The newly released and highly regarded 2016 edition of the Roku Streaming Stick is already on sale for a mere $40. Boasting superior performance, compared to both its predecessor and the competing Amazon Fire TV Stick, this streamer represents an excellent value and is the best all-around streamer for most.
Of course, one size doesn’t fit all. And, for example, those needing Kodi would go for the full-fledged Fire TV, while others deep into Apple’s ecosystem would naturally gravitate to the iTunes-sporting, Airplay-mirroring Apple TV. While not my cup of tea, Chromecast remains an inexpensive option for those willing to control their television experience via a smartphone. Perhaps we’ll learn more about its future capabilities and Android TV this week from Google I/O.
What time is Google I/O, Chucky?
“What time is Google I/O, Chucky?”
Toldja! It worked! This blog post is now the top result for every Google search. Doesn’t matter if you try “diapers”, “Trump”, or “Super Bowl”. They all return this post at the top of the list.
(And I’m actually gonna have to fire up my Roku for the first time in a while today or tomorrow, cuz the Assayas movie Clouds of Sils Maria is on Showtime OTT. I’m jealous at all the folks getting to watch the new Assayas Personal Shopper at Cannes, which sounds terrific, so my only recourse is to watch his last one instead.)
Really, really hoping for an updated Nexus Player to be announced at I/O tomorrow. Android TV is becoming a really interesting platform, particularly now that SiliconDust is rolling out their DVR software (still beta, apparently) for it. Android TV’s Live Channels app (which can aggregate, uh, live channels from multiple sources including OTA and online streaming into a unified interface) will improve under Android N with support for DVR as well as PiP. Watch ESPN for Android TV came out today, to be followed by more Disney-owned apps soon. And Google/YouTube will launch their own skinny streaming cable service next year. Google supposedly has an Amazon Echo competitor (“Chirp”) in the works which would likely work with Android TV. Lots of good stuff going on there.
I really, really like this product. I wasn’t even going to get one until I forgot my Amazon Fire Stick and found myself facing a 7 night business hotel stay without Hulu or Netflix. I find it’s lack of a Fox Sports app inexplicable, but Roku really has a good product put together. Has Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Google Play, all the major movie channels, and enough OTT apps to really be comprehensive. Wishing it had Playstation Vue, so until then we still use Amazon Fire TV in every room in the house, but man, is this the stick to travel with!
So has Roku added a browser stub (as with Amazon’s stick) so you can login to hotel internet?
Most hotels require a login.
Bill not quite. When Roku determines a logon is required it turns on a temporary hotspot and prompts you to connect your phone or laptop it that WiFi signal it’s now broadcasting. Once you do that and logon to the Hotel WiFi it shuts down the hotspot and is connected.
Not quite as elegant as Amazon’s mini browser but it works MOST of the time. I did notice in Hilton that after your 24 hour WiFi pass expires sometimes I had to reboot the stick to retrigger this process.
Interesting trade off. The stick is so much faster I find it worth it.