With a massive dip under the $50 mark, the Amazon Fire TV is a major upgrade from 1080p, directly to 4K-capability. It is much faster, secure, durable, supports Dolby Vision, and an overall great streaming device that you can rely on.
But is it the right TV streamer for you?
The Setup and Packaging
Starting from the basics, the Fire TV Stick 4K comes with all the tools you require for setup. Here what you’ll find in the box,
- Fire Stick 4K
- Remote Controller
- Powder Adapter
- 2 AAA batteries
- An HDMI extender
- MicroUSB to USB cable
There’s 1 HDMI port at the back of the stick which you’ll plugin at the back of your TV. Once you plug it in, use the power adapter to supply juice into the stick. The Fire TV stick has a MicroUSB slot at the side of the device where you can connect it with. You can also use the included HDMI adapter if you want more cable management.
Once done, boot up your TV, attach the stick with your Wi-Fi and you’re all set to stream 4K content, if your TV supports it, of course!
After that, you’ll have to log in with your Amazon account. You don’t need a paid Amazon Prime account to access the Fire TV. All you need is a regular, free amazon account to enjoy the full features of the stick. If however, you do have prime, then it will automatically navigate you to Prime Video and Prime Music.
Design and Aesthetics
The Fire TV stick is slightly larger than the other streaming devices we see normally. It’s not that the design has a problem or anything, the HDMI port can block access to other HDMI ports. For this, it’s better that you use the included HDMI extender. The fire stick is fairly rectangular with a matte black plastic finishing and a micro USB port on one site.
Now, for the remote, Amazon has updated its Alexa Voice Remote with some new features. The second generation of remote is a little slim with a punch-hole cutout in the middle for microphone voice control. You’ve got your standard ON/Off switch at the bottom paired with the voice control button and an LED indicator.
At the bottom, you’ve got your standard menu buttons, playback controls, and volume buttons. Like the original fire stick, you can use the streaming controller to change your TV channels and control volume.
Amazon Alexa
The main highlighted feature of the Fire TV is definitely Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. To use it, just speak into the mic pressing the voice button. The Fire TV stick use native AI assistance to offer quite some handy features with voice control. For example, you can ask for general information like what’s the weather today or perform a media search on YouTube.
Another interesting feature of Alexa voice control is that it is compatible with smart home devices. So example, if you have an Alexa-compatible device, then you can use it as well. Alexa has included more than 5,000 devices as of now including smart LED bulbs, speakers, fans, locks, thermostats, etc.
Fire TV OS
Talking about the UI experience, the Fire TV looks similar to what we see on other streaming services. The main menu is arranged in large widgets with apps and media recommendations at the bottom. At the top, you’ll have a slider recommendation of the movies and TV shows from different accounts.
Then you’ll have access to each individual Streaming channel like Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, AppleTV, and more. Although the suggestions are pretty much Amazon-centric, but if you watch other streaming channels more often, then it will showcase their recommendation along with Amazon.
Sadly, YouTube doesn’t have its own app which is kind of strange for a popular streaming device. But thanks to the Silk and Firefox web browsers, you can experience YouTube content as well.
Fire TV Performance
To run 4K content, the Fire TV stick has received some major upgrades. The device can stream Ultra High Definition (UHD) content, 4K content, HDR Content in HDR10 all with Dolby Atmos Vision. In terms of hardware, the fire stick packs 8GB of memory paired with a quad-core 1.7 GHz CPU.
According to Amazon, it is a 40% performance upgrade compared to the last year’s model. It also has MIMO Wi-FI and Bluetooth 5.0. There’s no Ethernet adapter which would be very helpful to run 4K content at HDR but amazon says that they have used an “advanced” Wi-FI system so you’ll have no problem running high content.
Now as a layman, the overall browsing and navigation experience was fine. There was no input delay, no lagging, or any sort of distortion. Also, Alexa responds to your query very quickly and can easily understand voice commands with no input delay. It looks like Amazon has really worked out on the last-gen model problems with this upgrade.
Conclusion
The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is a major upgrade over the previous model. It offers speed, performance, a rainbow ways to control your home theater, and an impressive picture and audio quality. It can stream 4K content with HDR10 and Dolby Vision, which all sound futuristic and cinematic.
Although it doesn’t have an Ethernet adapter, but that’s the only trade-off to get a more robust design and performance. The Amazon Fire TV 4K is the best media hub at under $50 that is worth your notice if you don’t have a smart TV.