Amazon is expanding its Fire TV line with the new Fire TV Stick. The Fire TV Stick looks to disrupt the budget streaming players market with many features formerly reserved for much larger devices. Let’s take a look.
The stick is similar in size to the Chromecast and Roku Streaming Stick. However, its specifications and feature set is much closer to the Apple TV. It comes with a dual-core ARM A9 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of memory. It also features dual band, dual antenna Wi-Fi with 802.11N. The processor, which is similar to the one used in the afore mentioned Apple TV, has enough power to play over 200 casual games with the included Bluetooth remote. The remote is pretty similar to the one shipped with the large Fire TV, but lacks the voice search function. The Fire TV Stick can do voice search though with the Fire TV Android, or soon iOS, app.
The Fire TV stick doesn’t look like a cut down experience at all. The interface is similar to the full Fire TV and features many of the same channel options. You get Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Crakle, WatchESPN, Smithsonian Channel, Plex, and a bunch of other options. Music options include Amazon’s Prime Music, Spotify, Pandora, and iHeart Radio. It also has mirroring capabilities for FireOS and Android.
Pricing is insane, in a good way. At $39, it’s only $5 more expensive than the Chromecast and $10 less than the Roku. It might be more capable than either, certainly so for the Chromecast, since it’s a standalone device. For the 27th and 28th, Amazon Prime customers can get it half off for just $19. If you have some TVs that aren’t already Netflix or Hulu compatible, this could be a great and inexpensive option. The Fire TV Stick can be pre-ordered now, and will be released November 19th.
What do you think of the Fire TV Stick? Would you consider it for a second or even primary streaming device? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
Source: Amazon
