The Roku Ultra is a smaller, fanless version of 2015’s Roku 4, which launched the company’s move into 4K. On top is a remote finder button, which you can press to make the Roku remote emit a sound for easier recovery from the couch cushions or wherever it’s hiding. This simple convenience is exclusive to the top-tier streaming box this year, which seems a little silly. Where the Roku “Ultra” truly earns its name is in ports: you’ve got Ethernet, optical audio, microSD, USB, and power inputs. The USB and optical audio ports are exclusive to the Ultra, and both are fairly valuable to home theater nerds. The step-down Roku Premiere+ lets you slot in a microSD card and play your own movies, music, and images with third-party apps like Plex. Here, the USB port expands that potential substantially. Plug in a drive with a vault of your own downloaded or ripped media, and you won’t need to worry about Wi-Fi speeds or buffering.
Roku is still all about apps, apps, apps
The Chromecast Ultra goes the opposite way and is a slightly larger and thicker update to last year’s redesign. A glossy (look at those scratches!) black puck containing the device’s processor and other guts hangs down from the HDMI connector; the two attach magnetically when unplugged for easy storage. This take on the HDMI dongle is far more convenient to plug into your TV than the original, unforgiving plastic stick.
What’s less convenient is the enormous (relative to the Chromecast’s size) power supply. It’s a big, honking thing that’s mandatory to use if you want to stream 4K content. Previous Chromecasts could be powered entirely with a cable plugged into a USB port on your TV, making the device all but disappear behind your set. That’s still partially the case this time, but the Ultra automatically limits you to 1080p streaming if you’re plugging in anything besides the bundled power supply. You’ll need to find yet another free outlet near the TV if you want 4K, which is the whole point of this thing. The power cable is a little short, too, but it does offer one nice perk: a built-in Ethernet jack. If your Wi-Fi is the worst and can’t reliably stream 4K video, you can go the wired route instead.
It’s when you turn these devices on that the user experience starts to wildly splinter. Roku’s dead simple interface has gradually picked up some new features over the years, but it’s still the same purple-heavy layout you’ve likely seen before. Most people will rarely go beyond the list of apps on the home screen once they’ve downloaded popular channels like Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, YouTube, and Vudu. And there are a lot of channels to pick from. Some are less intuitive and less polished than others, but Roku’s platform is all about quantity and choice. Unfortunately, the OS still lacks any sort of single sign-on feature for TV apps, so you’ll need to enter your cable credentials inside every app (HBO Go, WatchESPN, etc.) that requires them.