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Amazon Fire TV

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Amazon Fire TV
Amazon Fire TV with remote (first generation)
DeveloperAmazon
ManufacturerFoxconn
TypeDigital media player, microconsole
Release date
  • US: April 12, 2014
  • DE: September 25, 2014[1]
  • UK: October 23, 2014[1]
  • JP: October 28, 2014[2]
Introductory priceUS$99[3]
Operating systemFire OS 5 "Bellini"[4]
System on a chipQualcomm Snapdragon 600 APQ8064T[5]
MediaTek MT8173C (2nd Gen)
CPUQualcomm Krait 300, quad-core up to 1.7 GHz (1st generation)[5]
dual-core ARM Cortex-A72 up to 2 GHz and dual-core ARM Cortex-A53 up to 1.573 GHz (2nd generation)
Memory2 GB LPDDR2 RAM[5]
Storage8 GB internal[5]
Display1080p and 4K[5]
GraphicsQualcomm Adreno 320 (1st Gen)[5]
PowerVR GX6250 (2nd Gen)[6]
SoundDolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound[5]
ConnectivityHDMI, Bluetooth 4.0, Bluetooth 4.1, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n/ac), 10/100 Ethernet, Optical audio, Fire game controller[5]
Power5.5 mm DC[5] (6.25 V 2.5 A power adapter[7])
Current firmware6.2.1.2
Dimensions115 × 115 × 17.5 mm (4.53 × 4.53 × 0.69 in)[5]
Mass281 g (9.9 oz)[5]
RelatedRoku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Ouya
WebsiteAmazon Fire TV

Amazon Fire TV is a digital media player and its microconsole remote developed by Amazon 𝟠𝟝𝟝 𝟛𝟙𝟞 𝟘𝟙𝟙𝟙.[8][9] The player is a small network appliance entertainment device that streams digital audio/video content to a high-definition television from the home (internet) network. The player also allows users to play video games with the included remote, via a mobile app, or with an optional game controller.

Limited Amazon Fire TV functionality is also available as the Amazon Fire TV Stick. By convention, Fire TV refers to the set-top box and Fire TV Stick refers to the plugin stick.

The first-generation Fire TV device featured 2 GB of RAM, MIMO dual-band Wi-Fi, and a Bluetooth remote control with a microphone for voice search. It supported 1080p streaming and Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound but was dependent on internet bandwidth of the user. Unveiled on April 2, 2014, the Amazon Fire TV (1st Generation) was made available for purchase in the US the same day for US$99 and was launched with a video game called Sev Zero.[3]

In 2015, the Amazon Fire TV (2nd Generation) was released with improved processor speed and 4K UHD support.[10] Amazon Fire TV is also available in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and launched in India in 2016[11].

Fire TV

First generation

The first Fire TV (codenamed "Bueller" after the eponymous character from Ferris Bueller's Day Off)[12][13] offers HDMI and optical audio, with support for Dolby Digital Plus and 7.1 surround sound pass-through, along with an Ethernet port and a USB 2.0 port. According to Amazon, the Fire TV is designed to outpace competitors like the Apple TV and Roku in performance: The 0.72-inch-thick box features a 1.7 GHz quad-core CPU (Qualcomm Snapdragon 8064), 2 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal storage, along with a dual-band wireless radio for 1080p streaming over 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and a 10/100 ethernet connection. The company said that it does not intend the Fire TV to compete with gaming consoles; instead, its gaming capabilities are geared toward people who do not already own a console but may play games on a smartphone or tablet. It has a dedicated controller accessory.[4]

Second generation

Amazon released a 2nd-generation Fire TV, codenamed "Sloane",[12] in late 2015. The 2nd generation features 4K Ultra High Definition support, improved processor performance, and a MediaTek 8173C chipset to support H.265 (HEVC), VP8, and VP9 codecs. Wireless hardware upgrades includes a dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi with 2x2 MIMO and Bluetooth 4.1.[14][15]

Third generation

On September 27, 2017, Amazon announced the third generation Fire TV alongside 5 other new Amazon products.

Fire TV Stick

First generation Fire-TV Stick with remote (without voice search)
First generation Fire-TV Stick with remote (without voice search, codenamed "Inigo"[12])

First generation

On November 19, 2014, Amazon released a smaller version of the Fire TV called the Fire TV Stick. Codenamed "Montoya",[12] it is an HDMI-port plug-in device that replicates much of the functionality of the larger Fire TV.[16] Its hardware is slightly different, it has 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of internal storage, weighs 0.9 oz. (25.1 g) and it uses a Broadcom BCM28155 dual-core 1.0 GHz Cortex-A9 processor and a Broadcom VideoCore IV GPU. Wireless hardware includes a dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi with 2x2 MIMO and Bluetooth 3.0 [15][17] The Fire TV Stick is bundled with a remote control, in either of two variants; one with voice search on the remote and one without.

