![]() ![]() A lack of exactitude would result in your click doing nothing. Previous Roku Express remotes required you to aim the remote at the Roku Express. ![]() If you love to input text via speech, you'll also note that Roku Express remote has no speech button, which the Chromecast HD and Fire TV Stick Lite remotes both offer. The HD Chromecast and the Fire TV Stick Lite both have remotes that don't have this problem, and both feel exactly like the remotes in their more-expensive siblings. I'm also no fan of the Roku Express (2022) remote in general, as it's got a cheaper feel, with stiff buttons. Roku Express (2022) review: Audio and video But that extra $20 can give you a month of ad-free HBO Max and Apple TV Plus, so I can understand if you'd rather get the $29 streamer. That said, the $49 Roku Streaming Stick 4K, our pick for the best streaming device overall, is faster throughout. These pauses and lags are similar enough to those in the Chromecast and Fire Stick. Nothing horrendous, but still a moment where I'd probably be checking my phone as I waited. Navigating the Roku OS menus, I noticed a slight pause with load times for sections such as The Buzz and Featured Free. Those times are far shorter than it took the Chromecast with Google TV HD (20 seconds for Epix, 51 seconds for Paramount Plus, 33 seconds for Criterion) and Fire TV Stick Lite (10 seconds for Epix, 49 seconds for Paramount Plus, 28 seconds for Criterion Channel). The Roku Express (2022) took only 5-6 seconds each to download the Epix, Paramount Plus and Criterion Channel apps. I saw better performance, though, in app download times. The one asterisk on Roku's report card came when booting Apple TV Plus, which took 14 seconds, while that app took about half as long to load on the Chromecast and Fire Stick. Netflix loaded in a second less time than on the HD Chromecast or the Fire TV Stick Lite, HBO Max loaded in 8 seconds (beating the 21 seconds from the Chromecast HD and the 10 from the Fire Stick Lite) and Sling TV took 10 seconds to load - half of the 20 seconds that the other two devices needed. Roku says it upgraded the Express' internal storage for faster load times, and most of my testing shows that they succeeded. One night while I was testing, the Roku servers seemed to have some problem serving content to their menus for the sections such as What to watch, but the apps still worked. I didn't see any hiccups, either, at least after that one time Paramount Plus froze during the middle of Scream 2. Its dual-band Wi-Fi modem (upgraded over 2019's single-band 802.11b/g/n connection) seems to be working well, as movies and shows loaded in HD pretty quickly after a second or two of pixely quality. The Roku Express (2022)'s upgrades are in the performance section, so I was curious how the little streamer that could would improve streams. On Roku? I've got to click on his face to see them. It's a minor amount of friction, but when I search Jordan Peele on Chromecast with Google TV, the director's films immediately show up. Looking by name, like I did for David Arquette? You get annoyed that Roku doesn't just show that actor's results such as the Scream movies. So, to search, you will do a lot of typing with your remote, or on the Roku mobile app. When you want to search, you're doing so without a voice-enabled remote (which the Fire TV Stick Lite and Chromecast with Google TV both have). There's a fall theme that currently comes pre-loaded on Roku, and it matches the latest edition of the Roku City screensaver. Unlike on Fire TV or Chromecast with Google TV, you have nearly complete control over these screens. On the main home screen, you have a grid of app icons in the middle, a menu of options on the left and an ad on the right. You know the Roku Express (2022) interface, because Roku has - thankfully - kept things simple since day 1. I'd rather just be at the home screen already. Oh, and when you do power on, you get to watch the bouncing animated Roku logo. I get that Roku (like Apple before it) can say it does not include a power adapter out of a want to reduce waste and you may already have an extra power adapter. Some TVs may have a setting to keep USB power on at all times, but my TV does not have such an option. That meant I couldn't use the Roku remote to boot up the system, and I needed the TV remote to do that. When I did the latter (plugging it into a USB port in the back of my relatively recently acquired LG OLED TV), I found that the Roku Express (2022) was always off unless my TV was on. ![]()
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