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Amazon Fire TV Stick Review

Amazon Fire TV Stick deserves a lot of credit for the popularity of streaming sticks in the home, bringing apps and smart features to “dumb” TVs at a terrifically low price point. More premium players may have entered the space but the simple Amazon solution is still a winner.

Read this: Vote for your choice of best streaming stick

What we love – Ever-improving interface, helpful Alexa commands and cheap as chips

The interface of Amazon Fire TV certainly didn’t start off as the one of the most easy to use and, combined with average performance, it could be a bit hard to navigate between your favourite shows and movies.

Now, Amazon has put the work in and the simpler solution makes the experience a lot less stressful – catching up to rivals like the Roku Streaming Stick Plus. A simple setup, improved performance on last gen and enhanced Wi-Fi capabilities make for a pleasing experience overall.

Alexa on Fire TV may not be perfect (and we’ll get to that) but simply using Alexa to request a specific app, movie or TV show works like a dream. Alexa rarely misunderstands you and takes you to your decided location in a split second.

The big benefit of the regular Amazon Fire TV Stick is its price, at under £40 and also being constantly on offer or placed in bundles by Amazon, getting onboard with streaming sticks is made so easy by this affordable product.

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Amazon Fire Stick Review

What we don’t like – 4K for not much more and awkward Alexa search

The biggest rival to the Amazon Fire TV Stick comes from within the Amazon household – the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. You can currently pick up the 4K version for around £10 more than the regular version. There isn’t much difference beyond the improved resolution so the regular model remains the clear option if you aren’t expecting to use 4K but, if you are, maybe shell out for the 4K model.

While Alexa does a great job when you know what you want, the assistant hasn’t quite evolved to provide answers to more complex TV and movie related queries – e.g. some actor related searches often come back with incorrect results.

Verdict

Amazon Fire TV Stick is a cheap and cheerful way of adding some smarts to your TV. With an improved interface, handy Alexa support and a remarkably low price, there is no better value streaming stick from competitors – even if Amazon offers strong competition via its own enhanced 4K model.

Our Recombu reviews are created using data collected by Trusted Reviews Labs, utilising their testing expertise to bring you an easy-to-read, short-form review.

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