Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced its newly revamped Fire TV Stick media streamer. After the success of the launch of the first-gen Fire TV stick in 2014, the company has been working on cutting the cost of getting its voice assistant Alexa included in the new stick, which is up to 30 percent faster than the original version, so more people can easily access the new feature.
The price stays at $39.99, but now includes a remote that is voice-capable to let the users utilize the artificially intelligent [AI] assistant. By simply pressing the microphone button on the remote, users can ask the AI to search for particular shows, launch apps, play songs on Spotify, check the weather forecast, or just ask about random facts. According to Amazon, Alexa currently has the ability to understand 3,000 distinct commands.
In 2014, the Seatlle-based e-commerce giant launched a version of the Fire TV Stick that came with an Alexa-powered remote priced at $50, and people seemed to be enjoying it. Meanwhile, the new Fire TV Stick makes the remote standard but costs $10 less. It currently supports more than 4,000 apps and games, as well as various shows from a wide range of apps and channels.
The new Fire TV Stick boasts a speedier quad-core processor compared to the previous stick with just a dual-core processor, so people can expect faster and smoother use of the device. Additionally, it has an improved 802.11ac MIMO Wi-Fi.
Amazon Set to Deliver Fire TV UI Redesign
Although the new Fire TV Stick got a lot better, the user interface [UI] remains the same. People are enjoying it so far, not to mention Amazon has done a good job incorporating more channels into its search function. It’s a total advantage if you are an Amazon Prime member since the feature plays even nicer. However, to provide a better customer service, Amazon is working on improving its UI on all Fire TV devices. The updated interface will now allow users to customize and organize the order of apps as shown on the home screen.
On the other hand, 4K support is still not available on this stick. To avail of this, subscribers will have to spend $100 on Amazon’s 4K Fire TV.
Great Content Selection
The new Fire TV Stick is now available for pre-order and shipping starts on October 20. At $40 price tag, it is currently the cheapest way to get Alexa, as a result of Amazon’s ongoing effort to put the AI into more homes. The new device also comes with $65 worth of free content from Amazon Video, Sling TV, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Hulu, as well as a special offer of Amazon Video credit worth $10 to those who will purchase the product before the month ends.
With over 7,000 channels, apps, Alexa skills and access to more than 300,000 movies and TV episodes, it’s easy to find great content on Fire TV.
The previous version of the stick has been a hit and it won’t come as a surprise if the newest upgrade drives massive sales over the holidays.
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking a link, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!
Leave a Reply