Roku had earlier released three streaming devices with a view to standing against its rivals. The three devices were: Roku premiere, Roku Express, and Roku ultra. These devices didn’t get much response from the users due to its price and feature limited in number. Whereas at the same price, Google Chromecast was offering lot more features. Now, keeping this thing in mind, Roku has updated its hardware lineup and bought a new OS for them.

New Hardware

The earlier models of Roku as mentioned above were Premiere, ultra, and express and you need to spend a lot to purchase them. The major features which you were getting in these models were 1080p video playback, Dolby digital sound, and HDMI port support nothing more than this. There was no voice remote feature in the remote. For high-range product, you were required to spend $129 from your pocket.

Now, the company has totally revived its products. Although the prices remain unchanged Roku has added few powerful and smarter features to each hardware. If your Roku not working on 4K playback earlier, then you will be able to play now.

1. Roku express and Express+: The prices of both these models remained same but you will get HDMI as well as A/V support in these models. Out of the two Roku express+ support both the input modes. There is no voice remote with any of the two devices.
2. Roku streaming stick: This is just a replacement for Roku premiere. It includes a quad-core processor with 1080p playback. The wireless band supported by this device is dual-band MIMO AC.
3. Roku streaming stick+: This product is mainly designed to compete with the rival company, Google. Google ultra is providing the same features. The processing speed of this device is 4 times faster than the Google Ultra.
4. Roku ultra: The price of this product is now slashed to $99. Earlier the same product was available for $129. You will find the same features as available on the Roku streaming stick and Stick +. Apart from this, there is an Ethernet port and MicroSD slot in it. You will find a headphone jack on its remote for private listening.

To order any of this product, you need to go to Walmart, Amazon and another retailer page. All these devices are available on Pre-booking.

What’s new in Roku update 8 OS?

Roku recently revealed a new OS version for all its devices. You can check the update for your device on Roku support link. This update has been developed to provide ‘over-the-air’ support to the devices so that they will able to broadcast the channel more easily. Moreover, Roku search feature for ‘Over the air’ content has also added in this update.

The main highlighting feature of this update is Voice control. You can control the playback menu with the help of your voice only. If there is no voice remote available with the device, then you can install Roku app on your smartphone and control the Roku from it.

Like Apple TV, Roku has also added a single sign-in feature. This eases you to access the content anytime. There is no need to enter the login credentials again and again. You TV provider credentials will be used every time. To search for 4K contents particularly, you can use 4K spotlight feature on your new Roku update.