Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus review: Excellent streamer gets a better remote
Our Verdict
Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus improves a chip on its predecessor, finally offering Dolby Vision and packaged with the excellent Vocalization Remote Pro.
For
- Dolby Vision
- Vocalization Remote Pro is a nifty upgrade
- Speedy performance
- Excellent interface
Confronting
- Lacks Dolby Atmos
- Non a large upgrade from previous model
Tom'southward Guide Verdict
Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus improves a bit on its predecessor, finally offer Dolby Vision and packaged with the excellent Phonation Remote Pro.
Pros
- +
Dolby Vision
- +
Voice Remote Pro is a great upgrade
- +
Speedy performance
- +
Splendid interface
Cons
- -
Lacks Dolby Atmos
- -
Non a big upgrade from previous model
The Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus, the company'south priciest streaming stick yet, is great. The previous model, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus, was great (so much so that it was our all-time streaming device for years). The fact is, most Roku devices work very well, without hit your bank account besides hard. The Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus isn't a massive upgrade, but at this bespeak, I have to wonder if streaming hardware tin can really become much better than it already is.
The Streaming Stick 4K Plus is slightly faster and more powerful, is finally capable of playing high-quality Dolby Vision and comes with the excellent Phonation Remote Pro. Essentially, this Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus review will show how it has everything nosotros loved about the Streaming Stick Plus with a bit more juice and features, which ensure information technology takes a high spot on our best Roku devices list.
- The best streaming services, ranked
- Cheque out our Roku Streaming Stick 4K review
Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus review: Specs
| Roku Streaming Stick 4K+ | |
|---|---|
| Starting price | $69.99 |
| Resolution | Up to 4K UHD at threescore fps |
| Processor | Quad-core CPU |
| Wireless | 802.11ac MIMO dual-band Wi-Fi |
| Dimensions | 3.7 x 0.8 x 0.5 inches |
| Colors | Black |
| Sound | Dolby-encoded audio, DTS Digital Surroundings, Digital stereo |
| Video | Dolby Vision, HDR10/10+ and HLG |
| Remote | Roku Vocalisation Remote Pro |
Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus review: Price and availability
The Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus review costs $70, which is $xx more the $l Roku Streaming Stick 4K. The toll divergence is due to the inclusion of the Roku Voice Remote Pro, which itself is $thirty. Substantially, you save $10 with this packet versus buying the components separately.
Its primary competitors are the Amazon Fire Television Stick 4K Max ($55) and the Chromecast With Google TV ($fifty). And, of class, the regular Roku Streaming Stick 4K (which is the same device, just without the Vocalization Remote Pro).
Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus is available for preorder and will hit shelves Oct 17. That'due south also when it will start shipping from Roku.com, Amazon and other retailers.
Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus review: Design
Identical to its predecessor, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus is a slim, black rectangular dongle that sits unobtrusively backside your goggle box. It measures 3.7 x 0.viii x 0.five inches and has an HDMI plug on one end. On the side, in that location is a port for its USB power cable. That cable has something new — an in-line long-range Wi-Fi receiver measuring iii.3 x 0.vi x 0.3 inches.
The Streaming Stick 4K Plus is designed so that yous never have to see it or think almost it subsequently plugging it into your Boob tube. In that way, it's similar to its master competitors, the slightly larger Fire Telly Stick 4K (iv.3 x i.three x 0.5 inches) and Chromecast With Google Television set (6.four ten 2.iv x 0.five inches).
Every bit for the included Vocalization Remote Pro, more than on that below.
Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus review: RokuOS x.5 interface and mobile app
I don't take much new to say about the Roku interface, which has basically remained the aforementioned for several years now. Why mess with a practiced thing? Roku'due south interface is simple, make clean and easy to navigate. The Dwelling house screen is populated by apps represented in square boxes, much like the Apple TV 4K — though the Streaming Stick 4K Plus is much cheaper than that $179 device.
The elegance of the interface is one of the reasons I favor Roku over Fire Television receiver, which sublimates apps to promote Amazon's content. Fifty-fifty the Roku Aqueduct is merely listed among the others, not blasted into your eyeballs.
