New Roku Streaming Stick with Private Mobile Listening

The new Roku Streaming Stick is still a pocket-sized device that looks like an overgrown USB flash drive with an HDMI port. What’s new is that you can now enjoy private listening through the Roku Mobile App on iOS or Android. One of my favorite things about the Roku 3 was the ability to listen to my shows through headphones on the included remote, but the new stick takes it one step further and lets me listen through my phone (or tablet) instead. That’s very handy when you’ve got a sleeping baby in the other room and you don’t want her to hear the epic battles of Westeros.

The hotel-friendly connection features of Roku OS 7 carry through with the new Roku OS 7.1, connectivity is bolstered with dual-band MIMO wireless, and you still get access to all those Roku channels you already love. Except HBO Go. I still can’t get that in Canada for some reason and so I’ll have to find another way to find out what happens to Jon Snow. At least I can Netflix my way to Orange is the New Black and Paw Patrol.

The new Roku Streaming Stick ships later this month for $59.99 in Canada to all your favorite retailers. Press release and image gallery below.

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New Roku Streaming Stick Combines More Power and Portability in Sleek New Form Factor

Only Pocket-Sized Streamer to Feature Quad-Core Processor and Private Listening with Headphones via Mobile Device

LOS GATOS, California April. 5th, 2016 Roku Inc. today announced the new Roku Streaming Stick designed for streamers who are looking for the ultimate in power and convenience in a sleek, pocket-sized form. Priced at just CDN $59.99, the latest model of the popular device has been developed with a focus on performance and features a quad-core processor giving it more processing power than any other pocket-sized stick in the industry. The new Roku Streaming Stick has 8X more processing power than its predecessor to get consumers to their favorite entertainment fast with smooth and responsive navigation. Its also the first Roku device to offer private listening through the Roku Mobile App.

The Roku Streaming Stick is one of our most popular models. Consumers appreciate having access to the complete Roku streaming experience in a portable, low-cost device, said Sharad Sundaresan, SVP product management for Roku. The new Roku Streaming Stick takes our popular experience to the next level with a significant upgrade in power and performance, as well as features that are specifically designed to get people to the entertainment they want to watch quickly and easily whether theyre at home or on the go.

The New Roku Streaming Stick: Powerful and Portable
Only pocket-sized streamer with a quad-core processor; more processing power than Amazon Fire TV stick and Google Chromecast
Private listening via a mobile phone or tablet using the Roku Mobile App for iOS and Android devices
Dual-band MIMO wireless for great connectivity
Included remote for easy navigation and control
Small, sleek design makes it simple to move between TVs in the home or use while traveling
Cast video from Netflix and YouTube mobile apps directly to the TV
Control with Roku Mobile App for iOS and Android – play personal video, photos and music on TV using the Play On Roku feature
Hotel and Dorm Connect for easy connection to wireless networks away from home

The new Roku Streaming Stick runs Roku OS 7.1, the latest version of the companys operating system, also announced today. Roku OS 7.1 enhances the search and discovery experience by adding new categories within Roku Feed that enable customers to view popular TV Shows and Movies in one place. Similar to the existing Movies Coming Soon feature, consumers can now easily view these new categories to discover popular movies and TV shows across a variety of streaming channels on the Roku platform. They can then choose to watch a popular movie or TV show immediately, or Follow it in the Roku Feed to receive automatic updates when the availability or price changes, or the movie or TV show becomes available to watch for free.

Additionally, a feature available exclusively for the new Roku Streaming Stick enables consumers to use the Roku Mobile App for iOS and Android on their phone or tablet to listen through wired or wireless headphones. The Roku Mobile App offers a companion experience and can act as a remote control, enable voice search or provide an on-screen keyboard. Consumers can use the Play On Roku feature within the app to stream their personal videos, music and photos to the TV using the Roku Streaming Stick.

A Complete Streaming Entertainment Experience
The new Roku Streaming Stick provides consumers with the complete experience of the Roku streaming platform in a small device. Consumers in the US have access to more than 2,000 streaming channels, including 100,000 available movies and TV episodes. Unlike its competitors, Roku offers a comprehensive and unbiased universal search feature that looks across top streaming channels to return search results. In addition, the Roku Feed is a first-of-its-kind discovery feature that lets consumers know when favorite entertainment, such as movies and TV shows, becomes available for streaming and at what price.

Ultimate Portability
The new Roku Streaming Stick is smaller than the previous version and has a compact, sleek design that makes it the ideal streamer for virtually any HDMI enabled TV including wall-mounted flat screen TVs. Whether they want to move it between multiple TVs in the home, take it with them to a friends house, or pack big entertainment into their vacation; the Roku Streaming Stick makes it easy for consumers to stream wherever they go.

The new Roku Streaming Stick also includes the Hotel and Dorm Connect feature to make it easy for consumers to connect to wireless networks that require sign-in through a web browser like those commonly found in hotel rooms, college dorms and other public locations. Consumers simply connect their Roku device to the password-protected network, sign-in with their login credentials using the browser on their mobile phone, tablet or laptop, and theyre ready to start streaming.

Availability
The new Roku Streaming Stick will be available later this month from Best Buy, London Drugs, Staples, Walmart, Amazon.ca, Shop.ca and others for an MSRP of CDN $59.99.

Roku OS 7.1 is available on the new Roku Streaming Stick. It will be rolled out to all other current-generation Roku players through a software update that is expected to be completed this month. The update is expected to be rolled out to Roku TV models shortly after. The latest version of the Roku Mobile App for iOS and Android is available for download today.

In addition to introducing new features for consumers, Roku OS 7.1 includes a number of platform updates and new software development kit (SDK) tools for Roku developers. Information for developers can be found on the Roku Developer Blog.

About Roku OS
At the heart of the Roku streaming platform is the Roku OS, a powerful operating system purpose-built for the TV screen rather than being adapted from an existing mobile OS. Designed to run on affordable streaming players and smart TVs, the Roku OS gives consumers a superior entertainment experience while enabling channel developers to effectively grow and monetize their audiences through advanced development, billing, and advertising tools. Using the Roku SDK, content providers can quickly develop custom streaming channels and deliver content to millions of devices worldwide. Roku Billing offers seamless, one-click subscription to certain Roku channels, streamlining users’ access to content, while accelerating developers user acquisition efforts. Roku’s Ad Framework enables advertisers to reach Rokus large audience of TV streamers with sophisticated advertising tools, while helping developers bring more, free, ad-supported content to Roku users.

About Roku, Inc.
Roku is the creator of a popular streaming platform for delivering entertainment to the TV. Roku streaming players and the Roku Streaming Stick are made by Roku and sold through major retailers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., the Republic of Ireland, France and Mexico. Roku licenses a reference design and operating system to TV manufacturers to create co-branded Roku TV models. Under the Roku Powered program, Roku licenses its streaming platform to Pay TV providers around the world who want to use the Internet to deliver entertainment services through streaming players. Roku was founded by Anthony Wood, inventor of the DVR. Roku is privately held and headquartered in Los Gatos, Calif., U.S.

Roku and Streaming Stick are registered trademarks and Roku TV and Roku Powered are trademarks of Roku, Inc. in the U.S. and in other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners in the United States and/or other countries.

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