Roku OS10 Solves 1 of the most annoying streaming headaches

Roku OS10 Solves 1 of the most annoying streaming headaches

Roku streaming devices make up two of the top five on the Best Streaming Devices list.

Roku OS 10 offers Instant Resume functionality, extensive support for Apple Airplay 2 and HomeKit, smarter Wi-Fi connectivity, and more. It is already on the Roku Streaming Stick Plus and others, and will be on all Roku devices in the coming weeks, including the new Roku Express 4K+ and Roku Streambar Pro. Here's everything you get.

One of my favorite new features in Roku OS 10 is Instant Resume, which lets you jump back to whatever you were watching as soon as you launch a channel.

It's not a groundbreaking feature by any means, but you only know how good it is when you use it, and it is truly a quality of life upgrade. Just click on the channel you want to watch, and you can watch the show you stopped in the middle of the previous night again. [AT&T TV, FilmRise, FOX Business Network, FOX News Channel, Fubo Sports Network, HappyKids TV, Plex.tv, STARZ, The Roku Channel, etc. [However, Roku has stated that more services are planned to be offered.

Apple AirPlay 2 makes it easy to stream and control streaming boxes and TVs directly from Apple iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices, but Roku's support is currently limited.

Previously, the only Roku players that supported Airplay 2 were Roku Streambar, Roku Premiere, Roku Streaming Stick Plus, and some 4K Roku TVs, but the OS 10 update changes all that.

Airplay2 support will also be rolled out to other devices, including HD Roku streamers such as the Roku Express and some HD Roku TV models; Roku has not confirmed which models will not get the update, but it "most" will get it this year It states that "most" will get it this year.

The same device will also work with Apple's HomeKit, so "Siri, turn it up" will be for all Roku owners, not just a handful.

Auto-detection of networks is another seemingly trivial new feature, but actually very useful.

Anyone with a router capable of outputting standard 2.4GHz and faster 5GHz Wi-Fi speeds already knows how annoying it can be when a device stubbornly chooses the slower connection.

Roku devices now recommend the best wireless network during setup. Then, when a better network connection becomes available, it will prompt you to connect to that network instead, reducing the possibility of buffering and improving your experience.

The Live TV channel guide is targeted at U.S. users and offers more customization options, including the ability to hide or favorite individual channels. Users can also easily toggle between "Favorites," "Recently Visited Channels," and "All Channels" views.

Roku introduced the new Streambar Pro soundbar, which works with both it and the older Roku Smart Soundbar with new virtual surround capabilities.

This creates "spacious sound that moves around the room," which sounds great in theory, but needs to be heard before it can be judged in practice. In any case, this feature is included in Roku OS 10 and is accessible from the audio menu of the Roku device.

This is for Roku TV users, but given that it is the most used smart TV OS in North America and that one in three smart TVs sold in the US has Roku OS 10, many people are using Roku OS 10.

Gamers using Roku TVs will experience automatic console detection as soon as they connect to a supported gaming console, enabling additional settings such as low-latency game mode, etc. According to Roku, the exact features available vary by TV model, but include HDR, high frame rate, and THX Certified Game Mode settings may be included.

It has not yet been announced which game consoles will be supported, but is expected to include next-generation consoles such as the PS5 and Xbox Series X.

There is more.

And there's more: Roku OS 10 will also improve voice-activated visual search, with a partial overlay over the program you are watching. There is also voice input to a more versatile on-screen keyboard and support for HDR10+ on Roku Ultra, Express 4K, and Express 4K Plus devices.

These new features will be coming to Roku devices in the very near future.

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