Roku Streaming Stick Plus overview: The candy spot for upgraders

Greatest Costs At the moment: Roku Streaming Stick Plus

At an inventory worth of $40—and infrequently on sale for much less—the Roku Streaming Stick Plus hits a candy spot.

It’s not the most affordable streaming dongle Roku sells, however it’s the least costly possibility with 4K HDR video, and it sports activities barely higher efficiency than the $30 Roku Streaming Stick. Its moveable design can also be an enchancment over the Roku Categorical 4K+, which Roku beforehand offered on the identical worth.

I nonetheless have some misgivings about Roku’s software program, which is steadily getting extra sophisticated and bloated. However in the event you benefit from the Roku expertise as it’s, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus is a stable possibility.

What’s included with the Roku Streaming Stick Plus

The Roku Streaming Stick Plus has the identical finger-sized design because the cheaper Roku Streaming Stick I reviewed in July, distinguished solely by its embossed black “Roku” brand as an alternative of a painted-on purple one. Its built-in HDMI connector plugs straight into one among your TV’s HDMI ports, and if it doesn’t match inside the spacing of these ports, you may request a free extender cable.

Not like earlier Roku fashions, the Streaming Stick Plus doesn’t embody an influence adapter. As a substitute, you get a five-foot USB-A-to USB-C cable to plug into the USB energy port on most fashionable TVs. The dongle had no bother drawing sufficient energy this manner from the TVs I examined it with, however you may must go trying to find an outlet adapter for previous TVs that don’t present USB energy.

For video, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus streams at as much as 4K decision with assist for HDR and HDR10+, however not Dolby Imaginative and prescient. You might want to step as much as the $50 Roku Streaming Stick 4K for that. On the audio aspect, Dolby Atmos can also be lacking, as that function is barely obtainable on the $100 Roku Extremely.

Jared Newman / Foundry

Roku now ships the identical primary Voice Distant with all of its lower-end gamers. Like each different Roku present mannequin, it consists of buttons to regulate your TV’s quantity and energy, offering a single-remote answer except you’ve got an exterior sound system that doesn’t assist HDMI-CEC. If that’s the case, you’ll want a separate distant for quantity changes. (As a result of the Streaming Stick Plus doesn’t settle for IR enter, it gained’t work with primary common remotes.)

One factor lacking from this mannequin is Bluetooth assist. You may nonetheless join earbuds to your telephone and use Roku’s cellular app for personal listening, however the Roku Extremely stays the one participant that helps pairing headphones or earbuds on to the streaming system.

Roku Streaming Stick Plus efficiency and Wi-Fi reception

Roku does an admirable job optimizing its software program to run on light-weight {hardware}, so there isn’t an enormous efficiency distinction between every of its gamers. Nonetheless, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus does have some noticeable enhancements over the cheaper Streaming Stick.

In my side-by-side testing, the Streaming Stick Plus usually loaded apps just a few seconds sooner, and was faster at filling program information particulars as I scrolled by the Pluto TV app. Netflix specifically appeared to learn, because the Streaming Stick Plus would usually would return to the place I used to be in Netflix’s menu system after switching to a special app. (With the cheaper Streaming Stick, Netflix often wanted a full reload.)

The Roku Streaming Stick Plus additionally helps Wi-Fi 5, reasonably than Wi-Fi 4 as on the Streaming Stick, and I noticed higher Wi-Fi efficiency at lengthy vary in consequence. Testing from the far finish of my again yard on a conveyable monitor, the Roku Streaming Stick Plus maintained speeds round 20Mbps, whereas the Streaming Stick averaged lower than 10Mbps and displayed a weak sign warning. In the meantime, the $50 Roku Streaming Stick 4K achieved speeds of round 100Mbps in the identical check.

The improved Wi-Fi gained’t matter in areas with stable reception—each fashions maintained 100Mbps connections within the workplace the place my router is positioned—however it may make a distinction on the fringes.

If you wish to use wired ethernet, Roku says the Streaming Stick Plus is appropriate with USB-C-to-ethernet adapters that provide energy, however I used to be unable to get it linked with a number of multiport USB-C hubs. The Roku Extremely is a greater guess if ethernet is a should.

Roku software program: Acquainted format, new distractions

Jared Newman / Foundry

Whereas Roku has historically prided itself on simplicity, in recent times that mission has been at odds with the economics of Roku’s enterprise, which requires ever-more advert income and—extra not too long ago—a push for extra subscriptions.

This manifests itself in a bunch of the way:

• The House part, which as soon as offered an easy record of your put in apps, now consists of promotional content material tiles and hyperlinks to numerous content material submenus.
• The left sidebar menu now has a banner advert on the backside, which implies the default menu choices don’t all match and you could scroll up and right down to see all of them.
• The banner adverts in each the House part and sidebar menu now have animations and video.
• Extra of Roku’s personal apps at the moment are pre-installed, together with the not too long ago acquired Frndly TV and the not too long ago launched Howdy.

Jared Newman / Foundry

Essentially, it’s tremendous for Roku to strive shifting previous the app grid paradigm and recommending extra issues to look at from the house display. Individuals do need assistance sorting by all their streaming companies, and different streaming platforms have been attempting to deal with that downside for years.

However lots of what Roku’s doing weighs too closely on the aspect of upselling extra companies as an alternative of serving to navigate what you’re already paying for. To wit: Roku has a helpful “Proceed Watching” function that tracks all of the exhibits you’re watching throughout totally different companies, however it’s buried in a “What to Watch” menu that’s all too straightforward to disregard. Why not put it within the newly-expanded House part as an alternative?

Jared Newman / Foundry

Roku nonetheless deserves credit score for nailing lots of the little issues. Many people admire the distant’s devoted fast-forward, rewind, and play/pause buttons—Google TV and Apple TV gadgets omit these—in addition to the “Replay” button that jumps again in time with closed captions quickly enabled. Roku additionally does an awesome job surfacing free content material by its Featured Free menu and Roku Channel app, and assist for Apple’s AirPlay is useful for sharing content material from iPhones and iPads. The expertise is general constructive; there’s simply a lot room for enchancment.

Jared Newman / Foundry

Roku Streaming Stick Plus vs. the remaining

For many Roku followers, the Streaming Stick Plus is a greater possibility than the $30 Streaming Stick, with speedier app load instances, higher Wi-Fi connectivity, and 4K HDR video assist. It’s additionally value contemplating over the $50 Roku Streaming Stick 4K in the event you don’t care about Dolby Imaginative and prescient and have an honest Wi-Fi setup.

I’d additionally choose the Roku Streaming Stick Plus over Amazon’s low-cost Fireplace TV Sticks, as a result of for as cluttered as Roku’s software program has turn into, Amazon’s remains to be lots worse. For those who desire a extra content-forward interface, contemplate Walmart’s Onn streaming gadgets (the $20 Onn field, $30 Onn 4K Plus, or $50 Onn 4K Professional) as options.

In any other case, the center dongle in Roku’s lineup needs to be all you want.

This overview is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of one of the best streaming gadgets.