You said everything that I was just about to, AloyHZD!
Seriously, after 1 of our 3 Roku streaming stick+ devices died last week, I decided to look at alternatives to Roku. The biggest reason wasn’t that Roku has changed these devices in ways that make them more cumbersome to use. It was the lies.
For the last 3 days I have been using an ONN Google TV device that is less than $20 at Walmart. It has 4K capability, but our TVs are only 1080p, so I can't comment on the better display. It lacks the Roku media player app which is great for streaming movies directly from a computer to your Roku. It has a Firestick type home screen (which is full of things that I don’t want and the reason that I previously loved Roku’s apps only home screen). But if Roku won’t tell us the truth about Continue Watching, it is probably safe to assume that the Roku home screen will get increasingly crowded with useless information and ads as Roku finds ways to monetize new (unwanted) features. Oh, and despite it’s shortcomings, the ONN player works great and responds very quickly.
Update on the ONN streaming device: after a month of use, the device slowed down considerably. I subsequently got rid of all the unwanted apps and things improved. There are a couple of apps that cannot be removed, such as Netflix, but I was able to delete things that I don’t subscribe to like Disney+, Hulu, Crackle, and many more. On the positive side, the device has an “Apps only” mode which hides all of the recommended shows including what Roku calls “Continue Watching”. 🙂 On the negative side, after about 4 weeks of use, Google decided that I should sign up and pay for Google1. I get notifications on my phone now at least every other day. Google decided not to give me an option to just decline, but only to clear the notification temporarily. And then pop it up the next day or the day after. 🙁 So thank you Roku for promising to give us the ability to hide “Continue Watching”. We would still love the ability to disable it altogether, though, if you can.
