The Fire TV is a combination of standard set-up box and a TV stick but first seen from Chromecast Ultra 4k. The square-sized, diamond-oriented, 2.6 x 2.6 x 0.6-inches dongle has moved from an external large box, to a dongle that plugs into your TV directly through HDMI plug.
Without changing the name from the old one, Fire TV remain as it is — a competitive portable dongle with upgraded features that can almost match the Apple TV. Beyond its unusual shape, the reimagined Fire TV is beyond the usual sporting a 4K Ultra HD up to 2160p at 60fps instead of 30fps, and adds support for HDR-10 (high dynamic range).
On the opposite corner from the HMDI plug, sits a Micro USB plug for power recessed. Sadly, missing in this dongle are the ethernet port and SD card slot which is surprisingly more than handy for some people. Amazon makes up for the first omission by selling a $15 ethernet adaptor.
With everything connected, the fast and easy Fire TV is full-on Alexa. The Fire TV comes with Alexa integrated remote to it’s box. The ability to use Alexa on the included remote or a nearby Echo device to begin playing a movie or TV show is pretty impressive and useful. You can use it for basic input, like the name of a movie you want to search, or you can go into full-on virtual assistant and summon Alexa to do anything.
The Fire TV Alexa remote on the other hand lacks the divine volume buttons. I mean how can someone omit the basic essentials? (like ports and slots mentioned above) But hopefully Alexa voice command makes up for it since Amazon has arguably the best personal smart speaker/personal assistant for smart home users.
For it’s cheap price and wide capability, the $70 Fire TV is already a good deal. Shipping will begin October 25th, 2017.
Tech Specs:
● Size: 2.6″ x 2.6″
● Output resolution: 2160p, 1080p, and 720p up to 60 fps
● Quad-core processor: 1.5 GHz (vs 1.3 GHz for Fire TV Stick)
● Memory: 2 GB (vs 1 GB for Fire TV Stick)
● Storage: 8 GB (same as Fire TV Stick)
● Audio: Dolby Atmos (vs Dolby Audio for Fire TV Stick)
● Wi-Fi: 802.11ac dual-band MIMO wireless
● Amazon Ethernet Adapter supported (optional; $15)
● Alexa Voice remote included
