Tim
Amazon took the stage this morning, unveiling its Fire TV set-top box for the living room. Much like many other media streaming boxes, the Fire TV comes with access to all of your favorite content providers (minus a few exceptions), such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, Watch ESPN, Pandora, NBA, MLB Network, and so much more. However, an update to the box will later hopefully bring HBO Go, which does not come with the service as of right now.
The Fire TV features quite the little spec sheet, making it one of the most powerful set-top boxes available on the market. It comes powered by a Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor clocked at 1.7GHz, 2GB of RAM, Adreno 320 GPU, and dual-band/dual-antenna WiFi for excellent 1080p streaming – all in a slim package that resembles that of an Apple TV.
Not only do customers get access to shows and movies from its huge library of titles, but the Fire TV is also capable of gaming. Users can game away on Minecraft, The Walking Dead series, Riptide GP2, Asphalt 8, and many other titles available from Amazon’s Appstore.
As for what the Fire TV has over any other competitor, it’s the fact that it has access to games. This is kind of a first from the major companies, and as I have stated countless times, this is what I have been waiting for. On top of gaming, the voice search capability that is featured seems to be extremely accurate, as previewed by the lovely Gary Busey in the TV spot below.
Music lovers are also taken care of, as Fire TV has access to plenty of music/radio apps, such as Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, Qello Concerts, plus any others that are available through the AppStore. The Fire TV is also capable of photo and video syncing from your Kindle Fire tablet and Android device, thanks to Amazon’s Cloud Drive, which allows users to share their favorite moments right to their HDTV in seconds.
Topping it off is a feature which reminds us of information cards from Google Play Movies. When you pause a flick, you are shown information about actors, as well as other movies they have appeared in. Amazon has brought the same feature, with information being pulled directly from IMDb, meaning you can dive deep into your favorite titles with trivia, music, characters, and much more.
The price is listed at the same as the Apple TV, $99.99 with a game controller accessory listed at $39.99. The full package will come with a $139.99 price tag. Not too bad, but we would by lying if we weren’t hoping for something a bit cheaper.
Ready to own one? Get your Fire TV right now for $99.99.
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