In Spain we have multiple options to turn your television into smart. On the one hand we have premium options such as Apple TV or Nvidia Shield, while on the other side of the scale we find excessively cheap products, such as Amazon’s Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite, the company’s latest device to arrive.
After trying the Amazon Echo, it’s time to try the Fire TV Stick Lite, the new generation of Amazon’s device capable of turning your old television into a smart TV. Now it is much faster and even cheaper. What is it promising for?
An unchanged design, but one that works
The first thing we discover when we open the Fire TV Stick box is a remote control, a power adapter, a kind of HDMI extension cable and the device that we will connect to the television. If you already knew the Fire TV, you will realize that it is exactly the same as in the previous generation. If you’ve never seen this device before, it will look like a pendrivevery big.
Inside this device is everything you need to make your television smart, integrating a quad-core processor, 2 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal storage, enough to install most streaming video applications.
As we see in the image, the device in addition to being plugged into the television requires power through a microUSB port. We can connect it to the power charger that is included with the device, or to the USB port of your television if it has one. In the event that you bet on this mode, remember that when the television is off the Fire TV also turns off, so you will have to wait for the system to start each time you turn on the television.
More powerful, faster and better
Once we plug in the device, we will find our own Amazon system. It is based on Android, although it has been completely customized by Amazon to offer its television experience.
As in the rest of Amazon products, we do not have the Google Play Store, but the Amazon application store. Although the device includes several pre-installed applications, we can download practically any application available in the store. Most streaming services are available, such as YouTube, Netflix, Disney + or Spotify, as well as television channels such as Spanish Televisionand other channels like Atres Player. In our day to day we have not found a service of the most used that is on Android TV and not on Fire TV.
One of the greatest added values in the Fire TV Stick Lite is, like the rest of the devices in its family, the integration with the Amazon Echo. Although the remote is ready to work with Alexa, with a button and dedicated microphone, we also have the possibility of using the Amazon Echo that you have in the room (if you have one).
What is this for? Well, it offers us the possibility of using the television hands-free, being able to turn it on, turn it off, ask you to increase or decrease the volume or to open a certain series on Netflix. Voice control can be improved, but it can be useful for those times when you can’t find the remote. Or, why fool us, when you know exactly where it is but you don’t want to get off the couch.
Amazon Echo and Fourth Gen Echo Dot, Review: A Sea Change in Design and an Alexa More Powerful Than EverWe tested the new fourth-generation Amazon Echo and Echo Dot, speakers that further consolidate Amazon’s dominant position.
The software is designed to get the most out of Amazon Prime Video, being a great recommendation to have the Amazon subscription. The company not only bets on its own content, but has gradually added local content to its catalog, with multiple Spanish series. There are new ones, others that have been around for a while and I won’t deny that my biggest use of Prime Video is to be watching No one alive here or Aida, series are very entertaining (it doesn’t matter when you read this).
And what about Lite?
But let’s get to the heart of the matter. If it is a Lite productShould it be worse than the regular Fire TV Stick?
Well, curiously not, and it is that like its older brother, this model includes the new hardware that offers 50% extra performance compared to the previous generation, both are prepared to work at a maximum resolution of 1080p FullHD and are compatible with Dolby Atmos and are compatible with HDR, HDR 10+ and HLG content. After analyzing both new generation Fire TV Sticks, they are exactly the same devices.
Reading the remote control the only difference.
The standard model remote includes buttons to control the volume and turn the television on or off. This allows that if the television is going to be used exclusively for the Fire TV, we only need to use the Amazon remote, while in the Lite model we will have to do these two actions with the traditional television remote (or by asking Alexa).
I buy it?
Although we have mainly been mentioning the Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite, the truth is that most aspects can be applied to the standard Fire TV as well. Both models are exactly the same except for the differences that we have mentioned in the command, the rest of the experience being exactly the same.
The difference between one model and another is 10 euros, so it is very easy to assess how valuable it is to be able to control the volume and turn the TV on and off from the Fire TV Stick remote. 10 euros is not something that weighs much, so in case of doubts you can always opt for the cheapest model. It is almost paying 10 euros to have a remote control lying around instead of two.
But at the end of the day it is not that it is of great importance, especially if we consider that these days of Black Friday, the Fire TV Stick Lite has dropped to 19.99 euros. For less than 20 euros you have a device very complete.It is not that it is a crazy reduction (its official price is 29.99 euros) but it breaks the psychological barrier of 20 euros, becoming a purchase that does not have much to raise. Whether for yourself or as a gift, it’s great.
- Amazon Fire TV Stick:
- Lite model for 29.99 euros (during the week of Black Friday it is 19.99 euros).
- Standard model for 39.99 euros (during the week of Black Friday it is 29.99 euros).
The Fire TV Stick Lite entry, review: absurdly smart for how cheap it is, appears first in The Free Android.
