Roku Streaming Stick 4K just replaced the best streaming device — here’s what’s new

The Roku Streaming Stick 4K is here to replace the best streaming device (the Roku Streaming Stick Plus). And since Roku doesn’t need to rewrite the book on its popular streaming stick, they just made a couple of necessary improvements.

Primarily, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K picks up important video standards support, so you’re going to get better picture quality support than the Streaming Stick Plus. Roku’s also added a new processor, for shorter load times. All in all, this is a good upgrade, but is it enough to push people to upgrade from the 2019 Streaming Stick Plus?

Roku’s also quietly upgrading the Roku Ultra LT (a Walmart-exclusive streaming device), as well as updating its OS to version 10.5, and we’ve got all the notes on what’s changing below. 

Roku Streaming Stick 4K: Release date, price and 4K Plus

The Roku Streaming Stick 4K costs $49, the same as the Streaming Stick Plus it succeeds. It is going to be available online and in major retails in the U.S., starting in mid-October. It will be in Canada, Mexico and other Latin American countries in the subsequent months.

Roku is also selling the $69 Streaming Stick 4K Plus, which adds in the $29 Roku Voice Remote, so you’ll save $10 overall.

Roku Streaming Stick 4K: Design

A thin black stick designed to live out of sight, behind your TV, in one of its HDMI ports, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K is familiar to say the least. This model goes all-matte (minus the glossy logo), whereas the previous model was two-thirds glossy and one third matte (with a glossy logo). 

Again, you’ve got a power indicator light and a microUSB port for drawing power. It measures 3.7 x 0.8 x 0.45 in, making it nearly identical to the Roku Streaming Stick Plus, which makes sense because it needs to fit within the same HDMI-port area behind the TV.

Your Roku Streaming Stick 4K may not need microUSB-based power, as our Streaming Stick Plus review units did not when tested with a 1080p Samsung TV from 2014. That said, the increased performance of the new stick may require it. We will find out when we test it.

Roku Streaming Stick 4K: Features and performance

The Roku Streaming Stick 4K’s biggest gains (if you ask us) are Dolby Vision and HDR10+ for improved video quality, supporting major standards. These make sure the mid-range Roku is spec-competitive with the Fire TV Stick 4K and Chromecast with Google TV. 

It also has pass-through Dolby Atmos for strong sound, which keeps it at parity with the Chromecast (the Fire TV Stick 4K has full-fledged Atmos.

Otherwise, this the Roku Streaming Stick 4K looks to be exactly what its name suggests: a 4K Ultra HD streaming stick running one of the best platforms on the market. And to that end, Roku’s improved the performance on the stick with a new quad-core processor, which should offer 30% faster app boot times, and improved Wi-Fi speeds by 2x (thanks to a new long-range Wi-Fi receiver). 

That said, it shouldn’t be as fast as the Roku Ultra 2020, as that device has a larger housing for heat dispersal, and higher-end specs.

Roku Streaming Stick 4K and 4K Plus: Remote

Those who buy the Roku Streaming Stick 4K get a pretty standard remote, which has four branded app buttons, click-to-speak voice actions and TV controls for power and volume. It’s good, but not the best remote Roku offers.

That would be the Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus’ Voice Remote Pro, which has a handful of extra features including a rechargeable battery so you don’t need to keep buying more batteries. And as its name suggests, this remote also has hands-free voice controls, which will come in handy if you can’t find the remote (just say “Hey Roku, where’s my remote?” and the remote should start ringing. it also has a lost remote control function in the app, of you don’t want to talk to your tech.

The Voice Remote Pro also has programmable shortcut buttons and a headphone jack for private listening via wired headphones. 

Roku Streaming Stick 4K: Software

Roku’s also rolling out a new software update to its streaming devices, including the Roku Streaming Stick 4K and 4K Plus. Roku OS 10.5 will give users the option to add a Live TV Channel Guide button directly into the home screen, so you don’t have to dig into The Roku Channel app to find it.

Roku is improving the support for Roku Voice, its voice commands platform, with Netflix and Spotify being two of the biggest apps to gain access. Roku claims “nearly any channel in Roku Search supports the feature” Curious, but afraid, of using voice commands? A new section called Roku Voice Help will walk you through all the commands you can yell at your Roku. You can also enter your passwords via Roku Voice, spelling them out character-by-character.

Those who love to listen to music and podcasts on their TV will probably be excited to learn that search results now include Music and Podcast entries. Roku’s not jamming them into the same rows as apps, shows and movies, but giving them their own rows. 

Sound is the other big story in Roku OS 10.5. Roku’s improving private listening, with fine-tuning made for improving playback in wireless earbuds, to try and eliminate asynchronous audio and video automatically. If that’s not enough, an Advanced A/V Sync feature (found in the Settings menu of the app) found when wireless headphones are paired with the Roku app will automatically adjust audio speeds by measuring the TV screen.

Also, 3.1 and 5.1 surround sound configurations will be added to the Roku Streambar, Roku Streambar Pro and Roku Smart Soundbar. 

The Roku TV Wireless Speakers can be paired with those audio devices to act as front speakers.

Roku’s also improving its mobile app, by putting content front and center with a Home tab to jump straight to content, broken down by Zones (collections of movies and shows). 

Not ready to watch now? Roku’s also adding the Save List, so you can add stuff  Plus, users can save movies and TV shows to the Save List to watch later when they’re  in front of their TV again. The Save List can be accessed via the Home and Remote  tabs, and users can add titles that they find via search to their Save List.

Roku Ultra LT 2021

The Walmart-exclusive Roku Ultra LT is getting a minor update for 2021, with a new model with a faster processor, increeased storage and a new Wi-Fi radio for up to 50% longer range. Dolby Vision is also now included, as is Bluetooth audio streaming.

Roku Streaming Stick 4K outlook

Improved performance on a streaming device is a feature that we always have a hard time judging until we see it for ourselves in action. Dolby Vision support, however, may be the kind of feature that gets folks to upgrade, especially the folks who blanched at the Roku Ultra’s $99 pricetag. 

We look forward to getting it in our hands for testing for a full review soon.