What Roku does offer is its new Roku Assistant, which can understand and answer basic queries like ‘what time is it?’ or ‘what’s today’s date?’ but can’t interact with your smart home or any of your smart gadgets in a meaningful way. What’s missing here, however, is a competent, built-in smart assistant like Alexa or Google Assistant. These are invaluable resources for cord-cutters, and a great alternative to channel surfing for folks who still have a box. If you ever struggle to find something to watch, there’s the Featured Free section of the homepage that shows you what's available for free on the different services. Once it’s downloaded, follow the on-screen directions to log in through your provider or enter your username and password.Ĭord cutters who live in the US will also have access to Sling TV, plus The Roku Channel, which offers its own selection of TV shows and movies. To download the app, go into the 'Featured' section of the channel store or search for 'HBO Max' through the Roku voice remote or Roku app on your mobile device. The newest addition to Roku’s channel lineup is HBO Max, which finally made its appearance after a lengthy contract negotiation process. You can rent and buy individual movies and TV through Vudu and Fandango, the latter of which is the de facto rental service on the streamer. Roku boasts more than 4,500 channels ranging from the streaming mainstays, like Netflix, HBO and Vudu, to the obscure – there's actually a station called "The Fireworks Channel" – so finding something to watch is rarely a problem.įor US viewers, all the big names are here: Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Disney Plus, Apple TV, Peacock, YouTube, Crunchyroll, Plex and Pandora and Spotify. Roku may not have literally everything, but this is as close as it’s going to get. If there’s a more fully featured app store on a set-top box, we’d like to see it. It’s not quite as good as the new Roku Voice Remote Pro that has two programmable buttons, a headphone jack and a mid-range microphone array that can pick up your voice from across the room, but considering that it only costs $5 more than the basic IR remote, it’s a steal. We do have to give Roku some props on the remote that comes with a built-in microphone as well as volume buttons and a power button that can control the TV over HDMI-CEC. If you had a larger TV or if you wanted to keep the Express 4K+ anywhere other than right underneath the TV, you’re going to need another cord. It’s long enough to reach the ports of a 65-inch screen while still laying flat on the table, but just barely. The only corner that Roku cuts here is that the HDMI cord is on the shorter side. The inclusion of all these accessories is actually somewhat surprising – while other manufacturers are all too happy to send you out the door without all the necessary equipment in hand, the Roku Express 4K+ is a complete kit. Roku also includes a two-foot-long HDMI cable in every box, a remote and double-sided adhesive tape that will allow you to stick the Express 4K+ onto your TV or on any surface. But, the benefit to its small form factor is that you can throw it in a bag or store it on your media shelf without it taking up too much real estate. Long story short? Roku makes great products but its product lineup is getting a bit hard to follow – even for someone whose job is to cover streaming devices.ĭespite the potential to cause some confusion, it makes sense why Roku named it the Roku Express 4K+ – it looks exactly like the Roku Express.Īt 0.7 x 3.4 x 1.4 inches (H x W x D) it’s nearly the same size as the original Roku Streaming Stick and, funny enough, it’s even smaller than the remote that comes inside the box. That’s not even mentioning the soundbar-streaming player hybrids, the Roku Streambar and Roku Streambar Pro (formerly called the Roku Smart Soundbar) or TVs that come with Roku built-in that can sometimes be found for around $150 like the TCL 3-Series TVs. It starts with the basic HD-only Roku Express ($29.99) that’s followed by the new Express 4K+ ($39.99), but then there’s the Roku Streaming Stick+ ($49.99) that also streams in 4K and often only costs $39.99 when it’s on sale and the Roku Ultra that also streams 4K content – but can do Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision as well. Where things become slightly more confusing is when you talk about the new Roku lineup. For an extra $5 it’s definitely worth buying the Bluetooth remote that can control the TV. The key difference between the two models is that the Roku Express 4K+ (reviewed here) uses a Bluetooth remote while the standard Express 4K uses an IR remote.
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