Chromecast can beam videos from an Android Chrome browser to a big TV

Google hasn't contributed to the Chromecast apps list since it first launched the inexpensive streaming device in the US last year, but it has a Chrome browser extension for Android in the pipe.

Chromecast Beta for Android added the ability to beam videos from the mobile browser to a TV with a little tinkering, Android Police discovered.

The hidden functionality is enabled by typing "chrome://flags/#enable-cast" into the smartphone or tablet browser's URL bar, and it negates the need to shift to a standalone app like YouTube.

That's convenient, but so far it only works best in YouTube, according to our tests with a Galaxy Note 3. Other HTML5 sites have proven that this beta feature is not ready to be enabled by default.

There still isn't an official way to mirror an entire Chrome mobile browser to a large TV - that's still reserved for the computer-only Chrome browser extension - but this is a good first step.

Chromecast going international?

Of course, none of these new features benefit consumers in Australia because Chromecast hasn't been released outside of the US yet.

Though it has denied that a UK release date exists, Google hasn't denied that it had talks with Aussie telco Telstra to bring Chromecast to Australia.

The company might be more eager now considering a new Apple TV is reportedly right around the corner, as is an equally unconfirmed Android-based Amazon set-top box.

• Now if we could only get Chromecast support for Google Glass.