I have both a Fire TV Stick and a Roku, and one of the ways Fire is beaten by Roku is in its home screen customization. My Roku screen likely looks different from yours because I didn't stick to the default look; I made real changes. If you are stuck on the out-of-the-box screen we've seen for years, you need to learn how to adjust it and make it your own. Otherwise, you're just dealing with a slightly slower Fire TV Stick.
You don't need everything the default settings give you
When you set up a streaming device today, the default interface is usually packed with features you might not actually want. Roku is guilty of this, too, by filling its sidebar menu with options that can easily turn into a visual mess over time. The good news is that Roku lets you fix this problem by completely removing the sidebar clutter.
If you go into Roku’s settings menu, you can manually hide sections like the Live TV row and the What to Watch row. Removing these specific menu options makes it much easier to navigate to what you want to do. Instead of being distracted by content suggestions you didn't ask for, you get a direct path to the applications you actually use. This is a good idea for anyone who just wants to use their TV like a standard TV.
Go to Settings, then to the Home screen, and select Hide for everything you want to hide. It is easy to do. One of the worst parts about the Amazon Fire TV is how it feels like…