Roku Express Plus Confusion

I was a little disappointed when I received my Roku Express+ upgrade the other day. I noticed that the remote was missing the microphone button to activate the voice search feature. I did some checking and it turns out that the voice search option was an exclusive to the Walmart version of the Roku Express+.  The version sold elsewhere is the non-voice search version. If you look at the Roku device history on Wikipedia, it shows that the Express+, which came out in 2016, never had a voice search remote option. Alternately, you can use voice search from a mobile phone with the Roku app, if needed.

The only difference that I could find between an Express and Express+ is that the plus adds Composite video and 480i resolution. This would make it more widely compatible with older televisions. Other than the missing voice search, I think the upgrade from my old Roku 2 HD to the Express+ was a good deal for $22.54 with tax and shipping. The Express+ is much more responsive when loading channels and navigating menus. I don't see freeze ups in video apps like Pluto when a ad starts or finishes. The Roku 2 would sometimes stop mid-stream and reboot itself. I haven't run into that yet with the Express+.

The installation is much cleaner as I was able to use an open USB port on the TV to power the Express+ and the supplied 24" HDMI cable is just long enough to reach the Roku box that I attached to the bottom edge of the TV. It did take a while to download all of my 120 streaming channels from my Roku account, but it would have taken much longer to do that manually. Roku download 4 or 5 premium streaming channels that I didn't want. I just deleted them from my Home screen. I probably won't be using the four quick link buttons on the remote as they are all pay streaming services. It would be nice if there was a way to assign your own streaming channels to those buttons. Unfortunately, that is not an option right now.