Many people in India have shifted from consuming normal satellite or cable TV content to over-the-top (OTT) content during the last few years. To fill the OTT gap in the market, multiple Direct-to-Home (DTH) service providers, including Airtel Digital TV and Tata Sky, came out with their specialised Android powered Smart TV Boxes.
These Smart TV boxes from the DTH service providers allow users to consume both OTT and traditional satellite TV content on the go. At the same time, tech giants such as Xiaomi and Amazon came out with their specialised products to help users stream content from OTT platforms directly into their TVs.
Amazon recently launched the Fire TV Cube in India. The Fire TV Cube is much like the Apple TV 4K launched a few days back. However, the Fire TV Cube is much more expensive than any Android Set-Top Box (STB) offered by either Airtel Digital TV or Tata Sky.
Today we are comparing the Airtel Xstream Box and Amazon Fire TV Cube to see if the latter’s price is justified and if it is better than the Android STB offering from Airtel.
Airtel Xstream Box vs Amazon Fire TV Cube: Price
The Airtel Xstream Box can be availed by users for a mere cost of Rs 2,499 from the website of the company or through any of the retail stores. Airtel Xstream Fiber connection users can get the Android STB for an even lower refundable cost of 1,500. The Amazon Fire TV Cube is priced at Rs 12,999 in India and is available to be purchased online.
Airtel Xstream Box vs Amazon Fire TV Cube: Content
Airtel Xstream Box will allow users to stream both OTT and satellite TV content simultaneously. Switching from OTT to satellite TV or vice-versa can be done through a tap of a few buttons. Users can recharge with DTH packages offered by the company and also stream content from OTT platforms at the same time.
However, even Amazon Fire TV Cube users can watch both OTT and satellite TV, but at a very huge cost. With the Fire TV Cube, users will need a separate STB from Airtel Digital TV, Tata Sky, Dish TV or any other operator so that they can switch between OTT content and satellite TV with the help of Alexa. Note that only select STBs support Alexa and voice commands. Users can just ask Alexa to ‘switch to DTH Box’, and it will follow the command.
Airtel Xstream Box vs Amazon Fire TV Cube: Who is the Winner?
In terms of pricing and functionality, the Airtel Xstream Box wins from the Amazon Fire TV Cube comfortably. If you are still wondering why the Fire TV Cube is priced so high, it is because of the support for 4K Ultra HD content. This is the only place where Amazon’s Smart TV Box beats Airtel Xstream Box. Apart from that, most of the things that you can do with the Amazon Fire TV Cube, you can do them with the Airtel Xstream Box.
