Roku Streaming Stick Plus Review: The Sweet Spot For Upgraders

The center dongle in Roku’s latest streamer lineup is excellent. At a list worth of $40-and sometimes on sale for less-the Roku Streaming Stick Plus hits a candy spot. It’s not the cheapest streaming dongle Roku sells, however it’s the least expensive option with 4K HDR video, and it sports slightly better efficiency than the $30 Roku Streaming Stick. Roku beforehand offered at the identical price. I still have some misgivings about Roku’s software, which is steadily getting extra sophisticated and bloated. But should you enjoy the Roku expertise as it is, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus is a solid choice. The Roku Streaming Stick Plus has the identical finger-sized design as the cheaper Roku Streaming Stick I reviewed in July, distinguished solely by its embossed black "Roku" brand instead of a painted-on purple one. Its constructed-in HDMI connector plugs instantly into one in every of your TV’s HDMI ports, and if it doesn’t match inside the spacing of these ports, you can request a free extender cable.



Unlike earlier Roku models, the Streaming Stick Plus does not include a energy adapter. Instead, you get a 5-foot USB-A-to USB-C cable to plug and play tv stick into the USB power port on most fashionable TVs. The dongle had no trouble drawing enough power this way from the TVs I tested it with, but you would possibly have to go hunting for an outlet adapter for plug and play tv stick outdated TVs that don’t provide USB power. Dolby Vision. It's worthwhile to step up to the $50 Roku Streaming Stick 4K for that. On the audio facet, Dolby Atmos can also be lacking, as that characteristic is only accessible on the $one hundred Roku Ultra. Roku now ships the same fundamental Voice Remote with all of its lower-end players. Like each other Roku current model, it includes buttons to control your TV’s quantity and power, offering a single-remote resolution except you have an exterior sound system that doesn’t support HDMI-CEC.



If that’s the case, you’ll need a separate distant for quantity changes. One factor missing from this model is Bluetooth help. You'll be able to still join earbuds to your telephone and use Roku’s mobile app for non-public listening, but the Roku Ultra stays the one participant that helps pairing headphones or earbuds directly to the streaming system. Roku does an admirable job optimizing its software to run on lightweight hardware, so there isn’t a huge efficiency difference between each of its gamers. Still, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus does have some noticeable improvements over the cheaper Streaming Stick. In my facet-by-aspect testing, the Streaming Stick Plus sometimes loaded apps a couple of seconds faster, and was quicker at filling program information particulars as I scrolled through the Pluto Tv app. Netflix specifically seemed to learn, as the Streaming Stick Plus would typically would return to where I used to be in Netflix’s menu system after switching to a special app.



The Roku Streaming Stick Plus also helps Wi-Fi 5, moderately than Wi-Fi 4 as on the Streaming Stick, and that i noticed higher Wi-Fi efficiency at long vary as a result. Testing from the far end of my again yard on a portable monitor, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus maintained speeds around 20Mbps, while the Streaming Stick averaged less than 10Mbps and displayed a weak signal warning. Meanwhile, the $50 Roku Streaming Stick 4K achieved speeds of round 100Mbps in the same take a look at. The improved Wi-Fi won’t matter in areas with stable reception-each models maintained 100Mbps connections within the office the place my router is located-however it could make a difference on the fringes. In order for you to use wired ethernet, Roku says the Streaming Stick Plus is compatible with USB-C-to-ethernet adapters that provide power, however I was unable to get it connected with a number of multiport USB-C hubs. The Roku Ultra is a greater bet if ethernet is a should.



While Roku has historically prided itself on simplicity, lately that mission has been at odds with the economics of Roku’s enterprise, which requires ever-more advert income and-extra just lately-a push for more subscriptions. The home section, which once introduced a easy list of your put in apps, now contains promotional content material tiles and links to numerous content material submenus. The left sidebar menu now has a banner advert at the underside, which suggests the default menu options don’t all fit and you must scroll up and right down to see them all. The banner ads in each the house part and sidebar menu now have animations and video. More of Roku’s personal apps at the moment are pre-installed, together with the recently acquired Frndly Tv and the recently launched Howdy. The bottom-left banner covers up some menu choices. Fundamentally, it’s fine for Roku to strive shifting previous the app grid paradigm and recommending more things to look at from the house screen.