Amazon is forcing their hand to be in every entertainment arm possible. With Amazon Fire TV, Amazon is serious with competing with other TV boxes like Apple TV. But with endless amount of shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime and other similar apps, you don’t really need to buy a Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV if you don’t want to. For those Amazon has announced the Amazon Fire TV stick, a chromecast competitor which is very much popular to cast a lot of content to your HDTV via a small USB dongle.
Amazon Fire TV Stick works just like Google’s Chromecast but has a lot of other new features which the Chromecast lacks ( Chromecast 2.0 might have it? ) Its not just us making the direct comparison with the Stick but Amazon openly calls out Chromecast and compares Fire Stick’s hardware and software with Chromecast.
Amazon Fire TV Stick is very rightly priced at just $39 ( For Amazon Prime customers you can buy it now at $19 ).
Here are its specifications :
GPU : VideoCore4
Storage : 8GB
RAM : 1GM
Wi-Fi Connectivity : Dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi (MIMO); supports 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi networks
Bluetooth : Bluetooth 3.0 with support for the following profiles: HID, HFP, HPP
Output Resolution Support : 720p and 1080p up to 60fps
Audio : Dolby Digital Plus certified, audio pass through up to 7.1
The Fire TV Stick works exactly like Google Chromecast, plug it in the HDMI port of your TV, power it with the USB port on your TV and you are good to go. Once the pairing and everything is done, you can use browse various video streaming service apps, music streaming apps and even mirror your device if you want to. Also Fire TV stick comes with a Remote for easy accessibility.
Fire TV stick also comes with a Voice Search for your device. You can use the Fire TV Remove app ( coming soon to iOS ) to use the voice search for any content to want to watch or listen to. The Fire TV Stick offers playback from your iOS or Android devices for apps which support casting and lets you mirror your Fire OS and Android devices entirely, just like Chromecast.
It also supports second screen and X-ray feature to give a immersive experience. The comparison chart below shows how exactly Fire TV stick fairs in front of other similar devices.
