Description
Fire TV Stick simplifies streaming with power, volume, and mute buttons in a single remote. And with 50% more power than the previous generation, Fire TV Stick delivers quick app starts and fast streaming in Full HD.
Feel scenes come to life with immersive Dolby Atmos audio on select titles, including on Prime Video, Netflix, and Disney+, when connected to compatible soundbars and home audio systems. Dolby Atmos moves sounds all around you—even overhead—immersing you in whatever you’re watching.
Just press and ask Alexa to find, launch, and control content, or even switch to cable. Quickly get to favorite apps—Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu—with preset buttons, and go beyond streaming to check sports scores, play music, or see your live camera feeds. Dedicated power and volume buttons control your compatible TV, soundbar, and receiver.
Streaming on Fire TV is simple and intuitive. It all starts with the Main Menu, where you can quickly access your favorite content. Search across hundreds of channels and apps to find what you want to watch. Enjoy personalized streaming using Profiles, with recommendations, viewing history, and watch lists for each person in your household
Enjoy favorites from Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV, Peacock, STARZ, SHOWTIME, Paramount+, and others. Stream live news, sports, and must-see shows. Access tens of thousands of HDR titles. Plus, play millions of songs through services like Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora and iHeartRadio. Subscription fees may apply.
Stream live TV, including news and sports, with subscriptions to Hulu+ Live TV, SLING TV, YouTube TV, and others. Plus, watch movies and TV shows for free with ad-supported apps like Pluto TV, IMDb TV, and more.
The compact design plugs directly into an HDMI port and can tuck neatly behind your TV. Easily move Fire TV Stick between TVs at home or away so your content travels with you.
Fire Stick works perfectly on an out of date Samsung smart TV.
With my really old, refuses to die Westinghouse TV, the Fire Stick plug has to be pulled and re-plugged for every use to be fully functional. My WiFi is weakest at at that location. A Roku device worked well there. This TV is important for weather information. It is in our basement where we go during tornado warnings
The Fire Stick cannot override the startup on my, why did I buy it, TCL Roku TV. The TCL remote quit working and is gone. My upgraded WiFi has a different password.
Instead of starting on the correct HDMI input, the Fire Stick opens on the TCL home screen. I have to manually click through input choices to the right one. So I have to start it manually every time. The Comcast device did go directly to the correct input.
I read many suggestions and workarounds to overcome this problem, it sounds too complicated to get into the TCL to connect it to WiFi to see if that helps...It is a bedroom TV and not important. Maybe I will try again sometime.
It would not be at all acceptable on an important TV, but then the remote wouldn't be gone.
My amateur impression is that Roku, because streaming devices is all they do, works better than Fire Stick for streaming only.
But I would NEVER use Roku:
Roku requires credit card information now.
Roku has no human support of any kind. A huge unpleasant tangle would occur if unintended "purchases" and other foreign charges were made to my credit card.
Purchases are always accounted for on my Prufal Customer account.
There is always an experienced person to contact for help with Prufal Customer devices, or purchases.
Fire Sticks don't seem to have been created to work well on all possible versions of all televisions.
Perhaps Fire Stick will evolve to broaden its reach.
Fire Stick has Alexa so is part of my sort of smart home system..
I feel better that, when I am in the basement working out or doing laundry that, using Alexa on Fire Stick, I can control my home security, talk to someone outside or on the second floor, or call for help. UPDATE
I just found out the Fire Stick paired with an Echo functions as an Echo Show. So Alexa can show my back yard from my Ring camera on the TV while I am in the basement.
Wow.
I REALLY LOVE THIS NEW DEVICE! IT IS FAST, I CAN STREAM MY OWN MOVIE APPS (CARTOON HD, TYPHOON, SYNCLAIR, FILM PLUS, NOVA, KODI, CINEMA HD) AMAZINGLY FAST!
Netflix and prime is super fast also!!! I AM GOING TO ORDER 4 MORE!! Prufal Customer FIRESTICK BEATS OUT APPLE TV AND CHROMCAST GOOGLE TV!!!!
Edit 05/03/2021: 4 days of heavy usage (horror movie marathon) and no rebooting, and the firestick has yet to lag or become slow. I switched from wireless to Ethernet and same thing: no issues at all. Absolutely a fantastic device!!!
Edit 05/10/2021: posting a weekly update.
This device is even more amazing than I first noted. I have yet to experience any slowness or lag. I use it approximately 3 to 6 hours a day, sometimes over 6 hours. I use it for the Live tv option, and of course for YouTube, and audible, I am definitely not seeing any lag it is very speedy. With my 4k, at least once a week I had to unplug and plug it back in. NOT THIS 3RD GEN!! YOU WILL NOT REGRET THIS PURCHASE!
A bit of advice on two things:
First, the 4k firetick, while amazing as it is, is running Android 7.1, which can explain the lag between apps.
