One issue with the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube that was causing a bit of headache among enthusiasts was Amazon’s decision to cut power to the device’s USB port when the Cube went to sleep. Among other issues, this prevented the use of faster external Ethernet adapters to remain functional while the Fire TV Cube was not being used. Amazon has now informed me that this issue has been corrected through a recent software update. I tested it and, sure enough, the USB port on the Fire TV Cube 3 now remains powered while the device is asleep.

One great change with the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube, compared to both previous models, is the inclusion of a full-sized USB-A port whereas the old models used a micro USB port. This eliminates the need to use an OTG cable for connecting the vast majority of USB drives and peripherals. The other change Amazon has done with the new Cube’s USB port, which is unlike the past models, is cutting off all power to the port when the Fire TV Cube goes to sleep, whereas the older Cube models kept the port powered all the time. This change can be beneficial to some for automatically turning off external devices when the Fire TV Cube isn’t being used, but it’s proving to be an annoyance for others, such as those using external Gigabit Ethernet adapters for additional wired network speed. Read more ›