By With its newest streaming players, Roku is going small. According to the firm, its new pair of sticks is up to 35% smaller than its rivals. The Roku Streaming Stick and Streaming Stick Plus, which were unveiled Wednesday at a press conference in New York City, are made for streamers who are constantly on the go and have slimmed-down profiles that should not interfere with other HDMI connections. Additionally, a USB-C to USB-A adapter is included, and the players are designed to operate from a TV’s USB power socket.
The HD-only Streaming Stick ($29.95) and 4 K-enabled Streaming Stick Plus ($39.99) replace Roku Express and Roku Express 4K, respectively, with each player weighing only 0.9 ounces and measuring 3.7 x 0.8 x 0.45 inches. The Streaming Stick 4K (which adds Dolby Vision HDR, while the newer Streaming Stick Plus only supports HDR10), the high-end Roku Ultra (which comes with an Ethernet and a backlit remote), and the Streambar SE speaker are the only five streaming devices left in Roku’s lineup.
Roku’s Voice Remote will be included with the Streaming Stick and Streaming Stick Plus, enabling you to use your voice to control basic TV functions and navigate the streaming interfaces of the players. Compared to Roku’s now-defunct Express player, which came with only a normal Roku control, that is an improvement.
As is common with Roku’s small streaming sticks, the new streaming players have dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity and Apple AirPlay casting. Although neither device supports Dolby Atmos natively, they can transmit Dolby audio, including Atmos, to a TV or A/V receiver that has Atmos capability. Pre-orders for the Streaming Stick and Streaming Stick Plus are already open, and they will both arrive on May 6.
At its press conference in New York, Roku announced many other home entertainment-related developments, such as the addition of mini-LED backlighting to its scaled-down Roku Plus Series TVs. Along with an integrated remote finding button and cable management channels, the Plus Series will also gain the scene-by-scene Smart Picture Max image enhancement mode that was first introduced with its high-end Roku Pro Series TVs. The “coming months” should see the arrival of the new sets.
With the business announcing the release of a design specification that third-party manufacturers can utilize to create portable video projectors bearing the Roku brand, we can also anticipate Roku to appear on much larger displays. According to Roku, further information on their projector plans will be available soon.
