Fire TV Stick review: a more affordable streamer from Amazon

Earlier this year, Amazon entered the crowded field of streaming set-top boxes. But while the Fire TV sounded like a real winner on paper, in practice it was more of a mixed bag. For round two, the internet retail giant scaled back its ambitions and the price. The Fire TV Stickis a streaming dongle similar to the Chromecast or Roku Streaming Stick that’s focused mainly on serving up video and less on gaming. Plus, the $39 price tag dramatically lowers the bar for entry. But, even at less than half the price, the Fire TV Stick would be a hard pill to swallow if Amazon didn’t iron out some of the kinks from its first-generation device. So has a few more months of polish addressed our concerns about Fire OS on the big screen? Without giving too much away, the answer is mostly yes.

 

  

 

PROS

  • Unobtrusive design
  • Vastly improved onscreen keyboard
  • Dedicated Prime Video section
  • List of apps keeps getting longer

CONS

  • Still no HBO Go
  • Included remote lacks voice search button
  • Still some rough edges and inconsistencies in Fire OS
SUMMARY The Fire TV Stick addresses a number of issues we had with the Fire TV and comes with a much smaller price tag. It’s not dramatically better than its competitors, but it’s certainly not any worse. For $39, it’s a perfectly viable streaming-media option, and the best one if you’ve already bought into Amazon’s ecosystem.

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https://www.engadget.com/2014-12-04-fire-tv-stick-review.html