Amazon Fire TV Stick

[cronos]

Apparently a direct competitor to Chromecast

$39.99 retail price, pre-order price for Amazon Prime members is $19.99

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GDQ0RMG

Articles:
http://mashable.com/2014/10/27/amazon-fire-stick/
http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/27/7077481/fire-tv-stick-amazon-announces-streaming-stick
http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/27/amazon-fire-tv-stick/

 

[Kaido]

I ordered one earlier. $20, why not? Has games (over 200) & voice search. One note in particular: (per the Verge article)

Amazon is cutting costs here, however: this isn't the same remote that ships with the Fire TV Stick, which has a microphone on it and lets you perform a voice search. If you want that remote, you'll have to buy it separately for 29.99. If you don't want to spend nearly as much money on a remote as a streaming box, then you can just download Amazon's Fire TV remote app, which also lets you perform a voice search. It's available for Android right now, but an iOS app is in the works.

So for $20, you get free voice search via the remote app; if you want to do it on the physical hardware remote, you have to buy that remote separately. So they include a basic remote with an option to buy the premium voice-enabled model. That one is $30:

http://www.amazon.com/Replacement-Am.../dp/B00DU0X4WI

It also supports game controllers, including the Amazon Fire Game Controller, Nyko PlayPad Pro, and other Bluetooth controllers. The Amazon model is $40:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DU0ZI8Q/

The Nyko model is only $20, but has mediocre reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/PlayPad-Pro-Am...dp/B00J9P3KBS/

I'm curious about what Bluetooth controllers work. The Fire TV (not confirmed the stick yet) supports up to 7 controllers:

https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/devices/fire-tv/docs/identifying-controllers

I currently have a handful of Roku 3 players, but I would really love to have basic gaming built-in, especially for old games like Mario & kid's stuff.

 

[Kaido]

Hmm, it looks like you can easily sideload Android apps on the Fire TV:

http://sideloadfiretv.com/

Trusted Reviews just posted a great list of Android retro console emulators:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/best-android-emulators

The Fire TV specs include a dual-core processor with 1GB of memory & 8GB of storage, so this has the possibility of being an awesome little game station. I was planning on doing a Raspberry Pi for a Christmas holiday project, but this has the potential to work even better...

 

[SAWYER]

Damn if this can run XBMC then amazing!

 

[Kaido]

Ooh, this is nice:

Mirror your tablet or phone on your HDTV

Use your iOS or Android device to fling music and movies to your HDTV—and control playback—from apps like YouTube and Spotify. Or, share movies, TV shows, music, and photos from your compatible tablet or phone with everyone in your living room using display mirroring. What you see on your Fire OS or Android device is exactly what you’ll see on your big screen.

I'm curious if it's a closed system like the Chrome stick, or if it's an Android-based system...iirc there are Airplay receivers for Android that could probably be loaded up if so.

 

[cronos]

Hmm, it looks like you can easily sideload Android apps on the Fire TV:

http://sideloadfiretv.com/

Trusted Reviews just posted a great list of Android retro console emulators:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/best-android-emulators

The Fire TV specs include a dual-core processor with 1GB of memory & 8GB of storage, so this has the possibility of being an awesome little game station. I was planning on doing a Raspberry Pi for a Christmas holiday project, but this has the potential to work even better...

Those were talking about the 'Fire TV', not the 'Fire TV Stick' which is just announced today (won't arrive until next month).

Damn if this can run XBMC then amazing!

It would be extremely amazing if it does. But this is a Chromecast competitor, which means it won't have an OS. I'd be ecstatic if I'm wrong, though.

 

[maevinj]

....

 

[cronos]

It's not showing up for me at 19.99, and I'm a Prime member.

You have to add it to your cart first. It will be adjusted right before you checked out.

Btw, my expected delivery date is November 26. This is going to be one of those bought it and forget about it thing.

 

[SAWYER]

I beat a new chromecast is about to come out and this will probably mean no amazon video chromecast support

 

[Kaido]

Those were talking about the 'Fire TV', not the 'Fire TV Stick' which is just announced today (won't arrive until next month).