The new RokuOS 10.5 brings several updates, mostly to voice functions. The most welcome one is the ability to use phonation to spell out passwords on some on-screen keyboards. This is a characteristic missing on Burn TV Stick 4K and Chromecast With Google TV, so Roku at present has a leg up.
The other vox improvement is that you can direct launch shows on Netflix and music on Spotify with a control. I tried information technology out and said "Hey Roku, play Maid on Netflix." Now, "Maid" is a tricky give-and-take, so Roku opened a Netflix search screen. But the same control for Squid Game worked perfectly and found the Korean drama's title page. Information technology didn't start playing the episode I was in the middle of (instead letting me decide where to outset), but I'one thousand not mad about it.
Roku'southward also assuasive you lot to edit the grid in The Roku Channel's Live TV department, though this is where I found myself disappointed.
This section merely allows The Roku Aqueduct's free linear Tv set content (which is made up of ad-supported content from names you lot may be familiar with, such as This One-time Firm, ABC News Live, NBC News Now, Vice), and your mileage may vary.
The Burn Goggle box'southward Live TV grid, though, integrates with cord-cutter services such equally Sling Goggle box — a huge boon for cord-cutters similar myself.
The Roku mobile app allows you to have individual listening via whatever headphones y'all employ. Roku'southward added optimizations for wireless headphones this yr, for reducing latency (of which I saw none) betwixt sound and video. I had one awkward moment with private listening via the app, though: I heard small beeps during the first few minutes of testing. They went away quickly.
Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus review: Performance
Roku added a new quad-core processor to the Streaming Stick 4K Plus that the visitor claims makes it thirty percent faster than the previous model. I didn't take one to test against the new device, but but we did have the top $50 streaming devices: the Chromecast with Google TV and Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K.
As a exam, we restarted the Roku Streaming Stick 4K, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and the Chromecast with Google Television receiver, and so (using a stopwatch app) timed how long information technology took to open Netflix, YouTube, Disney Plus, Sling TV and Apple TV Plus. The times, as you'll see below, are pretty similar throughout.
| Roku Streaming Stick 4K | Amazon Burn TV Stick 4K | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Netflix (load fourth dimension in seconds) | iii | 23 | two |
| YouTube (load time in seconds) | 7 | vii | five |
| Disney Plus (load time in seconds) | 9 | 10 | 12 |
| Sling TV (load fourth dimension in seconds) | x | 27 | 8 |
| Apple Television set Plus (load time in seconds) | 11 | nine | 8 |
There'due south a modest margin of error with this kind of eyeball/stopwatch test. But the main takeaway is that the Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus generally performs ameliorate than the Burn TV Stick 4K for most of the major apps.
In my personal testing, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus felt snappy. Apps loaded quickly — generally within 5 to 6 seconds, but occasionally more similar 10 seconds. Navigation was adequately polish, though scrolling chop-chop through Netflix or Disney Plus did become a chip choppy here and in that location.
Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus review: Audio and video
While the performance of the Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus doesn't feel vastly superior to its predecessor, it does go a video upgrade information technology has conspicuously been missing — Dolby Vision. That's something both the Fire TV Stick 4K and Chromecast With Google Tv have, and at present Roku has finally caught up.
Everything I played looked incredible, from Loki on Disney Plus to Ted Lasso on Apple Telly Plus to Wonder Adult female 1984 on HBO Max. The video was crisp, clear, vivid and bright. The colors popped, the blacks contrasted very well. In the season 2 finale of Ted Lasso, the players' red, blue and yellowish were rich and brilliant against the more dull green of the pitch. In the final paradigm of the episode, I could run across the subtle details on the black jacket worn by a detail grapheme.
The Streaming Stick 4K Plus still lacks the surroundings sound technology of Dolby Atmos, which both the Burn down Television receiver Stick 4K and Chromecast with Google TV both have. I didn't actually miss it, but y'all may feel like the soundscape of large activeness movies feels less immersive.
Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus review: Search
Roku's search works but fine, comparable in speed to Fire Television. Using the voice function is much preferred than typing out searches, either on the remote or on the app. Regular search brings up just a list, while voice search brings upwardly a nicer-looking folio of thumbnails.
There were occasional misunderstandings, only like Alexa search on Fire TV. They both heard me correctly well-nigh 90 percent of the time.
