Amazon Fire TV Fire Review

 Amazon is a lot like Apple. It doesn't invent new ways to do things, but it takes already established ideas and polishes them to a shine.

Amazon's first foray into a field well-tread by Roku and Apple is a success, with a highly curated, feature-rich Amazon experience built on a solid Android foundation. At $99.99, it offers Amazon's extensive library of movies and TV shows, a solid selection of online apps and services, an admirable graphical backbone for gaming with an optional gamepad, and (at least potentially) plenty of Android flexibility for power users willing to dig around under the device's hood. 

• Fire TV Stick connects to your TV's HDMI port. It's an easy way to enjoy over 200,000 TV episodes and movies on Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, HBO GO, and Hulu Plus, plus games, music, and more
• 4x the storage and 2x the memory of Chromecast plus a dual-core processor and 1 GB of memory and ASAP so the movies and shows you like start instantly
• Fire TV Stick comes with a dedicated remote and remote app with all the controls you need to easily search, watch, and play games

• With voice search on the free remote app or optional Fire TV Voice Remote, simply say what you want to watch and start enjoying in seconds
• Fire TV Stick lets you mirror your phone or tablet to your TV, or fling favorite apps to free up your small screen for other uses
• Play favorites like Flappy Birds Family, Toy Story: Smash It!, Monsters University, and more great games
• Amazon Prime customers get unlimited access to popular movies and TV shows with Prime Instant Video, including The HBO Collection and original shows like Transparent, plus Prime Music

Design

• The Fire TV is the most understated media hub we've seen, save for USB-style sticks that simply disappear behind an HDTV when connected. The Fire TV is a black square 4.5 inches long on the sides and just 0.7 inches tall, about the size a double-album CD case. It weighs a solid-feeling 9.8 ounces, with no moving parts or buttons anywhere on its monolithic body. The top face of the Fire TV holds a glossy black Amazon logo embossed into the matte black plastic, and the front holds a single LED to display its status. 

PROS

• Very responsive. Elegant design and interface. Lots of content and apps available. Voice search is functional. Flexible port array.

CONS

• Highly curated Amazon interface limits out-of-the-box Android flexibility. Game performance isn't spectacular.