One thing I discovered after I set up my phone was the Roku Mobile App. This allows your smartphone to be able to search for items based on a person's vocal commands (it seems as though everyone has jumped on this fantasy-turned-reality feature of technology!). It has been a nice feature to have, even with just using Google Now to search for items without having to type meticulous items on a smartphone's on-screen keyboard.
Prior to this, the only way I would have been able to use this functionality would have been either through newer streaming boxes, such as Amazon's FireTV or the newest generation of Roku 3. Since I have an older Roku 2 XS with a few firmware upgrades, the only feature I can't do with the phone is play games, however, considering that I needed batteries to use the remote to set up my phone, it's not too bad having a spare remote available.
Anyway, I just discovered today that the my smartphone's Roku Mobile App allows the user to use voice search. I haven't taken too much advantage of this yet, but that may change in the near future. On another note, I have previously used 'Google Now,' which is Google's answer to Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana. If a person has a microphone either built in or attached to their computer, and is using Google Chrome, then Google Now can be enabled on their computer's installment of Google Chrome, but that's another blog post.
Between Voice Search on my Samsung S3, and game buttons on the Roku remote, the only features I am missing from a new Roku box are "easy access" buttons that instantly take a user to Amazon, Hulu, etc., and the presumably faster processor. However, the trade off is that I can use my existing box on any TV with A\V inputs, and I still have the important features, like the Game Remote, Ethernet, as well as MicroSD and USB storage options.
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| Roku Voice Search using the Samsung Galaxy S3 |
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