I said "Hey Roku, Harry Potter" and among the results was a "zone" where Roku lists all the movies equally well as other titles featuring the cast members. When I searched for Oscar Isaac, it listed his near recent movies and Boob tube shows, stuff I could lookout man for gratuitous (including the splendid Ex Machina and A About Fierce Year) as well as options to rent or purchase. Nevertheless, the search result for Taylor Swift was disappointing, as information technology only tried to have me to Spotify. Swift should have video results, such as Folklore: The Long Pond Sessions on Disney Plus.
Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus review: Remote
The but differentiator between the Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus and the regular Stick 4K is that the former comes with the Voice Remote Pro. I reviewed the accessory on its own earlier this yr and found it to exist great. In fact, information technology won the 2021 Tom'south Guide Award for All-time Streaming Device Remote, even beating out Apple's new Siri Remote for the Apple TV 4K.
Like the regular remote, the Voice Remote Pro has a pleasing rectangular form cistron that sits nicely in your mitt. It has a headphone jack for private listening, equally well as all the standard buttons for power, playback and navigation. It likewise has four branded buttons for Netflix, Disney Plus, Apple tree TV Plus and Hulu. These may be annoying for someone who doesn't accept these services, just the remote does have two customizable buttons that saves voice commands. I said "Hey Roku, open Spotify" and then long-pressed "1" to relieve that activity.
Bated from the customizable buttons, there are two central things that carve up the Phonation Remote Pro from the regular remote. The first is that it'south rechargeable, and then no need for AAA batteries. Roku says that the remote will terminal two months on a unmarried charge, but I've never used it long enough to verify that merits. In whatever case, the rechargeable battery makes the remote slightly heavier than the regular version, but it'due south worth it not to accept to dig around my junk drawer.
The other upgrade is that the Vocalism Remote Pro has an always-listening role, which can be toggled on and off. When it's on, yous can simply say "Hey Roku …" out loud, followed by a command. I used it to turn on my telly, open Netflix, search for shows and control playback. Make sure to speak loudly and verbalize clearly, though. I apparently don't do the latter and Roku misunderstood several of my commands, like "intermission" (tried to search for "pals"). With always-on, you can also hands detect the remote when it inevitably disappears into the couch.
Don't desire your remote always listening? (Raising my mitt) Toggle the part off. Y'all can nonetheless use the microphone push button to speak voice commands.
Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus review: Content and apps
Roku has well-nigh every app you lot might need or want — so many that there are probably dozens you've never even heard of. The site 42matters claims Roku has more than 26,000 apps while the Fire TV supposedly has 12,700 apps. At that level, it'south actually hard to point to the differences. Both take all of the best streaming services and the all-time cable TV alternative apps.
There is a major one that'due south missing: YouTube Idiot box. The companies had a scrap of a tiff and YouTube TV pulled its app from the streaming channels store. Now, YouTube TV subscribers accept to admission the service through the regular YouTube app. And then it's still technically at that place, but it merely requires an extra click or two to find.
While the Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus doesn't back up other kinds of streaming (like Chromecast does with Nest cam feeds), it does let for screen mirroring (unlike the Burn down Goggle box Stick 4K).
Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus review: Bottom line
As this Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus review has shown, it is not and then much faster or more than powerful than the previous model that it demands yous upgrade immediately. That's not a knock on Roku at all; in fact, it'south a compliment. Roku devices are so reliable and do their job and so well that information technology's hard to imagine how they would drastically improve on them. If yous demand Dolby Atmos, you could salve $xx with the Chromecast with Google TV, only you'd also be giving up that rechargeable remote with its programmable buttons.
However, the Streaming Stick 4K Plus brings welcome upgrades in the add-on of Dolby Vision and the Vocalisation Remote Pro. If you lot do happen to be in the market for a new device, it delivers all the ultra-Hard disk drive streaming, video quality and speed that anyone could demand, along with a wonderfully unproblematic OS, and at a very reasonable cost. It's a wise investment because y'all probably won't need to upgrade to a new device for some fourth dimension. Sorry, Roku, you did this to yourselves past making a dandy production in the first place.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/roku-streaming-stick-4k-plus
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