Amazon opened the pre-order service for Fire TV Stick 4K in India in October 2018 and was made available for purchase from 14 November onwards for Rs 5,999.
The new media streaming device comes with several upgrades in both the Fire TV Stick 4K module and the smart remote controller over the predecessor. I have been using the new model for close to a month and here is my take on the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K.
Design:
The new Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K comes with familiar design including the main module with protruding HDMI jack, power cable, Alexa-powered remote and the retail package also comes with extended HDMI adaptor, which comes very handy when docking the TV Stick at the backend of the TV in tight spaces. I have a fixed mount TV on the wall and had very less space to put the device into the HDMI port on the back, but this accessory was really helpful.
As far as the remote is concerned, it comes with 11 buttons and thanks to ergonomic design, my fingers of puny hand was able to reach all of them easily. The keys are placed aptly in the right places for the thumb to reach the most commonly used controls. Even the existing Fire TV Stick users can buy Alexa Voice Remote for Rs 1,999 on Amazon.
User-interface:
It is one of the simplest interfaces to understand and I hardly took 15 minutes to set up including connecting Fire TV Stick 4K to the TV's HDMI port and login into the Amazon Prime Video account and was good to use in no time.
Now that the remote support Alexa and can control TV's volume directly, it felt effortless for me to browse the Prime Video contents. But, have to say, I enjoyed more controlling the TV using the Amazon Echo smart speaker. The icing on the cake was, the latter was intuitive enough to directly perform actions without asking questions. I never had to complete the command with 'on Fire TV'. It automatically fetches the movie or TV show title on the television. For instance, I just called 'Alexa, open The Dark Knight', it fetched the title and said Alexa play the movie. It started playing. I have been told that Amazon Echo will also be able to perform for many apps not just Amazon Prime Video on Fire TV Stick.
Final thoughts:
Having used the predecessor for several months, I noticed marked improvements in the new Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, the speed of response to the remote control and also the swiftness in recognising the voice via Alexa-powered voice command button on the remote is impressive. To top it off, the ease of use with Echo Spot in the living room has brought in more convenience than ever before.
I have to admit, Fire TV Stick 4K has made me lazy; I no longer waste time if don't find the remote, I just switch the HMDI on my main TV remote and just ask the Echo Spot to browse for TV shows and control volume.
Though Fire TV Stick 4K needs higher internet bandwidth of minimum 10mbps speed, it's not a deal breaker, as the video and audio quality is so much good and all these capabilities for Rs 5,999, is just unbelievable.
If you want to get more out of your high resolution LED TV, Amazon TV Stick 4K is the best media streaming device to buy and will serve you well.
Pros:
- Super fast response time in terms of user interface
- Supports HDR, HDR+, Dolby Vision 4K video contents
- Fire TV Stick remote can now control volume, mute and also the power of the Television
- Aggressive price tag
Cons:
- It needs a minimum of 10-15Mbps speed internet connection. This might a deterrent for some budget consumers, but believe me, it's worth every penny to upgrade your internet plan.
