When it amount to Amazon Fire TV and picking out which is the one you should get , it really come in down to one question . It ’s not exactly a elementary one , though .
What , precisely , do you want ?
Because here ’s the affair about Amazon Fire TV devices : Most of them are ridiculously inexpensive . you may get a Fire TV Stick for as fiddling as $ 20 . But you probably should n’t . We ’ll explain more in a instant . Or you could pass more like $ 100 and get a gadget — a cube , in reality — that direct compound Fire TV with anAmazon Echo speakerthat all hooks into your video to make a coolheaded sort of hybrid gadget .
Or you could spend a few hundred dollars to get a television receiver that ’s powered by Amazon Fire TV as the underlie operating organisation , with all the Alexander Graham Bell and whistles you ’ll find in the other devices . None of that actually answers the question , though . Which is the good Amazon Fire telly gimmick you should bribe ?
And here ’s another thing to count : Amazon does n’t really update this hardware on any kind of regular meter . We just sort of get them when we get them . The Fire TV Stick 4 K Max , for instance , issue forth out in fall 2023 . It ’s still really honorable . Will we see a new one soon ? We do n’t have intercourse . It ’s a secret !
Either way , this is what we think you should consider .
The best for everyone
Fire TV Stick 4K Max
TheAmazon Fire TV Stick 4 K Maxis a mouthful , and it ’s the Fire TV Stick we think most folks should get if you ’re looking to spend less than $ 100 . It most recently see a hardware refresh in September 2023 that really was a relatively minor spec jut . Faster processor . More RAM . Better Wi - Fi . It also supportsDolby Vision for HDR , andDolby Atmos for audio recording . Those are all right things that will help oneself future tense - cogent evidence the 4 K Max ( as we tend to call it for brevity ) for a few years .
In add-on to take the Fire TV operating arrangement ( as all Fire TV devices do , of form ) , the 4 K Max currently is the only Fire TV Stick that includesAmazon ’s Ambient Experience . That ’s a nerveless combination of sieve saver and widgets that actually give you something on your telecasting that you ’d need to view when you ’re not watching anything else . If you ’re a clean frequent user of Amazon intersection , you ’ll get a good bit of usefulness out of it beyond the backgrounds . And if none of them tickles your fancy , you could have it display your own photograph .
The Fire TV Stick 4 K Max retail for $ 60 , but there ’s a very good prospect that you ’ll be able-bodied to find it for less . Maybe even a lot less . give how much more you get with this twist over the lesser - able ( and , yes , even less expensive ) Fire TV Sticks , we ’d go ahead and pony up for this one . It ’s that much better for not a lot more money .
The step-up Fire TV device
Amazon Fire TV Cube
The step up ( sort of ) from the Fire TV Stick 4 K Max is the Fire TV Cube . presently in its third loop and last updated in September 2022 , the Fire TV Cube is sort of exactly what the name entail . Take a Fire TV Stick and build it up into cube form . Toss in a speaker and microphone regalia , and you now have a Fire TV gimmick that allows you to do hands - free Alexa dominance . It supports 4 super acid resolution , Dolby Atmos , and Dolby Vision , too .
The most recent Fire TV Cube allow you use Alexa not just to answer questions or act music or games or ascendence ignitor — it can now control your television or another connected gadget , too , thanks to a fiddling communications protocol called CEC . ( That ’s the same thing that lets your TV and soundbar and other devices all play nice with each other . )
That ’s a couple of pegleg up over the Fire TV Stick 4 K Max . But it ’s also more expensive , list at $ 140 . ( Though cut-rate sale prices will take it nearer to $ 110 . ) Also mark that it does n’t yet have access to the Ambient Experience mentioned above .
The Cube is draw up there in age . And we ’re seeing more and more cut-rate sale . It might be supersede sooner rather than after . Or it might be phased out at some point . We ’ll just have to see .
The TV option
Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED
If you ’re in the market for a new television and definitely want it to just flat - out run Amazon Fire TV so you do n’t have to plug in anything else , you ’ve stimulate a lot of options .
At the top of the great deal is the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED Series . They head for the hills from 43 inches retailing at about $ 450 to 75 column inch at $ 1,100 retail . Once again , sales Mary Leontyne Price can lessen that a good second .
The Omni Series QLED are n’t thebest of the bestwhen it comes to utter video technical school , but they ’re no slouch of a TV , either . dead open , with all the Fire video and Alexa stuff you want . And they have the aforementioned Ambient Experience , with an added twist . The Omni Series TVs have an optical sensing element that can say when the elbow room is empty and turn the goggle box off — then turn it back on and start the Ambient Experience when it see you ’re back in the room . Very cool .
We ’re focalise on the good here , but it ’s worth mentioning that there also are plenty other less models of Fire TV for even less money . Just with far few feature film .
So which one’s best?
This is one of those times in which there is n’t a single , childlike answer for which Fire TV machine is best for you . It really does look on what you want and how you mean to apply it .
The Fire TV Stick 4 K Max is the best of the low - cost sticks , and it really is the one we advocate . If you cheap out here , you ’ll get a drastically lesser experience — especially given that the Max gets the Ambient Experience that the lesser devices lack .
The Fire television Cube is great if you need to combine an Amazon Echo speaker with a Fire television experience . ( Or you could get a $ 60 — or less ! — 4 K Max and coalesce it with an Echo Pop for even less and get fairly much the same experience . )
And the Fire TV Omni QLED is our go - to for the best Fire idiot box - powered television experience .
So you ’ve got a scope of products at a reach of prices for a range of purpose . Choose wisely .
