From its humble beginnings as the Netflix box to its current status as one of the pre-eminent media streamers, Roku has come a long way in just two years. And while the new Roku 2 XS doesn't really move things forward much, it does just enough to retain that title.
If you're keeping track, the XS usurps the XDS as the new king of the new series, with the XD and HD following in its path. I'll just go ahead and say it at the outset: Ff you already own a previous gen, 1080p-capable Roku, this is probably not the box for you. Like the XDS, you get ethernet support and a USB port. The UI also remains relatively unchanged, with the standard horizontal scrolling "channels."
In fact, the only differences I could find was the addition of Bluetooth support, an SD card slot, and – wait for it – a shiny little Wii-like motion controller that doubles as your system remote. Yes, it appears Roku wants to join the casual games party. And its first gift to customers is something everyone's already sick of: Angry Birds. For free! The company promises to have more games – including Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Seasons (sigh) – soon, which presumably explains the SD-card slot. Still, none of this is enough to justify dropping another 100 bones.
The other obvious difference here is the look of these new boxes. This XS, along with the rest of the series, has been sufficiently shrink-rayed so it now beats even the Apple TV in terms of footprint. The tiny box virtually disappears when you place it next to your TV, which was great considering all the other multicolored junk I have attached to mine.