resolutions, from 720P to 4K.

The device is very configurable, you can even turn streaming off and only use mirroring - or hide EzChannel or playlists.

The wi-fi settings is also something you'd likely want to change in order to get more performance out of the device - it supports both 2.4 and 5Ghz and a bit of fine-tunning options.

EZCast 4K usage (Windows)

In Windows you could install the EZCast software (which is compatible even with Windows XP) or, with Windows 10, you can simply right click on the image or video and send it to EZCast without installing anything else.

EZCast Screen sharing

Sharing the screen from Android, iOS or Windows is done fast and easy - as seen on the below video.
This opens the path for a several interesting use cases for the small device.

EZCast 4K Firmware upgrades

You don't have to worry about firmware upgrades for EZCast 4K, once you connect the little device to the internet it will auto-download and install the latest upgrade automatically.
And the guys behind the EZCast brand are working constantly on updates, which is great.

EZCast 4K review conclusions

The EZCast 4K is a good option to connect each device in your home to your TV - you can share the screen, play videos, view pictures, from pretty much any Android device (from Android 4 to Oreo).
Apple devices are not forgotten, at the time of this review EZCast had just received an upgrade for iOS 11. Also, the device plays well with Windows 10.
Although the EZCast 4K does not come with an Ethernet adapter, as the Chromecast Ultra device, it does manage 4K well ... if your wi-fi network is up to it.
In fact, there isn't much to complain about - the device is simple to install and you can get up and running in no time.
But I did feel that the interface could be a bit more polished - there are a number of things to improve there, from the website to the app itself.

I would like to thank Actions Microelectronics for providing the review sample.
If you're interested in the device, GeekBuying has it at a discounted price right now.