There’s Only One Reason to Upgrade to Roku’s New 4K Streaming Sticks

When it involves product upgrades, it’d sound like lukewarm reward to say, “It’s pretty much the same as the last version—but the last version was good!” But that’s precisely what’s true of the brand new Roku Streaming Stick 4K and its pricier sibling, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K+. While neither has fairly sufficient in the way in which of latest options to make it a dramatic improve from the Streaming Stick Plus or Roku Ultra, for instance, each of the brand new sticks are nonetheless working on a stable OS, have a winsome design and ship nice streaming content material. If it ain’t broke, don’t repair it, proper?

Should any of this by itself be sufficient to persuade you to shell out $50 for the Streaming Stick 4K should you already personal Roku’s Express 4K Plus, which affords a principally an identical set of options for $10 much less? Probably not. But should you’re out there for a compact, succesful streamer that now contains added assist for Dolby Vision, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K and 4K+ are wonderful choices.

Perhaps the most important concern for me personally is that at this level, Roku is approaching important mass on its streaming choices, at the least from a nomenclature standpoint. The present lineup contains the Express, the Express 4K Plus, the Streaming Stick 4K, the Streaming Stick 4K Plus, the Ultra, the Streambar and the Streambar Pro—a confusingly comparable array of streaming gadgets which can be fairly homogenous by way of their capabilities. By the time you may parse the (minor) variations between your choices, you’ll understand, like I did, that you simply actually can’t go mistaken with any of them—which isn’t essentially a compelling case for why the 4K and 4K+ are well worth the barely larger price ticket.

A Winning Formula

The Streaming Stick 4K affords slight enhancements to its superb, very reasonably priced predecessor, the Streaming Stick Plus (presently $35 on Roku’s web site). The newer system is quicker and affords improved wifi efficiency, however these updates are laborious to quantify (extra on that beneath). Aesthetically, the design on each sticks is kind of the identical, except a extra matte black end, nevertheless it’s not prefer it actually issues anyway: Like the Plus, the Streaming Stick 4K tucks away neatly into an HDMI port behind your TV, so it’s not like there was any main want for an overhaul there.

To that finish, each Streaming Sticks include a USB energy cable with a long-range wifi receiver (the 4K+ bundle additionally comes with a separate USB charging cable to energy up the distant). There’s additionally an influence adapter included in case you may’t join the streaming stick on to a USB port on the TV itself, however the TCL set I used to overview the Roku sticks didn’t have that situation.

But actually the large purpose to improve is added assist for Dolby Vision and HDR10 Plus. Dolby Vision content material now abounds throughout numerous streaming providers, together with Disney+ and Netflix, and now Roku helps it. That’s just about it.

Roku Streaming Stick 4K vs. Roku Streaming Stick 4K+

If you’re feeling like spending an additional $20, you may go for the Roku Streaming Stick 4K+, which comes geared up with the Roku Voice Remote Pro. The Pro seems almost an identical to Roku’s different remotes, save for just a few minor changes. A headphone jack for personal listening has been added to its aspect, and the Voice Remote Pro additionally subs out AAs for a built-in rechargeable battery, which will be juiced up by way of a microUSB port tucked away below the distant’s purple material tag.

The voice distant is an admittedly good contact right here, and should you’re contemplating whether or not or not spending the additional money on the 4K+ is value it, let me submit that that the included distant finder function is nearly well worth the value of admission by itself. A easy “Hey Roku, find my remote” triggers a beeping sound that will help you observe it down, which is definitely a welcome reprieve from digging via the sofa cushions for the third time with no luck. For those that get queasy with the concept of getting an always-listening system of their houses, Roku has included a swap on the distant’s left aspect to show off the microphone. In this mode, the distant can nonetheless decide up instructions should you press and maintain the microphone button, it simply received’t be “hands-free” anymore.

One reputable gripe some customers may need with the 4K and 4K+ is that the voice assistant nonetheless can’t actually maintain a candle to Amazon’s Alexa or Google Assistant. Roku’s voice capabilities stay rudimentary at greatest; elevating and reducing quantity, powering the TV on and off and looking for content material by style or actor’s identify are not any downside; ask something extra difficult, like what time the Knicks are enjoying, and also you’re out of luck.

Sleek, Intuitive Software

People love the acquainted really feel of Roku’s app grid house display, and Roku is aware of this. As a consequence, they have a tendency to not swap issues up an excessive amount of within the software program division, leaving the identical uncluttered house display customers know and respect largely untouched.

There is a brand new “Featured Free” part that lets customers browse their free streaming choices, however that is largely only a means for Roku to advertise its personal content material. While it’s true that the ad-supported Roku Channel has dozens of free exhibits and flicks, it’s additionally a great reminder that Roku is, at its core, an advert manufacturing facility, and extra advertisements imply extra metrics being tracked and funneled again to Roku. It’s a bummer for certain, however that’s kind of the deal you implicitly comply with if you watch Roku’s content material: good exhibits, easy-to-use software program, and advertisements. It is what it’s.

The Streaming Stick 4K and 4K+ each run on Roku’s newest OS 10.5, which provides a few intuitive fixes like voice dictation for passwords (scrolling across the on-screen keyboard with the distant for what appears like quarter-hour is at all times such a bummer) and simpler troubleshooting for AV that’s out of sync. While rivals like Amazon’s FireTV Stick 4K Max have lately made the bounce to Wi-Fi 6, Roku continues to be utilizing Wi-Fi 5—however once more, the load occasions have by no means been a problem, so it’s not a obtrusive omission.

Faster Performance, I Guess

I’ll be trustworthy: If the Streaming Stick 4K masses any sooner than its most up-to-date predecessors, it’s misplaced on me, however that’s largely as a result of there was actually no situation with load occasions to start with.

The newest batch of streaming sticks additionally boast extra highly effective quad-core processors, which allegedly yield 30% sooner boot-up occasions, however, once more… it’s laborious to essentially discover a markedly improved efficiency right here. All of the streams launched with no situation, by no means leaving me hanging for greater than a pair seconds.

Worth the Upgrade?

When all is claimed and achieved, any of Roku’s newest streaming sticks are stable choices, and none will go away clients with patrons’ regret. With its vast choice of streamers, the actual selection any Roku buyer faces is grounded within the trivia: Do you like a stick that may conceal in your HDMI port, or are you OK with one thing just a little bigger, just like the Express 4K Plus? Whichever path you find yourself going, the lengthy and wanting it’s that you simply’re nonetheless going to finish up with extremely succesful, easy-to-use streamer on the finish of the day. If it was me, I’d save my cash and simply go together with the most affordable choice accessible, however your mileage could range.