Roku announced new Express and Ultra streaming boxes

It’s almost the holiday season, so expect to see plenty of product refreshes and enhancements from big tech companies over the next month or two. 

Streaming giant Roku stepped up to the plate on Thursday, announcing new versions of two of its set-top boxes as well as a slew of OS enhancements.

First up is the new Roku Express. The entry-level streaming box retains its $30 price tag, but gets a slight makeover. Its new form factor is 10 percent smaller and a little more conspicuous; Roku showed me one in person and it should definitely blend in with most entertainment centers.

Since it’s the entry-level option, it only streams up to 1080p and doesn’t have an ethernet port. That said, unlike some other streaming boxes with more horsepower, it can be fully powered by your TV via USB. There’s no need to use up a precious power outlet for the new Roku Express, but it comes with a power adapter just in case.

The other hardware news out of Roku this week is a new version of its high-end Roku Ultra streaming box. It’s $100 and comes with all the bells and whistles you’d expect: 4K resolution, HDR display, an ethernet port, a voice remote, and more. The big new addition is a better processor that will allow channels to launch faster.

It’s not revolutionary, but in the quick demo Roku gave me, zooming around the interface and launching channels looked pretty smooth. That’s not true of every streaming device, so it’s certainly welcome. Both the new Roku Express and Roku Ultra are available for preorder as of Thursday, with the Express launching at the end of the month and the Ultra launching a bit later in October.

Aside from that, the Ultra comes with a new remote that has two new buttons on it. Labeled “1” and  “2,” these are programmable shortcuts that can do anything from launch apps that don’t already have dedicated shortcut buttons to turn subtitles on and off. That seems like a nifty little addition.

For existing Roku owners, Roku OS will get its version 9.2 software update “in the coming weeks.” This will add features like “Zones,” a new way of categorizing content. For instance, do a voice search for “superheroes” and one of the results will be a dedicated “zone” for superhero films. The update will also add a specialized 4K section for those of you who want to show off their 4K TVs.

It will also bring a handful of quality of life changes, like the ability to voice search by movie quotes. That’s right, you can say a famous quote into the remote and Roku can tell you how to watch the movie it’s from. Last but not least, it’s adding a sleep timer that you can set with your voice.

Nothing Roku announced this week is especially mind-blowing, but that tends to be the case with product refreshes. The interface and voice search enhancements should make things a bit easier for people who like streaming, at least. Needless to say, Roku OS 9.2 will also work with the company’s upcoming soundbar, which might be the most interesting thing Roku does in 2019.