The 3rd gen runs Android 9.0, which explains the speed increase and better memory management, not to mention more secure (Firesticks are super secure, just my opinion on Android from a full time Android user). Hence, it is a better idea to get the 3rd gen.
Second, I change frequently from WiFi to Ethernet, to continue testing lagging and I have still experienced absolutely no lag. Ethernet connects at 150 Mbps, will not go higher, where as WiFi is 540 Mbps which tells me the Firesticks are made for WiFi, which makes sense however I love the Ethernet option because I have a cable available.
All I can say is, the Firestick outbeats every streaming device out there (except maybe the Nvidia shield) with reliability, speed, ease of use, connectivity. YOU ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT REGRET YOUR PURCHASE!!!!
EDIT 05/19: I started experiencing lagging issues, and had to unplug and restart the Firestick, first time in 30 days! Was hoping to make it to 45 days but 30 days, with 5 to 7 hours a day of use is pretty amazing!!
I made an error earlier on Ethernet speed with Prufal Customer's Ethernet adapter. The Ethernet adapter from Prufal Customer clocks at 150 Mbps, so I bought Cable Matters Micro USB to Ethernet Adapter and .. WOW! I connect at 349 down and almost 40 up!! I have absolutely no internet lag, on or off wifi but I always prefer Ethernet when I can use it.
I managed to download and install a total of 12 applications via filelinked, and I still have 1.99 gb of space available. This firetick continues to amaze me!!!
Firestick once again beats out Roku, Google Chromecast Android tv, apple tv, except the Nvidia shield. You will not regret this purchase!
Edit 05/31/2021:
I decided to purchase a Nvidia shield pro, so that I could compare and because I got a lot of messages stating it is the best on the market.
It was ana amazing setup, the device is powerful, and snappy. I compared it with the 3rd gen stick and the only three differences I noticed was the following:
More memory; shield has 3gb vs 3rd gen having 2gb
Space; shield has 12gb, can be expanded to 1tb. Firestick has 8, expandable to 512gb.
Screen; 4k is absolutely amazing. 3rd gen has 1080.
Compared with he 4k firestick, the screen is the same.
Speed is the same between shield and firesticks, and navigation is as silky smooth HOWEVER, I am noticing via Hulu, Netflix and Disney plus on shield, the voice was not matching up to the characters when watching movies and shows. No matter what I did: uninstall, reinstall all three apps, shut down and restarted numerous times. It is really annoying and does defeat the entirety of the device as a streaming device.
Price; Nvidia shield is $199, 2019 model with Android 9, April security...Chromecast Android tv is Android 10 with may security patch..at $49.99, 2020 model.... 3rd gen is $39.99 and prime day you can probably get it for $24.99..for a 2021 model. I will not rate Roku because you cannot sideload apps, and it is limited like apple streaming.
Winner?
Prufal Customer!!! Prufal Customer IS THE ABSOLUTE WINNER!
For price, security patches, navigation, side installing apps, ease of use... COME ON FOLKS! I DEBUNKED THE NVIDIA SHIELD MYTH!! I also am returning the shield because I cannot keep something that cannot handle streaming.
Note: Nvidia shield is amazing for gaming, and absolutely beats out all streaming devices. This is just streaming applications that I have reviewed and an issue with!
Currently it appears as though this FireTV Stick 3rd Gen is the only device that ships with this new remote, as the FireTV Stick Lite, FireTV Stick 4K, and FireTV Cube all are currently shipping with older remotes.
PROS:
SPEED- This is the biggest upgrade if in my opinion if you are coming from a 2nd generation device. The specs mention that this 3rd generation is “50% more powerful,” and you can definitely tell the difference in navigating menus and loading applications. This is probably the biggest reason to upgrade from Gen 2.
DOLBY ATMOS – This might not be a big deal for many people, but support for the Dolby Atmos specification is nice for audiophiles with home speaker systems that can make use of it.
REMOTE – As I mentioned in my review of this new remote, the main additions are the “Channel Guide” button, that brings up the menu to watch live TV if you have that set up; and the four App Buttons- for quickly launching Prime Video, Netflix, Disney Plus, and Hulu. The remote also allows control of your TV through power and volume buttons that are not available in the FireTV Stick Lite.
CONS:
NO 4K- This version does not support 4K video streaming, and I wouldn't imagine that it will be supported in the future either, because there is a FireTV Stick 4K product that exists if you want that feature. That FireTV Stick 4K is still shipping with the older 2nd generation Alexa Voice Remote currently though, (the one with a TV power button but no app buttons or channel guide button), so that's kind of disappointing.
All in all, this to me is worth the upgrade from and older FireTV Stick, mainly because of the speed difference but also the newer remote is nice to have. If 4K matters to you, you might want to wait and grab the FireTV Stick 4K version when they eventually start shipping it with the new Gen 3 remote. The Lite version doesn't really seem like it would be worth it in most situations, because for only $10 less you lose Atmos support and all of the TV controls (power, volume, channel guide, app buttons, etc)