Xiaomi to release its Fire TV Smart TVs in India for the first time

Posted by Elias Saba on — 1 Comment

Xiaomi is about to expand its Fire TV Smart TV offerings to India according to multiple teases by the official @XiaomiTVIndia Twitter account. Xiaomi released its first Fire TV Smart TVs just under a year ago but they have only been available in the UK thus far. There’s no word yet on the specs of the Xiaomi Fire TVs slated for India, but odds are they will be nearly identical to the F2 Series Fire TVs in the UK, which support 4K HDR10 and come in 43-inch, 50-inch, and 55-inch sizes. This expansion to new regions seems to indicate that Xiaomi has been happy with its partnership with Amazon so far, as the Xiaomi Fire TVs have been fairly well received in the UK with an average customer review rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars. Fire TVs from Xiaomi will join models from Akai, Onida, Croma, and AmazonBasics which are already available in India.

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Amazon expands Fire TV Hearing Aid support to include Cochlear and more Fire TV models

Posted by Elias Saba on — 3 Comments

Nearly a year ago, the 2nd-gen Fire TV Cube became the first streaming device to support streaming audio directly to hearing aids through the Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA) protocol. At the time it only supported one Fire TV model and Starkey hearing aids. Amazon has now announced a partnership with Cochlear that expands hearing aid streaming support to the Cochlear Nucleus 8, Nucleus 7, Nucleus Kanso 2, and Baha 6 Max sound processors. Additionally, ASHA-capable Fire TV models now also include the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube and Amazon’s own Fire TV Smart TV models, which are the Fire TV 4-Series, Fire TV Omni Series, and the recently released Fire TV Omni QLED Series.

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Exclusive: Amazon is working on a Fire TV feature for apps to explicitly share your viewing activity with Amazon

Posted by Elias Saba on — 5 Comments

Amazon Fire TVs have always had dedicated home screen rows to keep track of what users have recently watched, but they’ve always been pretty useless for tracking and displaying watched content in 3rd-party (i.e., non-Amazon) apps. If you select 3rd-party content through the main Fire TV interface then it usually shows up in the Fire TV’s universal “Recently Watched” row on the home screen, but the Fire TV has always been blind to anything selected within 3rd-party apps so the recently watched content listed on the home screen quickly becomes inaccurate. That’s soon going to change because Amazon is working on a way for any app to explicitly share your viewing activity in the app with the Fire TV so that a truly accurate and universal watchlist, and more, can be displayed. Read more ›

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Amazon blocks remapping of the Fire TV Remote’s App Shortcut Buttons

Posted by Elias Saba on — 60 Comments

Amazon has pushed out a software update to select Fire TV devices that prevents customers from remapping the app shortcut buttons at the bottom of Fire TV remotes. Two years ago I released my Remapper app which allows Fire TV owners to use the app buttons on their remote to launch any app they wanted. When releasing the utility, I noted that I expected Amazon to block its use at some point and now that day has come. Read more ›

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How to stream Super Bowl LVII 2023 for Free on Fire TV and Firestick

Posted by Elias Saba on — 6 Comments

Super Bowl LVII kicks off today, February 12, at 6:30 PM ET against the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. This year it is easy for anyone to watch the game for free from a Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Cube, or Fire TV Smart TV. All you need to do is install the free Fox Sports app from the Amazon Appstore and start streaming in 4K. This year, the app does not require any kind of TV login or subscription to watch. Alternatively, you can also use the NFL app to stream the game for free if you have any issues with the Fox Sports app.

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Amazon makes Sideloading on Fire TVs a seemingly more serious offence

Posted by Elias Saba on — 86 Comments

Amazon seems to have a love-hate relationship with sideloading apps on its Fire TV devices. On one hand, sideloading is a necessary feature of any Android-based device to attract developers and the flexibility sideloading provides consumers is certainly attractive to advanced buyers that like to tinker with their devices. On the other hand, sideloading likely accounts for some unwanted percentage of customer service calls and it gives consumers more ways out of Amazon’s walled garden. While nothing has, thankfully, been changed to the functionality of sideloading on Fire TV devices, a recent update has changed the on-device messaging about the act to be far more severe. Read more ›

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Fire TVs now list your unused, neglected, and recently used apps

Posted by Elias Saba on — 5 Comments

Do you ever wonder if the people in your household are really using those Fire TV apps they insisted on installing, or worse, insisted on subscribing to? If so, now you can get some actual insight into how recently each of your installed Fire TV apps has been used thanks to a new update that has rolled out to devices. Read more ›

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How to identify which model, year, generation Amazon Fire TV, Stick, Cube, Edition you have – Updated Feb. 2023

Posted by Elias Saba on — 57 Comments

With all the different Amazon Fire TVs, Fire TV Sticks (a.k.a Firesticks), Fire TV Cubes, Fire TV Pendants, Fire TV Edition televisions, and Fire TV Edition soundbars that have been released over the last few years, it’s difficult for some people to figure out exactly which model, version, year, or generation device that they own. This guide will help you easily determine what you have. Read more ›

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How to remap the App Buttons on Fire TV Remotes with Remapper — Updated January 2023

Posted by Elias Saba on — 368 Comments

The app buttons at the bottom of the newest Fire TV Remotes and Fire TV Smart TV remotes can either be fantastic or useless. They’re great if it’s an app that you use often, but they’re a complete waste if you don’t even have the app that they’re for installed. This guide will show you how to reassign the app buttons to open any app you want. This method uses my Remapper app and works for Netflix, HBO, Hulu, PS Vue, Disney+, CTV, Crave, DAZN, TVNOW, and other buttons. It works on the new remote paired to a Fire TV, Fire TV Cube, and Firestick, as well as Fire TV Edition devices from Element, Toshiba, Insignia, Onida, Grundig, JVC, and more.

Updates

4/16/2021: Support for Disney+ buttons has been added

2/25/2022: Amazon has made changes to prevent my original remapping method from working. I have updated this guide with a workaround that should circumvent Amazon’s changes. If you previously installed any Remapper, it is best to uninstall it and carefully follow this guide from the very beginning. Enjoy this workaround while it lasts, but you should expect that Amazon will likely block it as well eventually.

3/3/2022: The original workaround did not work on Fire OS 7 devices. The guide has been updated again to now work on all Fire OS versions.

1/26/2023: Support for ABEMA, DirecTV, and Peacock TV buttons has been added.

2/15/2023: Amazon has blocked the use of this remapping method on select Fire TV models. See the section below for more details.

Read more ›

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New unreleased Fire TV remote passes through FCC with closer ties to Amazon

Posted by Elias Saba on — 6 Comments

The FCC has just approved a new unreleased Fire TV remote in the US. All indication points to this new remote being a direct replacement for the Fire TV Alexa Voice Remote that currently ships with the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube and all Fire TV Smart TVs from Amazon’s own Omni and 4-Series TVs to 3rd-party TVs from Hisense, Xiaomi, Toshiba, Insignia, and others. While the remote will likely look and function identically to the existing remote, the FCC submission seems to indicate that Amazon is now taking the lead and pulling this remote in-house for the first time, instead of relying on a 3rd-party. Read more ›

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