Congratulations to the winner of our first giveaway, Lisa Grassetti!

Lisa is a homemaker from Agawam, Massachusetts. Though she had never heard of the Roku before seeing the Claris Networks contest on Twitter and Facebook, she is excited to be able to “stream the movies to my tv in my husband’s ‘so called’ man cave.“ We think movies in the “man cave” is a perfect use of the Roku.

Lisa’s name was randomly selected last week, making her the owner of a new Roku XD. The Roku is a device that connects directly to your TV and allows you to digitally stream audio and HD video content directly from the web without the need of a computer and complicated setup. It retails for $80.

You surf the internet on your computer and you watch TV programs on your television. Right? Not anymore. Consumer electronics are getting to a point where the line between these devices is blurring. How we access media is changing. One of the players leading the charge in this transformation is are products like the Roku, Boxee, Google TV and internet accessible gaming consoles like the XBOX. These products bridge the gap between the internet and your living room, bringing much of the video and media content we typically consume on our computers to our TVs. Over the next 4 weeks, Claris Networks’ manager of product development Dan Thompson will be reviewing these products before we give them away to one our of our Twitter followers or Facebook fans. First, the Roku.

    The Roku XD is a no-frills solution to getting internet content to your TV.  There isn’t a lot of glitz, but it does just what it says it does.  So what’s in the box?  To be honest, the first thing I noticed was what wasn’t in the box… an HDMI cable.  Of the three units I tested, it is the only one that didn’t come with all the necessary cables… unless of course you’re fine with the standard definition RCA cables provided; which would be odd because the selling point of the XD is that it does full 1080p HD output.  At any rate, as I mentioned it does come with standard def RCA cables and power cable, the Roku XD itself, a remote, and a couple of manuals.
 

    The unit itself is just a hair under 5 inches across and right at an inch tall… yes, it could easily get lost in your A/V rack.  The back of the XD has hook ups for the power, standard def RCA, HDMI, and ethernet, although the unit will also do wireless networking if you prefer that.

    Just like the device itself, the included remote is small and simple and could easily be mistaken for a VCR (what’s that?) or DVD player remote.  I’ll admit I was a bit apprehensive about the remote when I saw it, but after getting acquainted with how you interact and setup the device, it makes sense.

    After getting the Roku hooked up to my TV (and subsequently finding out that one of the HDMI cables I’ve got running through my wall is bad) and plugged into my home network, the first thing the device wants you to do is register it… Did I mention you’re going to need a computer nearby to get this thing going?  The device generates a nifty code and then you’ll need to heaed over to roku.com/link from your PC or web enabled device
(I actually registered this one with my Android powered phone).  Once you’ve created an account and registered, you can begin browsing.

    Roku comes initially populated with premium type (read: pay for) channels like Netflix, Amazon video, and HuluPlus.  If you use one of those services it is easy enough to get your device connected up and ready to stream your media.  By the way, let me pause here and say, if all you’re wanting one of these devices for is for one of these premium services… say you’re in love with Netflix and you just really want to get involved with their streaming services as well as their DVD-by-mail service, I’d look long and hard at this device.  It delivers these services well, and the no-frills setup keeps it simple to use.  In addition to these premium channels, there are also many other channels available through the Channel Store.

    The Channel Store I like.  They’ve styled it after the app stores on all the popular phones today and it is extremely easy to use. One tip: the apps scroll left and right as well as up and down; it took me a second to catch that.  From the freebies, check out MediaFly, Revision3 Internet Television, and Vimeo… I found some pretty good content there. 

    Speaking of channels, one of the nice things about the Roku is that other people can create / provide channels as well.  If you don’t find what you’re looking for in the Channel Store, like the obviously missing YouTube channel, just hit up your internet browser and do some searching around for Roku “Private Channels”; or save yourself a little time and start with this resource I found which has a HUGE listing of channels.  Once you’ve found a private channel you’re interested in, jump back on your account in the Roku website and click the link for Add Private Channel and punch in the code.  The next time you refresh your home screen you’ll see the newly added channel (you can speed this up by opening the Channel Store and then going back to the home screen).  I personally found the Pod TV channel to be full of goodies, including some awesome nature stuff… just browse around and I’m sure you’ll find some things that interest you as well.

    Initial conversations about having to use an internet enabled device to set the channels were always a bit negative.  None of the other devices require this, and admittedly it does take a bit of extra work.  There is a plus side though: if you need to do a factory reset or if you get an additional Roku, all your channels are right back where you left them, once you add it to your account and let it sync

    After playing around with the Roku for a little bit, I have to say I really like it.  It might not be as flashy as the other devices out there, but it does what it needs to very well and has a fluid user experience.

– Dan Thompson

 

Dan Thompson is the Manager of Product Development at Claris Networks, a regular contributor on the “WBIR Channel 10 NBC Tech Experts" series and author of the technology blog Techblogogy.net. In this month’s product review, Dan examines the Samsung Fascinate.

The Samsung Fascinate is the newest Samsung Android phone, is the next generation of the Galaxy S phones and runs on Verizon’s network. I’ll start out by saying I was unimpressed with this phone. Of course, with almost any new smart phone these days, you get a certain amount of cool features. But that’s the thing: every new smart phone has features. How a company innovates upon those features is what separates a regular phone from an essential device. Samsung, in my opinion, didn’t deliver with their newest device. Still, it’s not a complete waste. Here’s my “Fail and Win” list for the Samsung Fascinate.

First off, the Fascinate is running Android 2.1, which is a bit surprising. I’m not sure why company would release a new phone that runs on an older version of code, but for some reason Samsung didn’t upgrade to the newest version of the Android operating system. Not running 2.1 potentially hurts the device’s performance and sacrifices a handful of features that limit the user’s experience.

It fails the lag test. I can’t help but compare this phone to the HTC Evo. The Evo is similar in size to the Fascinate, but operates more smoothly than the Fascinate. I put the older Evo beside the newer Fascinate, flipped through both the desktops, and the Fascinate lost the lag test to an older phone.

The Fascinate has a lightly adjusted user interface. Most phone manufacturers, like HTC and Motorola phones have some iteration of their own user interface. HTC has SenseUI, Motorola has MotoBlur. Some consumers don’t like these custom iterations because the extra add-ons slow the operating system a bit and clutter things up. While the Samsung has customized their UI, it’s a pretty soft customization without too many unnecessary add-ons.

Flashy commercials, for what that’s worth.

Pay for Mobile Hotspot feature. It’s possible to turn the Fascinate into a mobile hotspot for you and your friends, which is cool. The down side, however, is Verizon has hijacked the phone and operating system and made a pay-for feature. Whereas, a phone with straight Android 2.2 code, like the Nexus One, provides the Mobile Hotspot free . Why Verizon and other carriers feel like they still need to charge for this feature is beyond me.

 

Essentially, the Samsung Fascinate is every other Android smart phone with apps and a pretty screen. The phone itself is underwhelming. There just are no innovations. It’s beginning to seem like if you’ve seen one Android phone, you’ve seen them all. They’ll claim new bells and whistles, but there’s really nothing new about it.

The Fascinate is a perfectly acceptable phone. Many new smart phone buyers would be very happy with it. However, with the lack of innovation you lose consumer motivation to buy a new phone. If you have an Incredible or something similar, there’s really no reason to go buy the Samsung.