At its big product launch for 2025, Roku announcd a bevy of new products as it looks to strengthen its claim on the worldwide streaming market.
Trusted Reviews is at Roku’s New York event to have a look at its latest line-up of streaming products as it looks to double down on streaming access by providing a simpler and better experience.
What’s new?
So far, we’ve not had in-depth details of the new products, but the cliff notes are updates for the Roku Experience interface, two new streaming players, more Roku-made TVs, a bigger push into smart home and perhaps the most interesting tidbit of the event – a Roku TV smart projector.
Starting with the Roku Experience, the new updates are designed to make “streaming smoother and more personalized” with improvements to content discovery via a ‘Coming Soon to Theaters’ row and sports highlights that are personalised to your habits.
Roku has put effort into making the interface easier to use, and it’s added ‘thumbs up/thumbs down’ options to help streamline the recommendations served to you.
US customers will be able to enjoy the latest Roku-made TVs with new features such as Roku Smart Picture Max, which can automatically adjust the picture settings on a scene-by-scene basis with the latest Roku Plus Series. It can do this without you having to fiddle with the settings to get the best picture.
Plenty of new TVs and streamers
The Roku Plus QLED series also gets Mini LED backlighting to offer better contrast, deeper blacks and a wider colour range at the same ‘affordable’ prices as before.
The Roku Plus Series will also now feature mini-LED backlighting, powered by Roku’s advanced software, to upgrade the picture quality at the same affordable price. With mini-LED technology enhanced by QLED, the Roku Plus Series will feature better dynamic contrast, deeper blacks, and a wider color range.
New streaming players include new versions of the Roku Streaming Stick and Roku Streaming Stick Plus, which Roku says are 35% smaller than other brands in terms of size without compromising on performance or speed.
Updates for the UK, too
The UK line-up is being refreshed after a few years where we’ve not seen many (or any) new Roku streamers, with the Streaming Stick (£29.99) and Stick Plus (£39.99) coming to the UK.
They will be replacing the Roku Express and Express 4K at the same prices. They’ll be available to buy in the UK from June 2025 onwards.
Smart home tech incoming
Roku is also boosting its ‘Smart Home’ products with deeper connectivity, with the Roku Battery Camera and Roku Battery Camera Plus designed for outdoor and indoor spaces. They’re similar to Amazon’s Ring devices as a comparison.
Last but not least, Roku is expanding its TV program to projectors with its Roku TV Smart Projector that has what it describes as a reference design, and which will be available to all Roku TV partners. Details are slight at the moment, but expect to hear more about it “soon”.
Considering Roku’s pedigree, there’s plenty of promise that these products could end up on out list of the best streaming players. We’ll be looking forward to seeing them up close once we get a chance.