Second generation

Second generation Fire-TV Stick with Alexa remote (with voice search)
Second generation Fire-TV Stick with Alexa remote (with voice search)

On October 20, 2016, Amazon released Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote, codenamed "Tank".[12][18] Other than the new remote, the updates include MediaTek MT8127D Quad-core ARM 1.3 GHz processor with a Mali-450 MP4 GPU, and support for the H.265 (HEVC) codec. Wireless hardware upgrades includes a dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi with 2x2 MIMO and Bluetooth 4.1.[15] It retains the 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage and weighs slightly more at 1.1 oz. (32.0 g).[19]

Fire TV Cube

The Fire TV Cube was launched in June 2018, as a mix of the Fire TV and Echo Dot.[20]

Software

The device initially ran Fire OS 3.0, based on Android Jelly Bean 4.2. According to Amazon, that made it "simple for developers to port their services and games over to Fire TV."[4]

In November 2017, Amazon launched the Fire TV version of the Amazon Silk web browser.[21] In December 2017, Mozilla launched a Fire TV version of the Mozilla Firefox browser.[22]

Updates

On March 24, 2015, Amazon announced an update to the Fire TV software to provide the following additional features which address some of the concerns raised in early reviews:[23]

  • Expandable USB storage on Amazon Fire TV; the user can connect a USB mass storage device to expand the Fire TV storage.
  • Connect to the user's hotel or dorm room Wi-Fi with captive portal support, which enables the user to connect to Wi-Fi that requires web authentication—this includes Wi-Fi at most major hotels, as well as some universities.
  • Private listening on Fire TV, adds support for wireless Bluetooth headphones to Fire TV.
  • Browse and search Prime Playlists: Prime members can now take advantage of Prime Music playlists from Fire TV with hundreds of expertly curated Prime Playlists to pick from.
  • Hidden PIN entry, the PIN entry screen hides the numbers selected.
  • New shortcuts put the user's Fire TV to sleep or enable display mirroring by pressing and holding the Home button on the remote.

Models

Generation (within Fire TV) 1st generation (2014) 1st generation (2014) 2nd generation (2015) 2nd generation (2016) 3rd generation (2017) 1st generation (2018)
Model Fire TV Fire TV Stick Fire TV Fire TV Stick Fire TV Fire TV Cube
Release date April 12, 2014 November 19, 2014 September 29, 2015 October 20, 2016 October 25, 2017 June 21, 2018
Status Discontinued Current
OS Fire OS 5 Fire OS 6
System Version 5.2.6.3 6.0
CPU Maker Qualcomm Broadcom MediaTek Amlogic
Family Snapdragon 600 Quad-core ARM big.LITTLE
Model APQ8064T BCM28155 MT8173C MT8127D S905Z
Cores 4x Krait 300 @ 1.7 GHz 2x ARM Cortex-A9 @ 1.0 GHz 2x ARM Cortex-A72 @ 2 GHz and

2x ARM Cortex-A53 @1.573 GHz

4x ARM Cortex-A7 @ 1.3 GHz 4x ARM Cortex-A53 @ 1.5 GHz
Width 32-bit 32-bit 64-bit 32-bit 64-bit
GPU Designer Qualcomm Broadcom Imagination Technologies ARM
Family Adreno VideoCore IV PowerVR Mali
Model 320 Capri VC4 GX6250 450 MP4 450 MP3
OpenGL ES 3.0 2.0 3.1 2.0
Vulkan n/a n/a 1.0 n/a
OpenCL 1.1 embedded profile n/a 1.2 n/a
Hardware Decode

Support [15]

MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, H.265, VP8, VP9 MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, H.265 MPEG-2, H.264, H.265, VP9
RAM 2 GB LPDDR2 1 GB LPDDR2

(512 MB system, 512 MB video)

2 GB LPDDR3 1 GB LPDDR3 2 GB
Storage Internal 8 GB NAND Flash 8 GB 16 GB
External USB up to 128 GB n/a Up to 128 GB microSDXC n/a Micro USB
Microphone Yes
Wireless Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0

HID, SPP Profiles

Bluetooth 3.0

HID, SPP Profiles

Bluetooth 4.1

HID, HFP, SPP profiles

Bluetooth 4.1

A2DP, AVRCP, GAVDP, HID, IOPT profiles

BT 4.2 + LE

Supported profiles: A2DP 1.2-SRC, AVRCP 1.0-TG, HID 1.0-Host, HOGP 1.0-Host

Yes
Wi-Fi Dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n

2x2 MIMO

Dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n

2x2 MIMO

Dual-band 802.11 b/g/n/ac

2x2 MIMO

Dual-band 802.11 b/g/n/ac

2x2 MIMO

Dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

2x2 MIMO

Dimensions 84.9 mm x 25.0 mm x 11.5 mm 115 mm x 115 mm x 17.8 mm

4.5" x 4.5" x 0.7"

