Roku announced, on Wednesday, that it’s new streaming player lineup will now debut a ‘private listening’ feature by connecting with the remote control’s built-in headphone jack. Roku made the announcement while launching Roku 1 in the UK and Roku 2, Roku 3 in US, UK, Ireland and Canada.
The first device ‘Roku 1’ – the cheapest among all – will not have the ‘private listening’ feature and built-in games offering unlike its other higher-priced siblings. Roku has said that the £59 streaming device will boasts of HD 1080p video quality and has been made purely for people who like watching Netflix and TV shows.
Both Roku 2 and Roku 3 – priced at £79.99 and £99.99 respectively, are much more feature rich and come with dual-band wireless and new remote control which will feature a headphone jack for private listening. Roku is the first company to introduce private listening feature which allows users to listen to the TV using the remote control.
Thanks to the remote’s built-in Wi-Fi feature that users don’t need to point the zapper at the Roku box to make it work. The remote can also be used as a motion controller for playing motion games like Angry Birds.
The Roku 3 comes with a built-in Ethernet and USB ports and will replace the Roku XS device available in the UK. Designs of all three models have been revamped. Users can preorder Roku 1 and Roku 2 from the company’s official website.
