What is Amazon Fire TV?
The Amazon Fire TV is a media streaming set top box where you can watch films, TV, listen to music and even play games through your HDTV. Announced back in April, the Apple TV rival is now coming to the UK and ahead of schedule as well. Priced at a reasonable £79, you can also grab one for £49 for a limited time if you sign up to Amazon Prime.
Amazon said it’s selling like hotcakes in the US and I got to have a look at a US build of the little box of tricks along with the additional game controller that’s hoping to give Apple, Google and Roku a run for their money.
At the heart of Fire TV is a small black box that’s about the size of two smartphones lined up next to each other. Amazon logo aside, it’s all black with a matte-finish where less is definitely more. This is a beautifully minimalist set top box where the design doesn't really reflect the cheap price tag and is going to take up very little room up next to your TV.
All of the key connections are hidden at the back. You’ll find an HDMI port to connect to TVs supporting up to full 1080p HD, an optical output to hook up surround sound systems, Ethernet port for direct internet access and a USB 2.0 port. Sadly, the latter can’t be used for local file playback.
It’s what is inside that really impressive though. Amazon packs the Fire TV box with a quad-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Krait 300 CPU with 2GB of RAM and Adreno 320 GPU to handle the most demanding Android games. There’s built-in Wi-Fi as Amazon uses the same dual-band, dual antenna MIMO Wi-Fi it currently found inside its Amazon Kindle Fire HDX tablets. There’s 8GB of internal storage to save content like photos, games and apps, which is backed up by free access to Amazon's cloud servers.
The Fire TV box also comes with its own remote control. Clearly inspired by the remote bundled with Apple TV, there’s a continuing theme with the simple all black design. It’s a dinky little thing that takes two double AA batteries in the back and hosts a handful of buttons offering the most basic functions. So you can play and pause, navigate the interface and rewind or forward through content. You can also use it to play games but its first use is navigating the interface. Something that’s made easier by the fact that it has built-in Bluetooth so you don’t have to directly point it at the box.
The big thing here is voice control. Amazon says this is a feature that’s proved popular with US Fire TV users and it has been fine-tuning it for the English accent. Press the microphone button and this will activate the mic positioned just above the button on the controller. Ask for a genre or a specific programme and it will jump to it. It won't directly open it but it will get you there. I still have mixed feelings about talking to my tech but it did instantly recognize when I asked to search for US sitcom Community.
Aside from the box and the remote you can also buy the Amazon Fire wireless Bluetooth controller (£34.99) to play the same kind of Android games you can play on your phone or tablet. The controller itself shares more than a passing resemblance to the Xbox One controller. Gripping the matte black pad feels very familiar while buttons, analogue stick, D-Pad and triggers are in almost identical places.
Amazon does add additionals button in the centre of the controller and media playback ones on the edge below the D-Pad and secondary analogue stick. A quick play on Asphalt: Airborne 8 and controls offer nice feedback and good response - although I’d like to test it out with some more challenging Android titles like a first person shooter to see how it copes.
One of the most important part of any streaming set top box is the user interface. This is where users are going to spend most of their time when they are not actually watching something and simply browsing.
Amazon uses a simple Android-based UI where menus are placed down the left hand side and the more visually appealing content is displayed on the right. It’s a setup similar to the one Roku’s service uses, albeit with a more fluid design that's very easy to get around. Anyone who uses the apps on the Xbox One and the PS4 will know that the Amazon Instant Prime Video interface is a bit on the clunky side, so this is a big improvement.
Amazon’s own streaming services are key to Fire TV, but you are not only restricted to using the likes Amazon Prime Video and its recently introduced streaming music service. There’s support for third party apps like Netflix and Spotify just as there is on Kindle Fire HDX tablets. The streaming services of course does require Wi-Fi or a direct internet connection, but games can be downloaded so you can play offline. Amazon is also adding UK-centric content and already has Channel 5 and Ministry of Sound on board with more hopefully on the way.
If you’ve already bought into the Amazon ecosystem and purchased a Kindle Fire HDX tablet you can also throw films and TV shows to Fire TV. It's like screen mirroring although it works slightly differently by sending the content to the Amazon cloud servers first before it starts playing on your TV. There’s some small loading times so it’s not instant either.
There’s a little more to the second screen experience as Fire TV also embraces Amazons X-Ray feature. So when you watch a film on the Fire TV, you will be able to see cast information and trivia powered by IMDB on your tablet.
First Impressions
With so many options already available, I was hoping Amazon Fire TV would try to do something different, but in many ways it's not that different from Chromecast, Apple TV and the Roku streaming stick. Where the Fire TV really wins here is its potential - led largely by the amount of power it fits inside that small stylish black box.
Everything ran smoothly, even for gaming although it will be interesting to see how well it copes with running multiple applications and services at the same time on a standard home Wi-Fi connection. The controller is a nice added bonus as Amazon clearly intends to make a big push with gaming but it’s not essential and that’s a good thing. Without it, the Fire is still a really slick setup.
If Amazon continues to add more services and get more content partners on board, it could be a really affordable alternative to make your TV smarter and do that bit extra.
MORE: Amazon Fire TV vs Apple TV