Amazon likely close to launching its own cheaper Fire TV-branded TVs

Posted by Elias Saba on — 12 Comments

Smart TVs from various manufacturers with Amazon’s Fire TV operating system built-in have been around since 2017. However, it wasn’t until 4 years later that Amazon decided to release its own branded Fire TV Smart TVs with the introduction of the Fire TV 4-Series and Fire TV Omni Series TVs in late 2021. While those TVs did all have 4K screens, they lacked many high-end features. It wasn’t until last year with the release of the Fire TV Omni QLED Series in 2022 that Amazon incorporated premium features into its own line of TVs. Now it’s looking like the next set of Amazon-branded Fire TV Smart TVs will target the opposite end of the TV market with cheaper TVs. Read more ›

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Fire TV gains an NCAA March Madness Hub and interactive bracket game

Posted by Elias Saba on

Amazon has added a March Madness Hub to Fire TV devices for the 2023 NCAA basketball tournament. The hub contains links to various apps where the games can be streamed, a row of basketball movies to watch while you wait for the tournament to start, and an interactive game where you can fill in your predictions for the final tournament bracket. Read more ›

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Xiaomi announces new Redmi Fire TV Smart TV with a never before seen remote

Posted by Elias Saba on — 8 Comments

As expected from multiple teases earlier in the week, Xiaomi has announced a new Fire TV Smart TV model. The new TV is slated for release in India under the brand Redmi, which is one of Xiaomi’s numerous sub-brands. While what little is currently known about the TV isn’t terribly interesting, it appears the TV will not come with the standard Fire TV remote that nearly all Fire TV Smart TVs ship with. Instead, the TV appears to include an an all-new Fire TV remote. Read more ›

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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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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 — 59 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 — 56 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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Fire TV Shortcut Apps

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Manage Installed AppsQuickly quit apps and clear app cache.
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Bluetooth DevicesEasily pair/unpair headphones. keyboards, mice, and more.
... and over 30 more!

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