Just in time for its October Prime Day event, Amazon is announcing a new Fire TV Stick 4K with a redesigned remote, as well as a second, fancier remote that you can find with Alexa, and some new Alexa+ features built into the Fire TV interface, which should help make it easier for you to find the best streaming shows and movies.
However, only one of these is available starting today; for the other two, you'll have to wait a little longer.
Fire TV Stick 4K
Like the Fire TV Stick HD, released earlier this year, the Fire TV Stick 4K is Amazon's second device to use its new Vega OS, rather than the Android kernel on previous sticks.
Amazon says that the Fire TV Stick 4K is 20 to 40% faster than "another leading brand" — we'll leave it up to you to figure out who that is — and has a quad-core 1.7 GHz processor, 8GB of storage, and supports Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and Bluetooth Low Energy. It can also run off the USB port on your TV, which is a nice feature.
The Fire TV Stick 4K supports HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, H.265, H.264, VP9, and AV1 video formats and outputs 2160p, 1080p, and 720p resolutions at up to 60 fps.
While the regular price of the Fire TV Stick 4K is $59.99, Amazon is offering it for $29.99 during October Prime Day. The Fire TV Stick HD is already discounted by 60%, to $15.99.
With the release of the Fire TV Stick 4K, Amazon will officially have three sticks in its rotation (the Fire TV Stick HD, the Fire TV Stick 4K, and the $84 Fire TV Stick 4K Max) along with the $199 Fire TV Cube (2nd gen). Amazon will continue to sell the Fire TV Stick Select and Fire TV Stick Plus until supplies run out.
Fire TV Remote Plus
The Fire TV Stick 4K ships with a redesigned remote that has an asymmetrical shape—it's thinner at the top, with a squared-off front edge and a rounded rear.
In addition, the Home button is now metal, and other buttons have indentations, making them easier to locate by feel without looking down at the remote. The new remote also has a customizable Star button that can launch your favorite app or setting.
The Fire TV Remote will ship with the new streaming stick, but if you want to upgrade your current remote, you can buy it in October for $14.99.
Fire TV Remote Plus
The redesigned remote will also get a glow-up with the Fire TV Remote Plus, which will have an aluminum housing and backlit buttons. Even better for those with deep couch cushions or young children, the Remote Plus has a Find My feature: If you say "Alexa, find my remote," it will play a sound so you can find it more easily.
It's a feature that's been present on the Google TV Streamer and Apple TV 4K's remotes, so it's nice to see Amazon playing catch-up.
However, the Fire TV Remote Plus won't launch until January 2027, and Amazon hasn't announced pricing.
Alexa+ improvements
Amazon's streaming sticks are also getting a bit of an Alexa+ upgrade, too. The AI assistant will be able to handle more complex queries when you ask for show recommendations, and it can also take into account "awards, events, cultural references, alongside a customer's subscriptions and watch history" to provide more informed responses.
Some of the examples that Amazon cites are:
"Alexa, I’m diving into the Marvel universe. Show me the movies in the universe timeline order”
"Alexa, find shows that were nominated for the recent Emmys but got snubbed”
“Alexa, show me the highest-rated book-to-screen movie adaptations"
"Alexa, show me the games I should watch this weekend”
To get Fire TV users to engage more with its AI, Amazon is also adding an Alexa+ hub into the on-screen interface, which will show you all your recent prompts and conversations, regardless of the Amazon device you were using. You'll be able to continue any of those prompts on your Fire TV device.
Interestingly, the new Alexa+ experience will come to older Fire TV devices first. Starting in the U.S. in November, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd Gen), Fire TV Cube, Amazon Ember TVs, and partner TVs with Fire TV built-in, such as those from Hisense and TCL, will receive the update. The new Fire TV Stick 4K and other countries will not get these features until early next year.
Analysis
The two things I'm most interested in checking out will be the new Alexa+ features and the new Fire TV Remote Plus. There are so many choices when it comes to what to watch that our excellent streaming team keeps working overtime to find the best shows and movies to check out. I'm curious to see how well Alexa+ performs at delivering a curated list based on my preferences.
At the same time, having a way to find a lost remote seems like something that should have been added a long time ago. This is also the first major redesign of the Fire TV remote, so I'm equally interested in seeing how comfortable it is to hold as I scroll through everything to watch.
As for the new stick, Fire TV devices have done well but have struggled to crack our list of the best streaming devices, mainly because of their cluttered interface compared to rivals. However, Amazon has updated its look this past year, so we'll have to re-evaluate things when we get a chance to check out its newest device.
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