Although the menus look clear, and the main For You tab is fine, it is more cluttered than the "Stick to basics" approach Roku takes, with no quick way to see a grid of all your installed apps. The Chromecast with Google TV makes nice progress compared with both earlier Android TV devices and Google's prior Chromecasts, which lacked any navigation at all. The app store, found in the left-hand section labeled Streaming Channels, is just as quick and easy to navigate as the main menu. There are no big recommendation tabs of what to watch, or posters of shows or movies cluttering the tiles (though there are some ads on the right side when scrolling through the grid). ![]() Responses on the Streaming Stick 4K are superquick, and within seconds I could be using a service like Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu or Sling TV. A colorful array of app tiles appear in a grid that you can arrange to taste. Roku's interface is as easy to use as it gets. You're receiving price alerts for Chromecast with Google TV (Snow) Best menu system: Roku Streaming Stick 4K With that out of the way, let's take a closer look at the challengers. Read more: Black Friday Roku deals start early: Get the best streamers starting at $29 In other words, between the two Rokus, my recommendation is to get whichever one is cheaper at the time. If that's the case, unless you really want Ethernet support (through a secondary dongle), get the Streaming Stick 4K instead. Depending on when you read this, the Streaming Stick 4K and the Express 4K Plus might cost the same or the Stick might actually be cheaper. ![]() Normally I would tell you to save the money and go with the Express 4K Plus, but holiday pricing in 2021 for streamers is more aggressive than ever. To my mind, paying $10 more for the Stick isn't worth it. While it lacks Dolby Vision and isn't a stick design, the Express 4K Plus is usually $10 cheaper than the Roku Streaming Stick 4K or Chromecast with Google TV. Longtime CNET readers know that our top pick for streaming devices in general is the $40 Roku Express 4K Plus. To see how they stack up against one another I'll take a look at a few key areas: interface, features and remote. In our book, the Roku and Chromecast outshine competitors like the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max and Apple TV 4K in functionality, ease of use and value for the money, which is why we're focusing on those first two here. Both devices are affordable, especially during holiday sales, and both deliver most of the major apps you'll want to stream in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision and high dynamic range (HDR). Over the past few years CNET has reviewed nearly all of the major streaming devices, and two of our favorites for 2021 are the Roku Streaming Stick 4K and the Chromecast with Google TV. One category of gadgets that remains a popular option is streaming sticks, the small, inexpensive dongles that bring TV shows and movies from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, HBO Max and Hulu to any TV. While software tricks may help reduce the number of low storage error messages, there’s really no substitute for just having more space.As the holiday shopping season gets underway, everybody is starting to look for deals on gifts. However, as people need more and more apps to keep up with the growing number of streaming services, it may be time for hardware manufacturers (including Google) to consider upgrading the amount of storage that comes with Google TV devices. If that’s the plan, it makes sense that it’s trying to improve on the basics now. With recent reports about Google looking to integrate wearables and free channels into Google TV, it seems like the company could be getting ready to push users toward its big screen experience. It also says there’s an “automated process that runs in the background” to free up space for apps. Google says it’s added a menu in Settings > System > Storage that’ll let you free up space by clearing the device’s cache and uninstalling apps, which has rolled out to the Chromecast and will be coming soon to smart TVs. The company’s also responding to complaints that have cropped up about how storage limitations can make it difficult to install apps for Google TV, especially on devices like the Chromecast, which only really has 5GB of usable space, according to Android Police. ![]() Some of these improvements, according to the company, are thanks to the fact that Google TV itself uses less RAM, leaving more for apps, especially when you’re switching between different screens. It’s faster to get to the homescreen and more responsive when you doĪccording to the post, users should be seeing faster performance in several areas - when loading the Live tab, scrolling through the homescreen, or using a kid profile.
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