We've been consistently impressed with Amazon's Fire TV media streamers since they first made their debut a few years ago, and regularly earn our Editors' Choice award. The $69.99 Fire TV lacks a few useful tricks and services, but 4K resolution with HDR10 and the power of Amazon's Alexa voice assistant with the included voice remote makes it one of the best media streamers available under $100, and our Editors' Choice. For an even more full-featured Fire TV experience, the newer Fire TV Cube adds hands-free Alexa and home theater device controls to the mix for $50 more.
Now It's a Dongle
The Fire TV is no longer a small box designed to sit next to or in front of your TV (that's the Fire TV Cube's role now). It looks like a blocky Google Chromecast, a 2.6-inch black plastic square 0.6-inch thick, making it easy to hide behind your screen. It has a short, flat cable extending from one corner and ending in an HDMI plug. The opposite corner has a recess for the included micro USB cable, which plugs into a wall adapter for power. The 1080p Fire TV Stick is smaller still, but not by much. It's really quite remarkable how much Amazon has managed to shrink its 4K streaming technology down from last year, a change we've also seen with the excellent Roku Streaming Stick+.
Besides the micro USB connector and HDMI plug, the Fire TV has no other connections and no physical controls. However, unlike the Streaming Stick+ you can make Ethernet an option on the Fire TV with an optional $14.99 Ethernet adapter. It's another small box on a short cable that plugs into the Fire TV's micro USB port, with its own micro USB port and an Ethernet port to provide both power and a wired network connection to the device. The Fire TV Cube uses a similar Ethernet adapter, but it's included as part of the device's price and isn't an additional expense.
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Alexa Voice Remote
The remote is completely unchanged from the previous version. It's a fairly flat, six-inch black wand with a circular navigation pad, playback controls, and Home, Back, Menu, and Alexa/Voice Search buttons. A pinhole microphone above the Alexa button lets you speak into the remote to search for content on the Fire TV or talk to Alexa. Besides the microphone, the Fire TV's remote doesn't have any additional tricks, like the Roku Streaming Stick+'s ability to directly toggle power and change the volume on your TV with its IR emitter.
You can also control the Fire TV with the Fire TV app for Android and iOS. It provides all the functions of the remote, including voice search and Alexa. It also lets you enter text through a touch-screen keyboard. However, unlike the Roku app, there are no options for playing content from your mobile device or mirroring your screen.
Fire TV Services and Compatibility
Amazon's Fire TV OS is a heavily skinned version of Android with its own ecosystem and app store. It's a fairly robust system with most major streaming services including (of course) Amazon Video and Amazon Music, Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix, PlayStation Vue, Sling TV, Spotify, and YouTube.
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The lack of iTunes on any non-Apple device is unsurprising, but unfortunately the Fire TV also omits Google Play Movies & TV, Google Play Music, and a few other on-demand streaming services like Vudu. And, while it's effectively running Android, you can't access the Google Play app store like you can with an Android TV device. Sideloading Android apps is technically possible through the developer options, but extremely unreliable.
The previous Fire TV supported 4K video, and the new model builds on that with high dynamic range (HDR) support. The Fire TV supports streaming video at up to 2160p (4K resolution) and 60 frames per second, and is compatible with HDR10 content. That means you can watch HDR video on Amazon, Netflix, and other services that use HDR10. However, the Fire TV doesn't support Dolby Vision, the other major HDR standard. That can limit the availability of HDR content on certain streaming services.
For Dolby Vision support, you need to look toward the Google Chromecast Ultra or the Apple TV 4K, both of which also support HDR10. They each have their own trade-offs, though; the Chromecast Ultra lacks a remote or any on-screen menu system, while the Apple TV 4K is more than twice as expensive as the Fire TV.
Amazon Alexa
Like the previous Fire TV and the Fire TV Stick (and most other Amazon electronic products), the latest model features Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. It doesn't have hands-free voice controls activated by a wake-up word like Echo devices, but if you hold down the Alexa button on the remote and speak into it, you can use it in all the same ways. It also has the added benefit of displaying the information you request visually, which you get on screen-equipped devices like the Echo Show and Echo Spot, but not standalone Echo speakers.
If you have an Echo, Echo Dot, or another hands-free Alexa device, you can pair it with your Fire TV. This lets you directly control the Fire TV entirely through voice commands, similar to the Fire TV Cube. It can't serve as a universal remote for your other home theater components, since it lacks the Fire TV Cube's infrared emitters, but you can tell your Echo to open apps, play video or music, control playback, search for content, and display Alexa information through the Fire TV without touching your remote.
You can also ask Alexa to look up any video or audio content by title, artist, director, genre, or other search term. You can also jump straight into watching a movie or listening to music by telling Alexa to play it. The Fire TV prioritizes and streamlines playing content from Amazon Video and Amazon Music, but if you log into other services like Netflix, the search results and voice commands will extend to them. It's usually one extra step; loading The Man in the High Castle on Amazon Video was simply a matter of asking Alexa to play it, while loading Stranger Things on Netflix required a button press to confirm playback through Netflix.
Alexa is also capable of answering basic questions, providing weather and sports updates, performing unit conversion, and other handy functions. You can link it with your Apple, Google, or Outlook calendar and check on upcoming appointments with your voice, for instance. And those are just the things Alexa can do out of the box; you can also add various third-party skills that let you do everything from order pizza to a guided whiskey tasting.
Smart home devices can also be controlled using the Fire TV and Alexa. Alexa supports most major home automation systems including Nest, Philips Hue, and Samsung SmartThings. The visual aspect of Alexa on the Fire TV also lets you bring up home security and doorbell cameras like the Amazon Cloud Cam and watch live feeds or recordings on your TV. You can also control your home theater by voice if you have a Logitech Harmony Hub.
Streaming Media Performance
I tested the Fire TV over a Wi-Fi connection. I watched episodes of The Man in the High Castle on Amazon Video, and House of Cards and Stranger Things on Netflix. The Man in the High Castle loaded quickly, and started displaying 4K video in seconds, similar to the performance I saw with the Roku Streaming Stick+. The Netflix shows also started quickly and jumped into 4K resolution.
The playback testing is based on a 5GHz Wi-Fi connection to a Fios modem placed fairly close to the Fire TV, and your own experience may vary depending on your Wi-Fi environment. The option for an Ethernet connection is very welcome; even if the adapter is an extra $15, it still puts the Fire TV at $10 less than the Ethernet-equipped Roku Ultra. Both devices, and the Roku Streaming Stick+, are all very quick to both load streaming content and navigate menus.
The Best Under $100
The Amazon Fire TV is one of the most most feature-rich media streamers you can get for the price. It isn't a perfect streaming platform; Fire TV still doesn't play nice with the Google Play Store (you should instead pick up a Roku Streaming Stick+ for Google Play media), and of course if your media is primarily on iTunes you need an Apple TV 4K. Still, if you're not already committed to a particular streaming media ecosystem, don't need hands-free Alexa, and want to spend less than $100, the Fire TV is the 4K media hub to get and stands as an Editors' Choice for its functionality and affordability. If you're willing to spend more, the Fire TV Cube adds hands-free and universal remote features.
The Amazon Fire TV adds HDR10 to its already compelling 4K video support and Alexa voice assistant, making it one of the best media streamers you can buy.
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