Today Roku announced the new Roku Stick 3600 that is eight times more powerful than today’s Roku Stick that was released in 2014. That will make the new Roku Stick more powerful than a Fire Stick or Chromecast.

The Device

The new, sleek, black Roku Stick is smaller than the old purple Roku Stick. The remote will have quick buttons for Sling TV, Netflix, Amazon Video, and Google Play unless you buy it from Walmart, then a Vudu quick button will replace the Google Play button.

Performance

The old Roku Stick was known for a fairly long start up time whenever you turned on the TV. The new Roku Stick has a noticeable improvement in load times both starting up and when launching channels. The quad-core processor brings a noticeable improvement over the older Roku that will make many current Roku Stick owners want to upgrade to the new Roku Stick.

There will also be an update to the Roku OS to improve the Roku Feed, and it will include other performance upgrades. There will also be an update to the Roku app on iOS and Android to bring new features and performance upgrades.

New Features

Private listening comes to the new Roku Stick through the new Roku App. If you have a new Roku Stick, you will be able to use your phone to connect a Bluetooth headset or use the headset jack on your phone.

Availability

Pre-orders start today on Roku.com and Amazon and delivery should happen by the end of April 2016.

Overall

The new Roku Stick is faster and more powerful than anything on the market today, and it should be a must-own for any Roku fan. Now you can get the performance of a set-top box with the convenience and portability of a stick.

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