This was a much-needed design update
In a much-needed update, Amazon has modernized the look of the Fire TV operating system and released two new streaming sticks.
Amazon said it designed its new Fire TV experience to be more personalized and customizable, while also making it easier to discover content and interact with Alexa.
There are now user profiles on Fire TV so that each person gets their own custom experience. Amazon says you can add six of these and you can swap between them by simply saying, “Alexa, switch to my profile.” Of course, you’ll need to make sure that you have ‘Voice Match’ set up for this to work.
The new Fire TV setup can also be used for video chatting. That means if you have a Fire TV Cube you can plug in a USB webcam to use the device for video calls.
The new Alexa display now takes up less of the screen when it’s triggered making it less obtrusive to use.
Overall, we can’t say much about the update until it rolls out and we get our hands on it, but for now, it looks a lot nicer than the old version, which should help Amazon stay up to date with other modern smart TV operating systems.
After this update, the only one that is still rocking an outdated look is Roku, which I don’t see changing any time soon.
New Fire TV Sticks
If you still have a 1080p television and you want to integrate your TV with Alexa you can buy one of Amazon’s two new Fire TV sticks.
The regular Fire TV stick has been upgraded with a new processor that’s 50 percent faster than the older model, which allows it to stream 1080p content at 60 fps in HDR. The company also boosted the Wi-Fi antenna with support for 5GHz connections resulting in a more stable connection overall.
The remote now has dedicated power and volume controls so you can control your Fire TV and TV with one single remote.
Finally, it also has support for Dolby Atmos, however, I’m not sure how many 1080p TVs have the right audio setups and HDMI ports to output the standard. Still, it’s nice to have and I’m sure some people will be appreciative of it.
In Canada, the new Fire TV stick costs $60 CAD.
The Fire TV Stick Lite is basically the same device but it’s $50 and without the universal remote or Dolby Atmos audio. This is basically just a super cheap way to add streaming capabilities to any TV with an HDMI port.
Both sticks are currently available for pre-order on Amazon and will be delivered by September 30th.
Source: Amazon