The world of home entertainment is getting smarter day-by-day. There are several smart devices in our homes such are smartphones, smart TVs, smart speakers, among others. Also, there are several smart home solutions to choose from, if you still use a non-smart TV or a really old one. The popular media streaming devices are Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast and Apple TV. These are easy-to-connect devices that offer a wide selection of streaming services and apps.
The Amazon Fire TV stick is really a good pick for a number of reasons. It connects to your TV’s HDMI connector. Through this article, we tell you how it is to use one.
The hardware, interface and OS
The Amazon Fire TV Stick is equipped with a decent set of hardware. It has a quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM for smooth performance and 6GB of storage where all the apps and games are installed. That’s not very important. What is important, is its Fire OS – operating system. It is responsive, user-friendly and neatly organized. It even looks like an Android TV interface. The Fire TV allows you to enjoy full HD content.
On the initial set-up, the home screen gives you access to five menus – Home, Movies, TV shows, Apps and Settings. On the home page, you can find the latest and recently watched content. When using the Fire TV for the first time, you may want to download certain apps like a browser, VLC, a popular video player, etc.
Device set-up and connectivity is simple
Setting up the Fire TV Stick is really very simple. It is a pen-drive like device that plugs plug directly to the TV’s HDMI port and uses a USB port to charge. If your TV doesn’t have USB ports, there is an adapter and a USB cable bundled with the Fire TV Stick, which can connect directly to a wall socket.
The device supports the Wi-Fi 802.11ac standard, which is an update over the previous generation of Fire TV Stick. This promises faster download and flawless streaming. One of the last steps is to sign-in to your Amazon account once you’ve connected to your Wi-Fi network. If you don’t have it, it’s free to create. If typing is difficult on the device, and also for gaming, you can use Bluetooth-enabled devices such as a keyboard and mouse. There is support for Bluetooth speakers too.
Easy navigation
Using a Fire TV remote
The Fire TV remote is really impressive and is also something you don’t get with a Chromecast. Comparing it to the previous version of Fire TV remote, the new remote is different with an addition of a voice control button and a built-in microphone. You simply hold down the voice button and search for your favourite TV shows, movies and apps with your voice. You don’t necessarily have to type using the on-screen keyboard. The other controls include ones for playback and volume.
Using the Fire TV App on your phone
You also have the option of using the Fire TV app on your phone or tablet, to browse and control content. The app is available for both Android and iOS devices. The app has a simple interface, but the navigation trackpad isn’t the easiest to use. It takes a while getting used to. All you need to do after installing the app is to connect both, your phone and the Fire TV stick to the same network.
Performance
We were amazed with the content available on the Fire TV. Everything from movies, TV shows and apps sections are neatly organized into different sub-sections. Although, if you need to search content specific to an app, you can’t do it from Fire TV’s search menu. You have to launch that particular app and then search for the content you want to watch. All Amazon and Netflix content can be searched directly from the home search menu though.
A good thing about the Fire TV Stick is that, if you have a stable internet connection, content loads instantaneously. Although, the picture takes a second or two to adjust to the highest quality.
The really interesting Alexa-enabled voice search is present; it is fast and accurate. It lets you perform a number of actions from searching content, rewinding or fast forwarding content, getting weather updates, etc. It supports the Hindi language as well, which means you can search for Bollywood movies and TV series easily. Although, we found that it is limited to searching for content.
Verdict
The Alexa-enabled Amazon Fire TV Stick is a really good performer as a media streaming device. Priced just at Rs. 3,999*, it helps your old TV become a Smart TV. Setting it up is really easy and it is great value for money. The device also supports major streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, among many others. The device comes with a dedicated voice remote, which its rival device, Google Chromecast 2 doesn’t. This device is minimalistic in design and is also very easy to use. If you are planning to buy an Amazon Fire TV Stick, you can now do this online by clicking here or even walk down to the nearest Reliance Digital Store which you can find here.
