Skip to main content

Walmart is readying its own Android TV streaming stick

Walmart Onn. 2K Streaming Stick
Walmart/FCC

Walmart has been slowly dipping its toes into the streaming devices game, thanks to its Onn. brand’s partnership with Roku. Now, however, it looks like the massive retailer wants another option for its store shelves: A recently spotted Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certification lists specifications and photos for an Onn. 2K Streaming Stick, powered by Android TV.

The photos reveal what is a very standard-looking streaming stick — black, around four inches long, with an HDMI plug at one end and a MicroUSB port at the other end. The thick, rounded body bears the Walmart-owned Onn. branding. The included USB cable, power adapter, and HDMI extension cable are all exactly what you’d find with a Roku, Mi, or Amazon Fire TV streaming stick.

Related Videos
Walmart Onn. 2K Streaming Stick
Walmart/FCC

The one element that is decidedly different is the white remote control, which bears a strong resemblance to the unit that ships with the $50 Google Chromecast with Google TV. It has a wealth of buttons and functions including power on/off, volume, mute, channel up/down, Google Assistant, input selection, and quick access for Netflix, HBO Max, YouTube, and Disney+. It also has a bookmark button, which is the first time we’ve seen such a button on an Android TV remote.

We’re a bit baffled by the name of the device. In the world of TV video, there are really only three common standards for high-resolution — HD (720p), Full HD (1080p), and 4K (UHD) — with 8K being the fourth, less common standard. Technically speaking, “2K” resolution is something you only see on projectors, and even then it’s fairly rare. The 2K Streaming Stick’s internal chipset — an Amlogic S805Y — is officially only capable of supporting up to 1080p at 60Hz, with HDR10 and HLG compatibility. These are pretty decent specs for a budget streaming device (in fact it’s the same capability as the Amazon Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite), but we wouldn’t call it “2K.”

We could be seeing the dawn of a new naming standard — albeit one that is not especially accurate. CNET claims that 2K is picking up steam as the new name for Full HD devices, much like 4K became preferred to UHD. We’re not fans of this naming convention, but as more companies choose to use it for its marketing power (2K sounds closer to 4K than “Full HD”), there’s probably not much we can do about it.

The 2K Streaming Stick will have Full HD and it will have HDR, but at the moment, it doesn’t look like it will support Dolby Atmos. The FCC documentation includes a PDF of the user manual, and while it lists Dolby Audio, it doesn’t mention Atmos.

It’s unclear when Walmart will release the Onn. 2K Streaming Stick, but we’re guessing that when it debuts, it will be very competitively priced — possibly undercutting the already incredibly cheap $30 Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite.

Editors' Recommendations

The first Roku-made televisions are now available at Best Buy
Roku Select Series television.

Roku today announced that its first slate of Roku Select and Roku Plus Series televisions — the first sets to actually be made by Roku — are now available exclusively at Best Buy. The first 11 models are meant to be affordable options not unlike the Roku TVs made by the company's manufacturing partners. (Those partners, so far as we know, will still make their own Roku TVs.)

The Plus Series is the more advanced of the two options, with QLED screens at 55, 65, and 75 inches. Those prices hit $649, $749, and $1,199, respectively.

Read more
The Sonos Era speakers solve a major problem for Android users
Sonos TruePlay settings.

The new Sonos Era 100 and Era 300 usher in a new generation of wireless speakers for the company, and our first impressions were pretty good. They also close a gaping hole that has plagued a pretty large segment of users. Android users no longer are left out of the Trueplay feature.

Custom tuning of speakers for their environments isn’t particularly new. Google has done it with its Nest Hub Max. Apple does it with the HomePod. But Sonos has always required a phone to do the listening for ambient sound and fine-tuning the speakers. And to date, that phone always has had to be an iPhone (unless you have a portable Sonos Move, but that's almost a different product category at this point. Stay with us here).

Read more
Plex now lets you skip the credits on movies and TV shows
A mid-credits scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off showing Plex's Skip Credits option.

In a move that is sure to enrage the thousands of people whose names appear at the end of our favorite movies and TV shows, Plex has introduced a new feature that lets you skip the end credits on the content in your personal library.

The feature works similarly to its Skip Intro option -- a far less controversial feature given that most subscription streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video already let you do this. With Skip Credits, the Plex Media Server uses an algorithm to detect the difference between a screen full of rolling text and a screen that has a full image of, well, not text.

Read more