Alongside the new spherical Echo speakers and the flying security camera, Amazon is also updating its trusty TV dongle lineup. The company has upgraded the original Fire TV Stick with a faster processor and improved audio. A new Fire TV Stick Lite has also been added to the lineup to make online content accessible to a wider audience.
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Fire TV Stick
The biggest upgrade for the Fire TV Stick comes in the form of 50% improvement in performance as compared to its predecessor. It is, however, said to consume 50% less power. The dongle design remains the same, but it now houses an enhanced 1.7 GHz quad-core processor. It enables the dongle to offer Full-HD (1080p) streaming at 60FPS with HDR support out-of-the-box.
You also get Dolby Atmos support, via compatible speakers, onboard along with Alexa Voice Remote that offers more functionality than the ‘Lite’ variant, which you can read about down below. This remote includes power, mute, and volume buttons. The Fire TV Stick, as per the official blog post, works with 5GHz networks – all thanks to dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi support.
The Fire TV Stick has been priced at Rs. 3,999 in India ($39.99 in the US) and will go on sale starting from 15th October.
Buy the New Fire TV Stick from Amazon.in (Rs. 3,999)
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Fire TV Stick Lite
In line with leaks from earlier this week, Amazon took the wraps off its most affordable Fire TV stick at the event today. The Fire TV Stick offers Full-HD streaming with HDR support to compete against the Rs. 2,799 Mi TV Stick in India.
Fire TV Stick boasts the exact same design as its elder sibling and is also claimed to be equally powerful by Amazon. You also get a new Alexa Voice Remote Lite, as you can see below, that includes a voice button at the top. It enables you to ask Alexa to “find, launch, and control content,” as per the official release.
The Fire TV Stick Lite has been priced at Rs. 2,999 in India ($29.99 in the US) and will go on sale starting from 15th October.
Buy Fire TV Stick Lite from Amazon.in (Rs. 2,999)
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New Fire TV Experience
Alongside the new Fire TV hardware, Amazon has also revamped the Fire TV interface to offer a more simple and intuitive experience. As you can see below, the ‘Home’ feed will instantly give you access to content that you may like to watch. You can now jump into the streaming service of your choice, including YouTube or Netflix, from anywhere.
The ‘Find’ section that you see above will enable users to “discover great movies, TV shows, and more” by making them available under broad categories. The Alexa voice experience for the Fire TV Stick has also been improved with this iteration. You only need to say ‘Alexa, go to Live’ or ‘Alexa, go to Find’ to jump to Live TV channels or the explore page. You can even ask Alexa to switch user profiles, which could be up to six members.
The biggest addition to the Fire TV experience comes in the form of its video calling capability. “With the new Fire TV experience, Fire TV Cube can be used for video calling with Alexa. Connect a compatible Logitech webcam to stay in touch with friends and family on the biggest screen in your home,” says the blog post. Alexa video calling and Zoom support are coming very soon.
