Amazon announced a whole bunch of stuff today, including new Echo devices, new cameras and whatnot from Ring, a gaming service, and a couple of new Fire Sticks with an updated user experience.
The Updated Fire Stick is More Powerful and Just as Affordable
If you’re a Fire Stick user, you may be interested in the all-new Stick (shown above), which is said to be 50 percent more powerful while still keep the low $40 price point. It supports HDR and Dolby Atmos, but keep the resolution locked at just 1080p at 60 fps.
It’s also 5 GHz compatible and comes with the Alexa voice remote that includes power, volume, and mute buttons. It sits comfortable between the Fire Stick 4K and another new Fire Stick announced today.
The New Fire TV Stick
All-new Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote (includes TV controls) | Dolby Atmos audio | 2020 release
It’s 50% faster than the previous Fire TV Stick and comes with the Alexa remote that includes power, volume, and mute buttons.
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$39.99
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The Fire Stick Lite is Similar but Even Cheaper
AmazonThe Fire Stick Lite has nearly all the same features as the new Fire Stick, but comes in at just $30. Amazon claims it has more processing power than any other streaming device under $30, which probably isn’t that hard to do anyway. It supports 1080p streaming and HDR, though there’s no mention of Dolby Atmos.
The biggest differences between the new Fire Stick and Fire Stick Lite appear to be in the remote—you don’t get dedicated power, volume, or mute buttons with the Lite. You do, however, still get access to Alexa.
Fire TV Stick LIte
Introducing Fire TV Stick Lite with Alexa Voice Remote Lite (no TV controls) | 2020 release
The new Fire TV Stick Lite streams at 1080p and only costs $30.
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$29.99
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A New Fire TV Interface is Coming
AmazonAmazon also took the opportunity to talk about the new Alexa-ified Fire TV interface. This is apparently the most dramatic departure from the existing interface that Amazon has ever done, though right now there aren’t a lot of images to show it. But judging by the one above, it looks a lot cleaner than the Fire TV interface of past.
The new interface puts a heavy focus on Alexa and voice controls. Amazon highlights that you can tell Alexa to “go to Live” to open the Live TV guide, for example.
The updated interface also supports profiles, which will be great for multi-user households. It looks pretty similar to what you’re probably used to with services like Netflix and Disney+, and each user will individual recommendations, history, watch lists, settings, and the like. As far as I know, the only other box on the market that supports global profiles is Apple TV.
The user profiles page AmazonThe updated Fire TV will start rolling out “later this year,” starting with the new Fire TV Stick and Stick Lite.