While looking for more information about the unreleased “Pico” Fire TV remote that recently received FCC approval, I stumbled on a regulatory filing in Japan for a new Fire TV Smart TV remote with Japanese text on its buttons. Since Amazon does not yet sell Fire TV Smart TVs in Japan, the existence of this remote seems to suggest that Japan will soon be among the next new markets for Amazon’s line of smart TVs. Read more ›
In the shadows of the announcement of the new Fire TV Stick 4K Max and the new Amazon-built Fire TV Smart TVs, Best Buy and Amazon have announced their continued relationship around Fire TV Smart TVs in the US with new models from Pioneer and Toshiba. The Pioneer sets will come in 43″ and 50″ screen sizes and feature 4K resolution, as well as HDR 10 and Dolby Vision high dynamic range. The new Toshiba series of Fire TV Smart TVs, like Amazon’s own Fire TV Omni Series Smart TVs, will feature far-field microphones for hands-free control through Alexa. Read more ›
Amazon has done what has been rumored, if not anticipated, for a very long time and announced its own Amazon-built smart TVs. These new Fire TV-branded TVs come in two varieties, a Fire TV Omni Series and a Fire TV 4-Series, where the primary difference between the two is that the Omni versions feature far-field microphones for hands-free Alexa voice control, in addition to a voice remote, and the 4-series relies on only a voice remote. These new TVs come in 43″, 50″, 55″, 65″, and 75″ screen sizes, with the two largest sizes offered only in the Omni Series with hands-free Alexa. All models feature 4K Ultra HD resolution, with support for HDR 10 and HLG high dynamic range, but the two largest sizes also support Dolby Vision. Read more ›
According to an article by Business Insider, Amazon is “planning to roll out its own Amazon-branded TV in the US.” The TVs will reportedly be released “as soon as October” in sizes that range from 55 to 75 inches. The article claims that the TVs are “designed and manufactured by third parties, one of which is TCL,” but then continues to say “Amazon is also working on a separate TV that it is designing in-house.” Read more ›
A very common question among Fire TV Smart TV owners, formerly known as Fire TV Edition TVs, is if its possible for the TV to be powered on to something other than the Home screen, since most “dumb” TVs just show the last input you used when they turn on. Thankfully, the answer it’s yes and it’s the case for nearly all Fire TV Smart TV models, including those from AKAI, AmazonBasics, Croma, Grundig, HomeX, Insignia, JVC, OK, Onida, and Toshiba. Read more ›
The new Fire TV interface update for Fire TV Smart TVs seems to have recently resumed its rollout and with it comes a small, but very welcomed, addition to the main navigation menu. Amazon has added a new Inputs button to the menu bar, between the profile selector and the Home button. This makes it much easier to change inputs since inputs no longer appear in the Recent row on the home screen. Read more ›
About a month ago, the new Fire TV interface began rolling out to 2nd-gen Fire TV Sticks and to Fire TV Smart TVs for the first time. Those were the last two device groups to get the new interface but many with those devices have still not received the update, which indicates that the update was likely halted due to an issue. It now seems like the rollout of the new interface to those devices has resumed again since a pair of new software versions have popped up. Read more ›
Amazon and Best Buy have announced an all-new series of high-end 2021 Insignia Fire TV Smart TVs for the US and Canada. What sets these apart from past Fire TV Smart TVs, and make them the new best models with regard to picture quality, is the use of quantum dot QLED technology, which is a first for any Fire TV Smart TV. These 4K TVs, available in 50″, 55″, 65″, and 70″ sizes, also support Dolby Vision HDR, which, while has been available on Toshiba Fire TVs, is a first for an Insignia model. Read more ›
Amazon has announced that Fire TV Smart TVs from Toshiba and Insignia are gaining support for Apple AirPlay 2 and HomeKit. AirPlay will allow iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Mac owners to cast content from their Apple devices directly onto the TVs. HomeKit support will allow Fire TV Smart TVs to be controlled by Siri. Support is rolling out to 2020 models now and will come to other Fire TV Smart TV models in the future. Read more ›
Amazon appears to have dropped the word “Edition” from a lot of the branding for 3rd-party products running the Fire TV operating system. TVs that were once labeled as “Fire TV Edition” televisions are now simply labeled as “Fire TV” televisions. There are plenty of places that still use the word “Edition,” but it has gone missing from a lot of key areas and is entirely absent in Amazon’s announcement of the latest Fire TV televisions from Toshiba. While this is a small change in the grand scheme of things, it does pull Fire TV devices that are not made by Amazon closer into being equal citizens with Amazon’s own standalone Fire TV devices. Just do your best not to call them “Fire TV TVs.”
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