It’s been awhile coming but today Roku has announced updates to its streaming product line with the new Roku Streaming Stick and the Roku Streaming Stick Plus. These will be coming to the UK in early summer which is great news for Roku fans on this side of the pond. For those who don’t know about Roku, the company offers both streaming players that plug into an HDMI socket and Roku TVs, which builds Roku’s streaming experience into smart TVs. Don’t get confused by the Japanese gin of the same name.
The Streaming Stick provides HD resolution and the Streaming Stick Plus delivers up to 4K with HDR. Both models will come will with voice remotes which means you can simply talk into the remotes to start playing a show or open a channel. Rokus support all the major streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+ and Paramount+ along with all the terrestrial broadcasters such as BBC’s iPlayer or itvX.
The new models replace the Roku Express and Express 4K+ in the product line which means that all models in Rokus portfolio are now of the stick variety. The Streaming Sticks are both only a little wider than the HDMI socket meaning they’re not going to block any adjacent HDMIs if it’s all a bit tight round the back of the TV. Further, the Sticks will happily power off a USB port, so if the TV has a spare one of those, it’ll reduce the cable clutter without the need for a power brick or wall wart.
Both models will be available on 2nd June from all the usual retailers in the UK. Pricewise the Streaming Stick will come in at £29.99, with the Plus version selling for an extra tenner at £39.99. As far as I can tell, the existing Roku Streaming Stick 4K remains in place at £49.99 and offers Dolby Vision.
Rokus are a great way of continuing to use older TVs or where an existing smart TV is missing certain otherwise-expected apps (I’m looking at you LG). They have a really great user interface that’s very simple to use (and there’s a complementary Roku smartphone app), so it’s much easier and cheaper to upgrade a TV with a Streaming Stick than it is to buy a whole new TV, plus you’re not contributing to e-waste, which is definitely a good thing.