Right - I was posting that information for reference, along with the new Fire TV's specs. What remains to be seen is whether or not it's running the same OS as the Fire TV (modified Android vs. a custom slimmed-down OS). I have an Android HDMI stick that works decently (it's an older one), so in theory it's possible! I mean, the first one that pops up on Amazon is a $50 model with a quad-core CPU:

http://www.amazon.com/Hossen-MK809II...dp/B00EE4KKDA/

They're going to sell like hotcakes if you can sideload Android apps on them...

 

[ControlD]

You have to add it to your cart first. It will be adjusted right before you checked out.

Btw, my expected delivery date is November 26. This is going to be one of those bought it and forget about it thing.

My estimated date is December 1. They must be selling a bunch of pre-orders for this thing.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I bought one for the hell of it.

Why not

 

[gorcorps]

I bought one for the hell of it.

Why not

That's what I said about the chromecast, and it was still a waste of money.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

That's what I said about the chromecast, and it was still a waste of money.

You would be in the minority.

I love my Chromecast.

 

[Kaido]

You would be in the minority.

I love my Chromecast.

I've heard the opposite. Everyone I know IRL said their Chromecast was a waste of money for them. Depends on what you use it for, I guess.

 

[gorcorps]

I've heard the opposite. Everyone I know IRL said their Chromecast was a waste of money for them. Depends on what you use it for, I guess.

Yeah... no success stories from my end either. Most people's biggest issue was wireless related (like mine). In comparison to the Roku box it was clunky, slow, and didn't have a stable connection.

 

[TiredEngineer]

Held off on buying a Chromecast for a year and regret it. I use it all the time and love it. I don't have cable in my office, so I carry my Chromecast in there for football games with WatchESPN (looks much better than streaming it using a browser).

I have to cart it back and forth between my living room and office so I was considering buying a second Chromecast until I heard about the Nexus Player. With that I can control it like a Chromecast, but also sideload Amazon Instant Video...so I am thinking of picking one up.

Yes...I have many devices that get YouTube/Netfliix/Etc on my TV, but NONE equal the sheer speed and convenience of having it up using the Chromecast.

 

[Ramses]

I bought one but only because the fire phone was such a flop that I felt sorry for them lol.
It'll probly be a Christmas present for someone.

 

[Kaido]

I bought one but only because the fire phone was such a flop that I felt sorry for them lol.

LOL :biggrin:

 

[WelshBloke]

Apparently a direct competitor to Chromecast

Isn't it more of a mid range fire TV than a chrome cast competitor?
The chrome cast needs you to have a phone doesn't it? I thought this was more standalone like the fire TV?

 

[Oyeve]

I bought one but only because the fire phone was such a flop that I felt sorry for them lol.
It'll probly be a Christmas present for someone.

I did something similar when the Atari Jaguar came out. About two months before its release I bought 1000 shares of Atari for $1. The stock shot up to $12 and I sold it ASAP as I knew the Jaguar would be the death knell for Atari. So, when the system tanked and took Atari with it I bought one out of pity and because I made ao much money on their failure.

 

[isekii]

Can this be used without Prime?

 

[MarkLuvsCS]

$20 such a great price point for an impulse buy. Thanks for the info guys, at worst it'll be an amazon prime movie stick which is perfectly fine for $20.

 

[TiredEngineer]

Yeah...actually for $20 I may grab one as well...even though they should just add AIV to the Chromecast.

Don't know they adding AIV to more devices means a larger user base to purchase/rent movies?

They will lose money on this hardware at $20 because they won't develop for Chromecast...

 

[Kaido]

Yeah...actually for $20 I may grab one as well...even though they should just add AIV to the Chromecast.

Don't know they adding AIV to more devices means a larger user base to purchase/rent movies?

They will lose money on this hardware at $20 because they won't develop for Chromecast...

Doesn't matter...if you can instantly rent or buy a movie from Amazon on a $19 stick, they'll make plenty of money back to cover R&D and hardware costs. I use VUDU for rentals & purchases and probably have hundreds of dollars invested in movies in there because it's an easy impulse-purchase system