The Roku 3 had a good reputation as a streaming player, and its updated version served to add even more to that, leading to some critics calling it the best streaming player on the market at the moment. And many are additionally convinced that it’s going to retain that title for a long time, at least until the Roku 4 is released around the end of the year.
Critics have been comparing the device with various solutions from competitors, including the Apple TV, and even though Apple’s product is also quite feature rich and reliable, most critics seem to rule in favor of the Roku 3 when drawing comparisons between the two devices. Google have also been trying to get a foot in this market, as have Amazon, but for the most part the Roku 3 has been dominating.
The Roku 4 should have been released already, on the other hand, and the company seems to be experiencing some delays with the production of the device. We don’t know all the details about its features officially yet, but it’s supposed to have 4K picture support, as well as various other features that are going to make it a total cutting-edge device and the best in its market once it’s released.
Of course, most of what we know about it are rumors so far, so we would take all of that information with a grain of salt until more is revealed officially. Roku themselves have been keeping quiet about the Roku 4 lately, and some have been claiming that this is due to issues they’ve been experiencing with the production of the device, though we haven’t been able to confirm that so far.
What did the Roku 3’s updated version add, in the meantime? The device now supports voice searching, a slight hardware upgrade, and tweaks on the software side. Many critics have been praising the quality of the voice search function, claiming that it not only works, but it actually works seriously well. The user just has to press a button on the remote, speak the name of something they want to watch, and they’ll be taken to a screen that lists all currently available options for watching that content.
From there, it’s just one click to start streaming, and everything has apparently been made really easy and optimized for quick access. Roku seem to have done a great job making the device more intuitive to users who are not that tech-savvy, and we can expect it to make its way into the mainstream even more rapidly now. People have certainly started to accept streaming players as a normal part of their households in some areas, but the situation can get even better.