Amazon Fire TV review: Streaming movies in 4K Ultra HD has never been FASTER

Out of the box, little appears to have changed with the latest Fire TV

AMAZON has updated its square set-top box with faster internals, faster streaming and support for Ultra HD 4K video.

• Pros – Svelte and Stylish Design, Lightning Fast Streaming, Easy-to-use User Interface, Voice Search Is Reliable
• Cons – Too Much Emphasis On Amazon Content, Voice Search Does Not Work Inside Other Apps

Jeremy Clarkson is clearly a big fan of his new Fire TV. But it is worth your time?

Amazon recently refreshed its Fire TV set-top box with support for Ultra HD 4K video, as well as faster streaming, a speedier processor and some intelligent new software features.

It all makes for a hugely competent streaming box – but at £79 the Fire TV is not an impulse buy and could prove to be a hard sell to customers who aren’t already deeply invested in the Amazon ecosystem.

Amazon’s software still puts an enormous focus on its own Prime Instant video content and video from the Amazon Store.

 

It’s not surprising but does make the £79 asking price a little harder to swallow.

Out of the box, very little appears to have changed with the latest update to Fire TV.

Amazon’s top-of-the-range, matt-black streaming box keeps the same low-profile and angular design as last year.

That’s not a criticism, the stylishly sharp angles of the device look great in the flesh and its svelte figure means the Fire TV should fit snuggly into almost any home entertainment set-up – which isn't the case always the case with the slightly chubbier Roku 3 and Apple TV.

 

The new 4K compatible Fire TV keeps the same stylish, angular design

 

Fire TV works best for those who are invested in Amazon's ecosystem

The Fire TV ships with 8GB of internal storage as standard, but Amazon has added a microSD card slot in the latest generation – tucked away at the back of the device alongside the power adapter and HDMI 2.0 – which means users can expand the storage to 128GB.

The latest Fire TV device also comes bundled with a slightly refined remote control, too.

Amazon says it has redesigned the build to better fit your hand (it’s a full centimetre longer than last year) and while the new remote is certainly pleasant to hold and use, it’s far from a revolutionary overhaul.

What is revolutionary, however, is barking orders at the Fire TV using Amazon’s almost-infallible voice controls.

By holding down the microphone button on the remote you have the ability to ask Amazon to narrow down your viewing choices with demands such as, “show me action films from 2013” or “show me films with Steve Coogan”.

 

Using voice search on the Fire TV is fast and consistently reliable

Granted, it does feel a little weird on the first few attempts but quickly becomes the norm – and bypasses the need to punch in long film titles using the arduous directional buttons on the remote coupled with an on-screen keyboard.

Unfortunately the voice search functionality is limited to Amazon content for now, so don’t bother bringing up Netflix’s awesome new show “Narcos" – the Fire TV won’t have a clue what you’re on about.

Voice commands are also unable to launch apps, so “Open Netflix” won’t get you closer to watching Narcos, either.

Hopefully Amazon will expand upon its voice functionality in the near future.

But for now, only those invested in Amazon’s own content will benefit from the convenience of voice search.

 

And that’s still the biggest issue with the Amazon Fire TV – it’s really focused on Amazon.

Granted, the speedy MediaTek 2GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM loads BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, Netflix and Curozon Home Cinema in the blink of an eye and the dual-band 802.11ac means you’ll be streaming faster, too. 

But watching anything other than Amazon’s Prime Instant Video still leaves you feeling like a second-class citizen, thanks to the lack of voice search inside other apps and fact that Amazon pushes adverts for its shows in the main menu. 

That’s not too much of an issue with the Fire TV Stick, which carries a oh-go-on-then Chromecast-like price tag, but it really starts to grate when Amazon asks you to cough-up £79 for the privilege of streaming on its device.

Amazon has refreshed its FireOS user interface for the new device, too.

 

The redesigned user interface is well designed, pleasantly minimal, fast and incredibly intuitive to use.

However it somehow manages to undersell the vast Prime Instant Video catalogue.

The stark menu structure presents you with a featured list of recommended shows or films, but doesn’t easily allow you to quickly use any of these picks or curated playlists as a starting point to find other content.

There is plenty to watch on Amazon’s on-demand service, but it is almost always unearthed through search.

Amazon is also making a concerted effort to update a lot of its content to Ultra HD 4k – which is bundled with the £79-a-year Prime Membership alongside the usual next-day delivery, music streaming catalogue, unlimited cloud photo storage, kindle libraries and other perks.

 

The new 4K compatible Fire TV keeps the same stylish, angular design

That’s not the case with on-demand rival Netflix, which asks customers to stump up an extra £3 per month to stream UHD video, although that package does also include the ability to watch content on four screens simultaneously.

Unfortunately, Ultra HD is currently limited across both services, with only a select few television boxsets and films available to stream in the eye-wateringly sharp 3,840 x 2,160p resolution. For now, it’s mainly original Netflix and Amazon shows. 

Oh, and don’t forget you’ll still need a speedy wired or wireless internet connection and UHD television set, too.

 

Final Verdict 

The Amazon Fire TV is lightning fast – both in terms of navigating around its freshly redesigned user interface and streaming your favourite on-demand content, whether it’s from the BBC, Channel Four, Netflix or Amazon itself.

The remote control's voice search is incredibly accurate, but is currently only really useful for those who’ve previously bought stacks of digital Amazon content, or opted for the US firm's £79 annual Prime subscription service.

If you’re heavily-invested in Amazon services or Ultra HD 4K streaming, the Amazon Fire TV is a great choice.

But if you’re not, it’s difficult to recommend the Fire TV over the online firm's £35 Amazon Fire TV Stick? 

Granted, the HDMI dongle is slightly slower than its more expensive, more angular big brother, but it ships with a remote control and runs on the same easy-to-use Amazon operating system  – unlike the similarly-priced but smartphone-dependent Google Chromecast.

The new Fire TV is a great device, but it’s probably not the best choice for the majority of cord-cutters.