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Roku's New Remotes Feature an Apple TV+ Button

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MacRumors

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Apr 12, 2001
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Roku today introduced a new Express 4K+ streaming player and rechargeable Voice Remote Pro with some useful features for Apple users.

roku-remote-apple-tv-button.jpg

Priced at $39.99 in the United States, the new Roku Express 4K+ provides 4K streaming at an affordable price. The streaming player supports AirPlay 2 for wirelessly streaming audio and video from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, while HomeKit support allows users to control the streaming player with Siri or the Home app on their Apple devices.

Meanwhile, Roku's new Voice Remote Pro features an Apple TV+ button for easy access to the Apple TV app, as noted by The Verge. Priced at $29.99, the remote also features a rechargeable battery via micro-USB, hands-free or push-to-talk "Hey Roku" voice control, a lost remote finder feature, and a headphone jack.

Roku has also added the Apple TV+ button to its new standard remotes, alongside Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ buttons.

With its new Roku OS 10 software release that is now rolling out, Roku is also expanding AirPlay 2 and HomeKit to select HD Roku streaming players and TVs. These features were limited to Roku's 4K devices until now.

Article Link: Roku's New Remotes Feature an Apple TV+ Button
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/04/13/roku-remote-apple-tv-plus-button/
Last edited:
C

Chozes

macrumors member
Oct 27, 2016
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alexandr said:
damn that thing is ugly!
Click to expand...
Its a good feeling remote. Roku are much more streamlined than the fire Stick with their experience. Also better at frame rate matching.

Hopefully they upgraded the wireless and added Dolby Vision. Firestick wins out due to more powerful hardware but the Roku is due an update.

edit: Looks like new one is Airplay compatible!
 
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mazz0

mazz0

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Mar 23, 2011
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No Amazon Prime? Surely that's more popular than Apple TV+? Is there a disagreement between Roku and Amazon or something?

Personally I'd rather not have buttons for deducted apps on my remote. It'd annoy me that I can't change them and that there isn't one for everything (not because I want lots, but because I want consistency).

Also, why a *back* button (top left)? Back is such a pointless interaction, *up* is the useful interaction. I've never understood the obsession some companies have with back.
 
Jay42

Jay42

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Jul 14, 2005
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mazz0 said:
No Amazon Prime? Surely that's more popular than Apple TV+? Is there a disagreement between Roku and Amazon or something?

Personally I'd rather not have buttons for deducted apps on my remote. It'd annoy me that I can't change them and that there isn't one for everything (not because I want lots, but because I want consistency).
Click to expand...
Roku makes all it's money through advertising and basically sells devices close to at-cost. It's all pay for play.
 
adrianlondon

adrianlondon

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Nov 28, 2013
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In the UK, the Roku Express HD costs £30 (the 4K version will be £40).

For someone like me who only wants to airplay my phone/laptop to my telly, this is much cheaper than buying an Apple TV.
 
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SirAnthonyHopkins

SirAnthonyHopkins

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adrianlondon said:
In the UK, the Roku Express HD costs £30 (the 4K version will be £40).

For someone like me who only wants to airplay my phone/laptop to my telly, this is much cheaper than buying an Apple TV.
Click to expand...

Have heard mixed reports about how good the AirPlay is. Certainly when I've used the AirPlay functionality built into some Samsung TVs it's been less than ideal. Not sure if the Roku's superior processing power would help to iron out those issues.

If it's 100% functional like the Apple TV is, I might consider it for the second telly in the bedroom instead of upgrading the Apple TV. It's even more important that AirPlay works perfectly because while my Apple TV can play files stored on my NAS drive directly, the Roku can't, so I'd want to AirPlay from my phone or iPad to the Roku.
 
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Maconplasma

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Sep 15, 2020
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I have the Roku Ultra (top of the line) from last year. It already has Apple Airplay. Other than Apple TV having the exclusive feature of playing Apple Music and having Gigabit Ethernet there's not much reason to buy the Apple TV over the Roku Ultra especially when my machine has an SD card slot which I easily upgraded the storage to 64GB and it was still under $100. Nearly half price of the Apple TV and a more functional remote on Roku.
 
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SirAnthonyHopkins

SirAnthonyHopkins

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Sep 29, 2020
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mazz0 said:
No Amazon Prime? Surely that's more popular than Apple TV+? Is there a disagreement between Roku and Amazon or something?
Click to expand...

Nope, just that Apple will have paid more to have this their in order to push their service. Amazon obviously feels it doesn't need or want to. The Prime business model is different to every other streaming service because it's still a value-add to their e-commerce business so they don't push and promote it in quite the same way.
 
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