Chromecast comes to Brazil at a steep price

The author did not bring up any political issue. The one sentence he wrote merely informs us that in Brazil, imports face high taxes. He clearly used this to simply explain to those ignorant about Brazil, such as myself, why it's over double the price of that in the U.S. Posted via Android Central App

uh no.. just imported 3
:D

Charge the poor more..makes sense Posted via Android Central App

Muito caro, como sempre aqui no Brasil as coisas que vem de fora tem seus preços muito elevados. Ainda não tive a oportunidade de testa-lo, mas pelo que estou lendo na internet parece ser muito bom!!!

I'm very curious to hear a Brazilian's opinion on those prices. however, on my phone I can't easily run this through Google Translate. Translation please? Posted via Android Central App

he said:
"Too expensive, as usual here in Brazil, imported goods have really high prices. I still didn't have the opportunity to test it, but from what I've been reading on internet seems to be really good"

I bought it in USA this April. No away I´m buying tech stuff in Brasil, and giving more money to this corrupted government.

Everything in Brazil is more expensive than the rest of the world. The Galaxy S5 costs R$2.599,00 (US$1.155,70). Samsung, LG, Motorola, Nokia and Sony have factories here and still the gadgets are the most expensive in the world. I bought 3 Chromecast and paid $29...

Yikes lol Posted via Android Central App

well at least they have hot women.

So THAT'S what they use those taxes on... :P

That bikini wax isn't gonna make itself. Posted via Android Central App

Same here in Mexico... Around 80 bucks for something that far cheaper in the US. Thankfully, I'm a couple of hours away from the border ;)

Mercado Libre has them for around $50USD ($650MXN).

Not really. $88 is too much a price to pay for something that you may use, or may not. We have really poor internet connection here, so services like Netflix or even YouTube don't run well. However, import is an option, it will probably cost less if direct imported (I would say something like 40-50$). About the taxes here, as a person who has lived abroad for a time, I will not even comment.

I don't know where you live here in Brazil but, at least in the state capitals, we have decent internet connection, ranging from 1mbit to 300mbit. It's not the cheapest connection in the world, I give you that. I pay U$ 40,00 for a 15mbit DSL connection.
As for chromecast, I REALLY don't understand all the hype around it... I thought everyone in the USA already had a SmartTV... hell, I have one! Down here in my 3rd world country, and I'm far from rich! I can watch Netflix (which, btw costs less in Brazil than in the USA) and movies stored in my PC via DLNA, browse the web, stream content from my phone, and the list goes on... am I missing any "great" Chromecast feature?

Yep, in the capitals and the big cities the speed is at least decent, the price, not so much. I live in the interior of Minas Gerais, so I pay aprox. 80$ (R$ 220) for 5mbit (Oi Velox). I used to have 10mbit for the same price, but they cut the service saying the current infrastructure doesn't support it. It is the best service we have in the region (about 1 year ago it was the only one), but its still very unstable (with an totally inconsistent latency an for most of the time just delivering around 3mbit of speed). I can watch an video on YouTube with low quality without buffering, that's about it. With Netflix the quality was horrible.
I also can't understand whats all the hype for Chromecast is. I guess is associated with the fact that its really cheap. I have some LCD TVs in my house, but none of then is a SmartTV (at least not with WiFi, just Ethernet, so I don't use it), thus Chromecast would be a nice thing to have. It just seem like an easy way to share content with the TV for everyone to see (Pics of a trip, videos, those things). As far as I know, you can also root the Chromecast to add features (basically, the ability to stream almost any application). Although DLNA is great, its not as simple as using Chromecast for an average user I would say.

You are right about DLNA not being trivial to setup, it can be a nasty pain, actually.

Yeah you might have a nominal high speed connection, but where I live (Barra da Tijuca) and everywhere else I've heard of here, the connections are horribly slow during the day - and frankly unusable at night-time. This is because brazilian Internet providers don't actually have to provide you with the speed you are paying for. There is a law stating that they need to give you a certain percentage of that. Plus, connections are shared among huge numbers of people, there are no dedicated lines. I have a 100mbit (NET) here in Rio, but it's so horribly slow that a 10mbit in my home country (Denmark) would be better (I have 150/150 in Denmark but that's another story). About TVs: the interface of "Smart TVs" are horrible, slow and just akward. And the next time you buy a tv, you have to get a new smart tv. You cannot upgrade your tv. TVs should be dumb screens.

I'm Brazilian and I imported a Chromecast, I've made that purchase thru eBay, it cost me almost 75$
Isn't a cheap price, the taxes here are to high.
Sorry for the poor english..

Thank you for your comments! And your English is better than some Americans I know.... Posted via Android Central App

Don't apologize, your English is superb. What apps are you able to use in Brazil? Posted via Android Central App

When I've tested a friend's chromecast for a weekend, I was able to use Plex, Netflix, all of googles apps. I guess most (if not all) of the apps work, except those with country exclusive content, like this one Aereo that i've found out about just yesterday

Can crafty Brazilians get around those insane prices by ordering through companies that ship overseas like ebay or something? Edit - I guess the guy above me answered that question.

If we buy from a company or ship through a courrier, import fees are almost certain to be applied. If it is from an ordinary seller on ebay and he/she sends via common mail, we have a bigger chance of success. I asked a friend who is going to US and he's gonna buy from a Best Buy local store. It will cost me about US$40 + credit card taxes, and final price will be BRL$100, still half the price they cost here.

