When it comes to buying a new streaming stick, affordability is the name of the game — otherwise, everyone would buy a new TV all the time instead of a streaming stick — and Roku is shaping up to be win in this department thanks to its new device.
The company has just announced the Roku Streaming Stick, a new dongle which is set to go on sale soon, alongside a Streaming Stick Plus as two new streaming devices from Roku.
The basic Roku Streaming Stick is a competitor for the Amazon Fire TV Stick HD, offering HD streaming with similar specs. However the new model is cheaper, set to cost $29.99 / £29.99, while Amazon's equivalent sells for $34.99 / £39.99 — that's 25% cheaper in the UK, and $5 in the US.
The new Roku Streaming Stick has a few useful features like voice controls via the remote and upgrades to its WiFi support, but what's sure to be the best upgrade is the size of the stick. Roku says it's 35% smaller than equivalents from rival companies (I wonder who it's talking about...) and it really tells from images — it looks like it could be a simple USB stick that you plug into your TV!
A size decrease means that this dongle will more easily fit into your home theater set-up, especially for people whose TVs already have lots of cables (I always have to juggle the wires for my PlayStation and streaming device, which I imagine won't be an issue for the new Roku). Roku's last entry-level streaming device, the Roku Express, wasn't a stick but a small box attached by a little wire.
Onto the Roku Streaming Stick Plus: this is a competitor to the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, providing higher-res video streaming with support for 4K resolutions and HDR. It's set to launch in June for $39.99 / £39.99, so again it undercuts its Amazon equivalent which launched for $49.99 / £59.99 (although that was in 2023 so it's often reduced nowadays).
Nowadays, when 4K TVs are commonplace and many people buy 4K DVDs or sign up for higher tiers of the best streaming service which let you stream videos in this resolution, the Streaming Stick Plus is probably the option that most people will opt for.
If you've been on the market for a new streaming stick, you've probably been looking at the best Amazon Fire TV Sticks, but perhaps this news will make you want to wait until Roku Streaming Stick reviews are out before making a decision. As the release date gets nearer, we'll test out the devices ourselves to see if they're worth buying over their Amazon rivals.
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