Roku Jumps from Streaming Box to Webpage with the Roku Channel

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Roku is a company that has defied all conventional wisdom to become a household brand. They’re in the streaming business and up against Apple, Amazon, and cable companies, yet they just keep ticking away gathering more and more loyal users. Now they’re making a jump from hardware to software by expanding their Roku Channel and bringing it to computers and tablets in the USA.

The Roku Channel is Roku’s way of aggregating free content into one user-friendly access point. You can find movies, news, television shows, etc without having to jump in and out of several channels on a Roku device. They’re now expanding access to that aggregate content so you can stream it on the web, allowing you to finally catch up on the Matrix Trilogy during your commute (assuming you use mass transit — Roku and Gear Diary do not recommend enjoying The Roku Channel while driving.)

I did a very brief skim of Roku Channel on my iPhone 8+, and it was really easy and very fast. Videos loaded quickly and once in full screen you couldn’t tell it was being run via browser. Obviously, a television is going to be a better experience, but if you have WiFi or a high data plan this could work well in a pinch.

If you’re enjoying your actual Roku, they are rolling out “Featured Free” and other similar user interface improvements to make it even more user-friendly of an experience. It’s basically a way to be more content-forward and compete better against Fire TV and other streaming services that put content from multiple channels in one place for you. This is rolling out over time, so you may not see it immediately, but it is definitely an improvement over jumping from channel to channel!

Roku has a lot of value just as a streaming box, but adding The Roku Channel and making it a valuable way to find new content makes Roku even better. Be sure to check it out!

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About the Author

Zek
Zek has been a gadget fiend for a long time, going back to their first PDA (a Palm M100). They quickly went from researching what PDA to buy to following tech news closely and keeping up with the latest and greatest stuff. They love writing about ebooks because they combine their two favorite activities; reading anything and everything, and talking about fun new tech toys. What could be better?