Amazon Fire TV Stick: Here’s What We Like About It

The Amazon Fire TV Stick (2017) is the service’s second-generation of its video streaming device to compete with the likes of Google Chromecast Ultra. This dongle-sized device lets you stream Full-HD videos from Amazon Prime, Hotstar, and Netflix, as well as lets you access Prime Music, Gaana, and Amazon’s ever-growing games library.

When the Amazon Fire TV with mic was initially launched, it would only allow us to look up Amazon goodies such as movies from Amazon and apps from the Amazon Appstore. The new Fire TV Stick (2017), however, comes with an updated and improved UI. Although it doesn’t sway far off its previous layout, it is definitely more refined and cleaner.

We have rounded up some of the best parts of the Amazon Fire TV Stick for you, so let’s jump right into it.

Design and Build

The Amazon Fire TV Stick looks more like a hulked up version of a memory stick that fits straight into an HDMI port on your TV. This comes with an accompanying remote – similar to that of the Fire TV box – and to make the deal sweeter, Amazon has added Fire TV voice controls to the Echo speaker and other Alexa devices that lets you voice commands into the remote while holding a button.

Interface

Once your Fire TV Stick is all setup and ready to go, you might notice the change in interface from that of the previous Fire TV Stick. It was designed to learn your viewing habits over a period of time and provide suggestions tailored to your interests. If a show is selected, it also shows an in-depth program information including the cast and the show’s IMDb ratings.

Features

Along with the new interface, the Amazon Fire Stick (2017) also comes with some hardware upgrades such as a more powerful quad-core processor and improved Wi-Fi. The new chipset is said to be 30 percent quicker than the last one while the Wi-Fi 802.11 ac promises more stable streaming, faster buffering, and quicker downloads. It comes with 1GB of RAM and there is 8GB of internal storage for games and other applications, which is quite sufficient.

Performance

The new quad-core processor has given the Fire TV Stick a welcome boost of power and as a result, browsing through the shows, searching or scrolling through the menus, and downloading content has become noticeably smoother. When it comes to the voice commands, you had to previously press a button on the remote and speak, but now you can control your Fire TV with a simple “Alexa…” command.

If you are searching for content, the results are quite accurate and moreover, it lets you search by actor, genre, and even by a film or show name. Not only this, but you can also ask Alexa about the weather, news feed, or sports scores. As for the streaming, the video playback is stable and the buffering is fast, offering you a crisp video quality.

Verdict

Now that you can speak into thin air and command your Fire TV with Alexa, it is somewhat futuristic and is a great way to navigate through the content. The extra speed and faster Wi-fi also makes it worth the penny. At Rs. 3,999, the new Fire TV Stick (2017) with Voice Remote is now available for purchase on Amazon.