After all the anticipation, rumors and discussions, the Roku 4 is out, and people finally have a chance to check out the device for themselves. What does it bring to the table? According to most reviewers, quite a lot actually – but it might not be quite enough to justify the wait and the price of the new product, and many seem to believe that Roku have slightly underdelivered on this particular release. It remains to be seen how well the model is going to fare on the market, but so far people are predicting that it’s not going to be the most successful release in the line yet.
It costs $130, and it comes with 4K streaming support out of the box, as well as various extra features that people wanted to see in the Roku 3 when it originally came out. At the same time, the Amazon Fire TV costs just $100 and still comes with various great features, and according to many, Roku are going to have to put more effort into their work if they want to keep up with the competition.
The content offered by Roku is still top notch, according to reviewers, and the device can give users access to thousands of channels to pick from, more than enough for anyone to find their right kind of entertainment. And with regards to the comparison with other devices, like the Amazon Fire TV, some keep pointing out the fact that the Roku 4 has 4K support which is a pretty unique feature in itself. At the same time, it’s probably not something that will sway customers too easily if that’s the only thing that Roku are aiming to use as their primary selling point for the device.
Some are claiming that 4K is actually the future and Roku are making a very smart move by investing in the technology from so early on, but on the other hand it’s hard to predict how things are going to go in a few months/years, and it’s also expected that other companies are going to come out with their own similar offers once the technology becomes more prominent.
For now, the biggest issue with 4K content is its availability – even though the Roku 4 supports streaming videos at that resolution, not every service on the market streams videos of this kind, and even then not all media available in the various services supports 4K itself. With that in mind, the device might be a bit too early to the party, and its main selling feature could be ahead of its time.
It would be ironic to see 4K becoming a main selling point in a year or so, after the Roku 4 has fallen out of view, but it certainly wouldn’t be the first time a tech company has released something that people seemingly don’t care about, only for that same feature to become one of the most important details on the market later on.
Other than that, the Roku 4 has various features that make it a balanced, all-around good offer on the market of today, and it should leave a nice impression on most people interested in a good streaming device. Its software has improved significantly, among other things, and the device is now much more stable and intuitive to use, especially for users who aren’t that savvy with gadgets in the first place.