
Amazon has announced the next-generation Fire TV. It is now available for pre-order in the US, the UK, and Germany. It will retail for $99.99 and will begin arriving on customer’s doorsteps on October 5th.
While the new Fire TV looks the same on the outside, it’s entirely different on the inside. As expected, the new device is capable of 4K UHD video and comes with Alexa voice assistant built-in. It features a quad-core 2.0 Ghz MediaTek 8173C CPU, a dedicated PowerVR GX6250 GPU, and 2GB of RAM under the hood. It connects to the internet through either an ethernet port or 802.11ac wireless. The new Fire TV has 8GB of internal storage which can be expanded via the new microSD card slot or via a USB drive connected to its USB port. It has an HDMI port and still includes an optical audio port.
The new Fire TV comes with a new revised voice remote that no longer uses bluetooth, but instead connects via wifi direct which reduces latency and greatly improves battery life. There is also a new much improved Fire TV Game Controller available separately for $49.99 which also uses wifi direct for improved latency and battery life. The new game controller now features a microphone for voice commands and a headphone jack for private listening. If you’re planning to buy the game controller, you’re much better off buying the new Fire TV Gaming Bundle for $139.99. Not only do you save $10 compared to buying the new Fire TV and new Fire TV Game Controller separately, but you also get a 32GB MicroSD card and two free games. Do realize though that the gaming bundle does not come with the standard voice remote.