Aqui no Brasil é assim, é pra se fu**r, enquanto em qualquer lugar fora daqui o Chomecast é vendido por um preço praticamente de $35, só aqui que chega por mais que o dobro... Lembrando que nesse preço ai de R$199 ainda tem o frete Aqui o único jeito de comprar pelos $35 dólares é pedindo pra um amigo trazer na viagem, porque se for por importação ainda que não seja taxado na Receita Federal, existe o frete que se for pela opção mais barata vai levar meses pra chegar graças ao serviço alfandegário super eficiente que temos por aqui para compras internacionais... O Nexus 5 por exemplo é vendido por nada mais nada mesmo que R$1799,00, isso porque é fabricado aqui... Me sinto rico só por morar no Brasil pena que minha conta bancaria seja contraria a esse pensamento... :/ Here in Brazil is as well, is to f**k as anywhere outside of here Chomecast is sold for a price of just $35, just arriving here for more than double ... Recalling that at that price there of R $ 199 still has the freight Here the only way to buy the $35 is asking for a friend to bring on the trip, because it is by downloading even if it is not taxed at the Internal Revenue Service, there is freight that is the cheapest option will take months to reach thanks to the service super efficient local clearing we have here for international purchases ... The Nexus 5 for example is sold by none other even R$1,799.00, because it is manufactured here ... I feel rich just by living in Brazil shame that my bank account is contrary to that thought ... :/

In South Africa it costs R800.00

I'm Brazilian and recently I purchase two Americans Chromecasts for a half of the price it has been offered in Brazil. I totally recommend the product... It's provides an excellent multimedia experience but I do not recommend to buy our national version.

They need to talk to FIFA about who to bribe to get around those taxes.....

I think FIFA is more accustomed to taking bribes than giving them out.

its a two way street. you give a little, you take a little. At the very least they know who is approachable...

I live in Brazil, but I bought mine in NYC last year. Since then, everytime a friend goes to the US I recommend "buy one for you, one for your mom, one for your grandma, one for..." Every single one of them thanked me later. (We are big media consumers). Even my friends who just went to the US last May (we already had chromecast on pre-sale for a while here) bought a bunch, cause we already knew it would be more expensive here.
All apps that don't have an US only subscription work here since the beginning, last year. But Crackle (we have Crackle Brazil) has some trouble to work properly. It doesn't work on my Roku 3 also, so... Oh, and Chromecast UI was already in Brazilian Portuguese since last year too.
About the price: one says it's the taxes, others say we are always willing to pay high prices for our gadgets, so...
Google how much an Apple product costs here and you'll see!

Google how much a PS4 costs here in Brazil and you will have a hearth attack! Ok, I'll save you the hassle: the official price, set by Sony, is R$ 3,999.00. Something around U$ 1400.00.

When the Wii (or maybe it was the PS3) came out, my buddy's brother flew from Recife to Miami, bought as many as he could, shipped them back and sold them in Recife for an unbelievable profit.

I'm from Brazil.
Thank God I bought mine in US when it was released.
Imported goods are really overpriced here and that's a shame, no reason for jokes.. :/

Ouch for Brazil, it's the equiv of $50 in the UK which isn't far off double what the US pays :( Posted via Android Central App

I'm going to Brazil for the World Cup. Can anyone there recommend me what prepaid plan for my phone is good there? Do you have unlimited data? I have Oi last year but I didn't like it. I'll be in sao Paulo and rio Posted via Android Central App

All 4 cell phone carriers are releasing especial pre-paid plans for tourists, but they are announcing them along this week yet. With support in English and Spanish. So keep tuned, I guess they will make more sense for you than the ones we already have. (I pay by day of usage, something like 0,25 USD. But you get a cap. It makes sense for me only cause I'm most of the time on wifi)
Vivo would be our Verizon. TIM our T-Mobile. Claro is in between. Oi, don't even try it.

Well, don´t buy pre-paid sim cards from TIM and OI. Their services are not good. For data choose Vivo or Claro.
If your phone have LTE, maybe not work here. Our 4G is different... http://www.tecmundo.com.br/tim/56531-tim-lanca-chip-pre-pago-voltado-tur...

TIM - sem conexão I usually use VIVO prepaid cards. Their 4G coverage is great (Rio de Janeiro) and the price is fine.
It really depends where you are in the country - the operators coverage vary a great deal here EDIT: and my beloved HTC One M8 doesn't work here. The Nexus 5 does, though..

gibe chromi plox or i report u

Can someone translate this guy? Posted from my Nexus 7 2013 or Samsung galaxy S5

Sorry. Can't copy and paste on the AC app yet. :/ Posted via Android Central App

I don't think they pay income tax in Brazil, but they do pay high import duties. I've had a couple of clients come up here and load up on power tools, baby stuff, and electronics because it was so cheap. I was told they are allowed to bring back a limited number of certain items without high duties. On one trip they bought three X-boxes to take back.

Yes, we do pay income tax. We pay every single tax you can imagine, and then some. If we put them all together, it's like 4 months of our paycheck goes to the government, so it can come back for us as crappy stuff and fill the pockets of corrupt politicians. So don't be surprised if you hear about some riots during the World Cup, we are really pissed about our government.