All the Fire TV device Code Names and the Movie/TV Characters they’re named after

Like many companies, Amazon uses code names to reference devices during their development, and Fire TV devices are no exception. Fire TV code names are more entertaining to learn than most because nearly all Fire TV models, and their remotes, are named after TV characters. I’ve been tracking Fire TV code names for a while, from the very first Fire TV box to the most recent Fire TV Stick 4K Max that was just released, so here are all the code names of Fire TV devices and what inspired the name. Read more ›

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Fire TV Stick 3 & Stick Lite share the same model number and are the same size as the Fire TV Stick 2

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 ›

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The two new upcoming Fire TV models are codenamed “Needle” and “Stark”

I’ve started digging into the code of the new 5.6.2.0 Fire TV software update, as I always do with new updates, and I’ve found references to the two new Fire TV models that are expected to be released later this year. The new mid-tier Fire TV, which uses a dongle form factor is codenamed “Needle,” and the new flagship Fire TV, which incorporates the functionality of an Echo Dot, is codenamed “Stark.” Read more ›

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Fire TV Edition televisions are codenamed “Margo/Rita” and confirmed to have “AFTRS” build name

I just started digging deeper into the guts of the Fire TV 5.2.4.1 software update and discovered that it’s the first version of Fire OS to include support for the upcoming Fire TV Edition televisions from Westinghouse, Seiki, and Element. Additionally, I can now definitively confirm that the “AFTRS” build name, which I found traces of earlier this month and guessed was a Fire TV Edition television under testing, is in fact the build name for those TVs.

Since I like keeping track of Fire TV codenames, I dug around for new ones in the 5.2.4.1 update and found that the Fire TV Edition televisions are codenamed “Margo” and/or “Rita.” Most of the code referred to the TVs under the “Margo” codename, but there were a few places that used “Rita.” It’s a little odd to find two codenames, but perhaps one is the codename for the Fire TV Edition project as a whole, which I’m guessing to be “Rita,” and the other is the codename for the specific hardware being released later this year, which I’m guessing is “Margo.”

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The Amazon Fire TV Stick 2’s codename is Tank

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I know it’s among my nerdier interests, but I like knowing the codename given to devices before they’re released. For those curious, the new Fire TV Stick 2’s codename is Tank. Amazon likes sticking to a theme for their codenames, and the Fire TV devices have, appropriately enough, always been named after movie characters. The best known movie character named Tank that I can think of is from The Matrix, so it seems likely the name is from that movie. Based on the Fire TV Stick 2’s improved performance and surprising USB OTG support, it certainly lives up to the role of a muscular character that can get jacked in. Read more ›

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Amazon’s next-generation Fire TV is codenamed “Sloane” — New Fire TV Stick is unlikely

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Tech companies love giving their devices themed codenames and Amazon is no exception. While Google has stuck with desserts as it’s Android codename theme, Amazon has used movie characters for all of their Fire TV related codenames. The 1st-gen Amazon Fire TV is codenamed “BUELLER”, named after Ferris Bueller, the lead character in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. After spending a few hours digging around in the source code of the developer preview of Fire OS 5, I’ve discovered that the codename for the next-generation Fire TV is “SLOANE”, named after Sloane Peterson, Ferris Bueller’s girlfriend in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. This now further confirms that the mysterious “Amazon AFTS” device which leaked a couple months ago is in fact the next generation Fire TV, and also reaffirms that there will not be a new Fire TV Stick released alongside the new Fire TV. Read more ›

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