Roku Streaming Device vs Mi TV Stick: Which One to Buy?

Roku device are some of the well-established products in the budget streaming devices in the market. Xiaomi is very well known for being the underdog in the electronics sector. Roku devices are loved for their value-for-money aspects, and that is exactly what Xiaomi is planning to target. In this article, we will compare the top guns of both the company in the budget streaming device sector. Since Xiaomi has launched a new MI TV Stick, let us compare Roku vs Mi TV Stick.

Now, before we start comparing them we must explain to you why we chose these two products. These two products fall under the same price range and clash on some specifications too. In this article to compare we are gonna compare and contrast them on a few standards. And in the end, we will give a final verdict on which one would we suggest to you in this comparison of Roku vs MI TV stick.

Comparing the Features of Roku vs MI TV Stick

In the following section, we have compared various aspects of Mi TV Stick and Roku streaming device.

Streaming Quality and Specification

If we are to compare two streaming devices perhaps the best thing to compare will be their streaming capability. In this section, we are going to do just that.

First, we will begin with Roku express. This device only offers HD streaming and has no 4K streaming prowess. Although, this may sound bad for the price it entertains, 1080p is actually a good deal. There is no visual lag or jitteriness in the streaming quality. Keeping these facts aside you can watch live TV and have an endless amount of content to browse from. Roku boasts with some of the largest free channels availability. Also, it has tie-ups with many major streaming platforms like Netflix, Apple TV, AMC+ and so much more. So chances are that whatever you want to watch on the device, you will most probably get it.

Now we come to Mi TV stick. The Mi stick does have one pro up its sleeves compared to Roku. Roku does provide 1080p video quality but to achieve that they upscale a 720p video. But on the Mi TV stick, the video quality runs at native 1080p quality. But it falls short because the users have complained of a lagging and buffering experience.

In this standard, the Roku device advances as the Mi TV stick shows the issue of lag compared to Roku. Yes, we do agree that Xiaomi has a better processor and 8GB of storage but it in terms of streaming quality they don’t seem to help.

Remote Comparison

Now we will talk about one of the most common ways the user will interact with the device which is the remote.

We will start with the Roku remote. The remote has a total of 12 buttons which include the navigational buttons, Channel shortcuts, play/pause buttons, and a home button which will take you to the Home screen. Although the remote has all this it comes with a minor annoyance. It does not come with a dedicated button for the Volume or an On/off button.

The Mi TV stick is a simple remote. You get the navigation button, Volume Button, power, Google assistant, directional buttons, and some shortcut button to certain streaming services. Mi TV Stick remote is easy to use with many reasonable amounts of buttons.

Although the Roku remote does come with a private listening button to try compensating. But the fact that some basic buttons were not there. This section definitely goes to Mi TV stick.

Design and System UI of Roku vs MI TV Stick

Now we will address some of the details about the system UI of both the system and the overall design of the device.

First, we will head to Xiaomi this time. The device is a USB-like device that needs to be plugged in to the HDMI port.

Now we will come to the system UI. The system UI is the place where it makes or breaks the experience of a user. Xiaomi uses the Android TV UI which is an excellent choice. This UI shares a common base with the Android we have on our smartphones. So, basically that means almost all the Android applications will be supported on it.

Now we will talk about the Roku design. The Roku Express is midway between a Dongle and a box. It is a tiny device that can be attached to your TV thanks to its double-sided adhesive tape. And connects to your TV via an HDMI. Now we will talk about the Roku UI. The Roku UI is one of the clean and easy-to-use UI which makes it popular. It also has a gaming library where you can play many simple games. The Roku Express UI has lots of OTT platforms as explained before. Because of these reasons, this Device is usually a good choice for those who want to hop on to the Streaming channels bandwagon.

For this, we will give it to Roku Express because of its clean UI and amazing content library.

Connectivity

Next up is connectivity. Both the devices have an Hdmi port and USB for power. The Roku Express comes with an older Wi-Fi 4 (802.11bgn) because its time of launch was 2019. On the other hand, the Mi TV stick which came later comes with Wi-Fi 5 which is comparatively more advanced. Now, this is important for all those internet heavy shows that need an extra bit of juice to run smoothly which Xiaomi provided.

In terms of Bluetooth, it is another advantage for the Mi TV stick. The device comes with Bluetooth 4.2. On the other hand, Roku has no Bluetooth in it. Although if you use private listening over the phone you can easily use Bluetooth on your Roku. Due to its newer launch Mi TV stick is advanced and is far more feature-rich in terms of connectivity. In that sense, this section goes to Mi TV stick.

Price Comparison

Last but definitely not the list is price. Now this will usually decide how more than half the people will decide their choice. Since as mentioned earlier Roku express is older (released in 2019 ) compared to the Mi TV stick it also can be seen in the price. The Roku device retails for $24.99 and the Mi TV stick retails for $29.99.

Final Verdict-Roku vs MI TV Stick

If we tally all the standards and see Roku Express stands atop the Mi TV stick. And because of that, we suggest Roku over Mi TV stick to our readers.

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