85.9 mm x 30.0 mm x 12.6 mm

3.4" x 1.2" x 0.5"

65.0 mm x 65.0 mm x 15.0 mm

2.6” x 2.6” x 0.6”

86.1 mm x 86.1 mm x 76.9 mm

3.4” x 3.4” x 3.0”

Power Supply 6.25V, 2.5A, 16W, DC

Plug: 5.5mm (outer) x 2.5mm (inner)

5V, 1A, 5W, DC

Micro USB Cable and USB Power Adapter required

15V, 1.4A, 21W, DC

Plug: 3mm (outer) x 1mm (inner)

5V, 1A, 5W, DC

Micro USB Cable and USB Power Adapter required

5.2V, 1.8A, 9W, DC

Micro USB Cable and USB Power Adapter required

Reception

Dan Seifert from The Verge reviewed Fire TV on April 4, 2014, giving it an 8.8/10 and largely praising its current functionality and future potential.[24] Dave Smith from ReadWrite wrote: "Fire TV aims to be the cure for what ails TV set-top boxes."[25] GeekWire editor Andy Liu's review is headlined "Amazon's Fire TV sets a new bar for streaming boxes."[26] Ars Technica praised the device specs that are better than the competition, the build quality was high, and if you use Amazon content, the microphone works very well. However, the reviewer did not like that media browsing puts Amazon content in the front thus making other apps less convenient, the game selection is limited and many games are unoptimized, and its free space is only 5.16GB, limiting the number of games that can be installed.[27]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Amazon Fire TV now available for pre-order in the UK and Germany".
  2. ^ "Amazon Fire TV & Fire TV Stick Coming to Japan".
  3. ^ a b Horn, Leslie (April 2, 2014). "Fire TV: Everything You Need to Know About Amazon's $100 Streaming Box". Gizmodo. Gawker Media. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c "Publish to Fire OS 5". Amazon.com. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Amazon Fire TV –Streaming Media Player –Shop Now". Amazon.com. Retrieved April 12, 2003.
  6. ^ James, Dave. "Amazon Fire TV review". techradar. Retrieved 25 Jul 2016.
  7. ^ https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/customerdocumentation/Amazon_Fire_TV_User_Guide.pdf
  8. ^ Solomon, Kate. "Amazon Fire TV is Amazon's powerful new streaming box". Techradar.com. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  9. ^ Tam, Donna. "Amazon unveils Amazon Fire TV for streaming video". CNET. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  10. ^ James, Dave. "Amazon Fire TV review". techradar. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  11. ^ "Amazon Fire Stick launched in India: Detailed review 2017". Finissue. 2017-08-27. Retrieved 2017-09-22.
  12. ^ a b c d e "The Amazon Fire TV Stick 2's codename is Tank". AFTVNews.
  13. ^ "Amazon's Fire TV Piles Into the Living Room". Businessweek. 2014-04-02. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  14. ^ James, Dave. "Amazon Fire TV review". techradar. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  15. ^ a b c d "Device Specifications for Fire TV". developer.amazon.com. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  16. ^ "How Amazon's Fire TV Stick Compares to Other Streaming Dongles - WIRED". WIRED.
  17. ^ Fire TV Stick - Official Site. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  18. ^ Estrada, Maren (2016-10-17). "Amazon's next-gen Fire TV Stick with Alexa is only $40, and it launches this week". BGR. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
  19. ^ All-New Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote | Streaming Media Player.
  20. ^ Haselton, Todd (21 June 2018). "The Amazon Fire TV Cube is so good I want one for every TV in my house". CNBC. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  21. ^ Amazon releases their Silk Web Browser for the Amazon Fire TV - AFTV News, 28 November 2017
  22. ^ Firefox is now available on Amazon’s Fire TV, and it can access YouTube - Nick Statt, The Verge, 20 December 2017
  23. ^ "Amazon Announces New Features for Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick". Amazon. 2015-03-24. Retrieved 2015-05-27.
  24. ^ Seifert, Dan (2014-04-04). "Amazon Fire TV review". The Verge. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  25. ^ "Review: The Amazon Fire TV Is Kind Of A Mess – ReadWrite".
  26. ^ Liu, Andy. "Review: Amazon's Fire TV sets a new bar for streaming boxes". GeekWire. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  27. ^ Amazon Fire TV misses the same marks as Ouya, other media boxes. Ars Technica. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
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