
Itās been a very long time since I watched any kind of TV that wasnāt streamed, and whether we like it or not itās looking like the internet is the future of TV. Just one of the many devices that wants to corner this market is the Amazon Fire TV, coming in at Ā£79.99.
The newest edition of Amazon Fire TV wants to be your go-to streaming device, and itās bringing 4K support to the table to try and sweeten the deal. 4K playback is by far the biggest feature of the new Fire TV, and itās largely thanks to its support for High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). HEVC is basically an incredibly efficient way to compress and store video, reducing the amount of storage required, and the amount of bandwith required to stream video.
This means that although HEVC brings 4K support to the Amazon Fire, if you donāt have a 4K TV youāll at least see more high-definition streams become available. Thereāll also be an improvement in speed when youāre streaming HD video, even on slower broadband connections. This is just as well, since the actual amount of 4K titles available on Amazon is pretty small, and isnāt likely to increase quickly.
From what Iāve been able to see on my own TV, which isnāt 4K, the Fire TV offers a very smoothĀ viewing experience, with minimal buffering, helped by improved Wi-Fi support, and excellent image quality.
Other than this and an upgraded processor and GPU, which Amazon promise make it much faster, the Fire TV appears to be largely the same both inside and out. You have 8GB of storage, with 6GB free for your apps and downloads, and room to expand up to 128 GB with the microSD card slot at the back. Alongside this microSD card slot thereās also a USB port which Iām yet to find a use for since the Fire TV doesn’t support external hard drives, but I like that itās there anyway. Just in case of a USB emergency. They happen.

I do like the Fire TVās remote – itās small and simple to use, and because it uses Bluetooth, your Fire TV doesnāt have to be out in the open for it to interact. That said, don’t count on the batteries that come with it because mine have stopped working after a couple of weeks. Another neat feature of the remote is the voice recognition. Pressing a button at the top will start up the microphone in the top of the remote allowing you to do voice searches for titles. To the systemās credit, itās really fast and it hasnāt struggled at all with my Glaswegian accent, which is incredibly refreshing.

Not only is the remote simple to use, the Fire TVās interface is similarly easy. The menu runs down the left hand side of the screen, and the tabs are straightforward. Scrolling down to a tab opens up the related content in a horizontal arrangement to the right allowing you to scroll through. Itās not too busy since images of content take centre stage, with a quick summary underneath.
Another neat feature is ‘ASAP’ which uses predictive analytics to try and guess what you might decide to watch next. If, like me, you have a tendency to binge, Fire TV will find it easy to jump ahead and download the next few episodes in the series and make sure you suffer no buffer. This is, however, a massive problem if you have a data cap on your internet so beware.
What you will notice is that the Amazon Fire TVās layout is largely geared towards Amazon Prime subscribers and making their viewing experience easier. The main menu, whilst easy to work, definitely favours the Amazon way of life, showing Prime Video, Movies, TV, Music, Photos and Genre which takes a while to scroll through before you get to the apps section. If you donāt have Amazon Prime, the apps section is where youāll want to be. It has ITV Player, Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Twitch, Demand 5, Sky News, YouTube, Spotify Connect and Vimeo so far. This isnāt surprising at all, it makes sense for Amazon to prioritise their Prime subscribers, it just means that if you donāt have Prime, you could be left feeling a bit cold.

The Fire TV also does games! The gaming catalogue isnāt exactly impressive, though. Some of the best titles include Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Crossy Road, but thereās a lot more pointless titles than there are good ones. The fact that Amazon think this selection is enough to justify selling a Fire TV games controller separately at Ā£40 is a little bit laughable, but maybe when the content expands itāll be worth it (although if you already have a Bluetooth console controller weāre willing to bet thereās a way to connect it).
Overall, the Amazon Fire TV is an undeniably good device, providing smooth streaming, an easy to use interface, good image quality, even without 4K, and a nifty remote whose voice search I very much enjoy using.
That said, I wouldnāt say you should run out and buy it. Iād ask some questions first: Do you give a toss about having 4K content? Do you have Amazon Prime? Is it essential that you have access to average games? And finally, do you get a weird joy from using voice search? If youāve answered yes to at least two of these then Iād say the new Amazon Fire TV will bring you much happiness and is worth your Ā£79.99.
The Amazon Fire TV 4K is available from October 29th, but you can pre-order now.
Main Image via Amazon