Amazon has just announced Fire TV devices for Sweden, the Netherlands, and Poland. While customers in those regions have long been able to buy the global Fire TV Stick Basic Edition, this is the first time that dedicated models have come to these three countries. The 3rd-gen Fire TV Stick and the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is available to pre-order in each country, with deliveries starting on November 17th. Read more ›
With the release of a new Fire TV remote last week, Amazon is now offering a “2020 Release” Fire TV Stick and a “2021 Release” Fire TV Stick. With both versions currently priced the same, an uninformed buyer would likely think the “2021 release” is obviously superior because newer is always better, right? The “2021 release” even says “3rd Gen” in the title, while the “2020 release” does not, and the “2020 release” has a banner at the top enticing customers to check out the “newer version of this product,” so there couldn’t possibly be a reason to buy the old version, right? Unfortunately, that’s not necessarily the case and it’s leading to confusion among shoppers who think the “2021 release” is an all-new Firestick when that couldn’t be further from the truth. Here are all the differences and similarities between the 2020 Fire TV Stick and the 2021 Fire TV Stick, and why you might be better off buying the older version. Read more ›
Amazon has released the 3rd generation Fire TV Stick and 1st generation Fire TV Stick 4K in Australia, Brazil, and Mexico for the first time. These firesticks are the same exact hardware that has already been available in other regions since 2020 and 2018, respectively, but what is new is the Alexa Voice Remote included with these Fire TV models. We’ve already seen this remote pass through FCC approval and now it’s officially available. Compared to the existing Alexa Voice Remote, this new remote adds a Live Guide button, four app buttons, and a blue microphone button with the Alexa logo in place of the black microphone button. Read more ›
The Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite and 3rd-gen Fire TV Stick are the latest Fire TV models to add support for being grouped with Amazon Echo speakers to form an Alexa Home Theater System. Using Echo speakers for improved Fire TV audio was first introduced with the release of the Echo Studio last year, thanks to its Dolby Atmos capabilities. The feature has since expanded to also include compatibility with the 1st & 2nd-gen Echo Plus, 2nd & 3rd-gen Echo, 3rd-gen Echo Dot (with or without clock), and the Echo Sub. All of these Echo speakers can be grouped, in the Alexa app, to the Fire TV Stick 4K, both 1st & 2nd-gen Fire TV Cubes, the 3rd-gen Fire TV, and now the two new 2020 Firesticks. Grouping the devices together into a Home Theater System allows the Fire TV’s audio to automatically and wirelessly use the smart speakers instead of your TV speakers. Instructions for how to do so can be found here.
The Fire TV Stick Lite and the 3rd-generation Fire TV Stick (i.e., Fire TV Stick 3) have recently been released for 2020 and join the Fire TV Stick 4K from 2018 to round out Amazon’s budget-friendly lineup of streaming media players, which are colloquially referred to as Firesticks. The differences might seem straightforward when comparing their device specs, but there are several differences, particularly with the software and operating system of each device, that anyone comparison shopping should know about before determining which device is right for you. Here is a meticulous comparison of all of the differences and similarities between the three Amazon Fire TV Stick models. Read more ›
If there was any doubt that the 3rd-gen Fire TV Stick and the 1st-gen Fire TV Stick Lite share the exact same hardware, the fact that they both use the same model number of S3L46N and the same FCC ID of 2AUQI-7436 should put that to rest. The two are physically indistinguishable from one another on the outside. There is a slight chance that internal components like the memory chips differ, based on my benchmark findings, but components like that can actually vary slightly on the same device model depending on what was available during a particular manufacturing run. So, if they do differ inside, there’s no way to know if that is deliberate or just luck of the draw. Read more ›
Among the first questions that people ask about every new Fire TV model is if Amazon has done anything to deter sideloading apps like Kodi. Rest assured that the new 3rd-gen Fire TV Stick and the Firestick Lite can sideload apps just as easily as every Fire TV model that came before them. My Downloader app runs perfectly right out of the box on these new devices. There is just one important difference about sideloading on these new devices that may be confusing to existing Fire TV and Fire TV Stick owners. Read more ›
Now that the new 2020 Amazon Fire TV Stick 3 and Fire TV Stick Lite have been released, it’s time to see how they stack up against existing Fire TV models, past and present. While computational benchmark scores are by no means going to tell you how well a device will perform at real-world everyday tasks, they’re still helpful to understand how much raw power each Fire TV, Firestick, and Fire TV Cube have to offer, should you push them to their limits. I’ve run all 10 Fire TV models that have ever been released through 4 popular benchmarks that test their CPU, GPU, Memory, and more. Here are the results. Read more ›
Now that there are two new Amazon Fire TV models in the form of the 3rd-generation Fire TV Stick and the Fire TV Stick Lite, here is a comparison of all of the device characteristics and specifications for the entire Fire TV lineup, including the Fire TV Stick 4K and the 2nd-gen Fire TV Cube. Read more ›
Amazon has announced the all-new 3rd generation Fire TV Stick and, for the first time, a new Fire TV Stick Lite model. These two new models for 2020 replace the outgoing 2nd-gen Fire TV Stick that first debuted in 2016. Both new devices share identical hardware, in regards to the streaming media player itself, which is based very closely on the much loved Fire TV Stick 4K. The new Fire TV Stick 3 carries the same price of $39.99 as the outgoing model and comes with the exact same Alexa voice remote that is included in the rest of Amazon’s Fire TV lineup, which features universal remote capabilities thanks to its built-in IR blaster and power/volume/mute buttons. The Fire TV Stick Lite is being introduced for the first time at $29.99, which is lower than any previous Fire TV model before it. The Firestick Lite comes with a new Alexa voice remote that forgoes device control buttons and adds a new Channel Guide button to make access live content easier. Read more ›
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