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Amazon Fire TV

Amazon Fire TV

Review and rating for Amazon Fire TV, a media streaming gadget that you can connect to your HDTV to watch shows from different services find out what others think about this product.

  • Editor Rating

  • Rated 4 stars
  • Excellent

  • Amazon Fire TV Review
  • Reviewed by:
  • Published on:
  • Last modified: August 21, 2015
  • Quality
    Editor: 95%
    User: 100%
  • Price
    Editor: 80%
    User: 100%
  • Overall
    Editor: 95%
    User: 100%

Review Summary:

As a current/former owner and user of streamers such as Roku 3, Google's Chromecast and also streaming/gaming platforms such as PS3/PS4 and Xbox 360/One, I believe I can do a fair assessment on what Amazon's Fire streamer is about and how it compares with the alternatives.

I rely on reviews to help me make informed and rational purchase decisions and, hopefully, my assessment of Amazon's Fire TV may help others decide whether this is what they need or want. It should be a great pick for anyone who owns the Amazon tablet and already subscribes to Amazon's Prime. Its ability to play games and the ease of downloading them should also appeal to non-hard-core gamers. For everybody else, depending on one's specific needs and expectations, the Fire TV may or may not be the 'right' streamer to buy.

Fire TV offers most but not all mainstream services and I suspect it covers what most of us will ever want to access but for anyone who wants more variety, Amazon's selection pales when compared to Roku's 1000+ channels. Most of the mainstream services now on Fire TV are also available on Roku, PS3/4, Xbox 360/One and many on Google's Chromecast. Fire TV attempts to be a little different when it comes to accessing content, allowing for voice search with results returned only from Amazon's Instant Video and Vevo. A similar feature is available on Roku platforms, only it requires some typing but it covers many services. Amazon's attempt to predict and preload what we are most likely to watch will have to be assessed over a longer period of time so, time will tell. The soon to be implemented parental controls should differentiate and distinguish Amazon's product from the competition once they are implemented.

The Fire TV streamer/gaming device falls probably under 'okay streamers' and 'not too bad' gaming platforms. The lack of large permanent storage (HDD) implies that, as a gaming platform, the Fire TV will allow for mostly small to medium-size games with a lot of cloud interaction and storage. Again, a feature that may not be suitable for those whose ISPs charge by the Megabyte or impose a monthly download quota on their customers.

The Fire TV costs a lot more than a Roku or a Chromecast but, even if a gaming controller is added, is still less than a PS3 or an Xbox 360. Voice search as implemented on Fire TV at the time I am writing this (restricted to Amazon and Vevo) is in effect hiding content from other services, potentially costing you money if one show is available to purchase or rent at Amazon but it may be also carried by another service you subscribe to as a 'free' stream.

I like Amazon's Fire TV for being a well designed, capable streamer with some nice extra capabilities but I also like and I've been using the Rokus for their huge number of channels and portability and great interface and the Chromecast for allowing me to easily send whatever is in my Chrome browser to the TV. Overall, an average product.

Pros

Great if you have Amazon Prime and an Amazon tablet. Ease of downloading and playing games

Cons

Selection is weak compared to Roku's 1000 channels Lack of large permanent hard drive