Fire TV Stick | Basic Edition | Streaming Media Player
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- Fire TV Stick Basic Edition provides an easy way to access content from Prime Video, Netflix and over 4,000 apps and games. Plus, access millions of websites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit with browsers like Silk and Firefox.
- Fire TV Stick Basic Edition comes with a dedicated remote so that you can easily play the content you want.
- Simply plug in your Fire TV Stick Basic Edition and start streaming in minutes.
- Experience fast and fluid streaming with a quad-core processor, as well as 8 GB of storage and 1 GB of memory for apps and games.
- Amazon Prime Video members get unlimited access to Prime Video, including original programming such as The Grand Tour, Man in the High Castle and American Gods.
- Play popular games like Hungry Shark Evolution, Pac-Man 256, Crossy Road, Hill Climb Racing, and more.
THERE IS A NEW GENERATION OF THIS DEVICE
Fire TV Stick with all-new Alexa Voice Remote - Ready. Set. Stream. Learn more
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Manufacturer: Amazon
Manufacturer Place of Business: Seattle, WA 98109, USA
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3 Stars
As usual, Canadians get the old technology with limited content
Update Dec 14th:==============A little late to update this, but Google has decided to pull YouTube from Amazon Fire TV sticks, which means you now only have Netflix and Prime video (in Canada) to watch on your Fire Stick (maybe a few other?).=============================================================================This is the Amazon Fire Tv stick basic Edition. This streaming stick was released a few days ago, on November 7, 2017, in 100 countries including here in Canada.Now a quick history lesson if you're not familiar with Amazon fire tv.Amazon Fire Tv is a streaming media player, which means it lets you watch videos, listen to music, play games and use other types of apps from the internet on your TV. There are similar devices that you might have heard of Roku and Google Chromecast, but I'm not going to make any comparisons with those here. The fire TV comes in two form factors: fire TV box which is a higher and higher specs, higher video quality and also higher price. And the fire TV stick which is smaller, mid-range specs and also cheaper. Still has HD video but something like the box would give you up to 4k, while the fire sticks are full HD at 1080.The first generation of the fire TV stick was released in 2014 in the US and after that, there was the first gen with a voice remote. Essentially this is the same device but they added a microphone on the remote and it allowed you to use voice commands to control your fire stick this is done through amazon's voice assistant, Alexa.Then after that, there was the second generation fire TV stick, which had a faster processor, the same voice remote, upgraded Wi-Fi antenna and Bluetooth, and the ability to use a hardwire Ethernet cable if you didn't want to use Wi-Fi. So the second gen was actually an upgrade and it was a faster device.And that brings us to a few days ago. Amazon released a basic Edition: Which specs wise is identical to the second-generation but without the voice remote - the remote is actually the first gen remote, and is priced $10 more than the second gen. CONFUSING I know!So to recap: Three years after the initial release of the fire TV stick, Amazon took their latest Fire stick, renamed it, and took the remote from their first fire stick, packaged them and gave them to us in Canada and 99 other countries for $49.99 USD or $49.99 Canadian the price is the same on Amazon Canada and Amazon US.This is pretty much it. There is nothing new about the "new" fire TV stick basic edition other than the name and the price,however you can still read if you haven't heard of the fire TV stick before and want more details.Let's talk about the remote first: The remote is simple. It has a basic navigation pad, with a select button and the basic media buttons with the back home and menu. As I mentioned earlier, there is no voice or Alexa button. However, you can download the free Amazon fire app and get the voice control ability, in addition to many other quick access options that the remote doesn't offer. My advice would be to definitely get the app and keep the physical remote as a backup.When you first plug the stick into your HDMI port it will boot up and look for a remote to be paired with. If you bought it directly from Amazon, it will already be registered to your account and you will notice that most of the highlighted content is Amazon Prime video content because Amazon wants you to use their service. You don't necessarily need to have Amazon Prime to use the fire TV stick but you do need it if you want to accessAmazon's Prime video content.Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, HBO Go, HBO now, ABC, NBA, HGTV, ESPN and many other services and channels are available on the fire stick, but you need to have individual access to each one of those in order to use them. As it's always the case for us Canadian users I kept getting the famous this content is not available in your country in all its variations.So in reality, if you're in Canada you can use the fire TV stick for Netflix YouTube and Amazon Prime, maybe a few other apps but all the popular ones I tried did not work. If you are in the U.S. though, you will have access to all the channels if you have cable service that you can log into the app with. So for example, when you go to ESPN you will be asked to activate and to do so, you need to choose a provider and then log in with your provider's account info.The search function is helpful. You can type a name of a show for example, and the search will run across all apps and services at once. Similar to Google's Chromecast, the fire TV also allows you to stream content from your phone or tablet rather than browsing it on the screen, for example, you can find a Netflix show or a song on Spotify on your phone or tablet and then choose to cast it to your fire stick. You're also able to mirror your phones or tablets screen to your TV using the fire TV stick.So, should you buy it? It depends! If you're in Canada, or in one of the other 99 countries that this was just released in, and you only need something to plug into your TV to watch Amazon Prime video Netflix or YouTube then sure. Amazon fire tv even offers a few games and you can buy a separate game controller for that. But if you don't have Amazon Prime or prime video is not a deal-breaker for you, you can also get a Google Chromecast, which is often on sale and allows you to stream content from your mobile device and your computer as well. You also have the option to get a Roku stick, which offers similar content set as the fire stick including Amazon Prime content.If you happen to be visiting the US, or if you live in the U.S., you might as well just get the fire TV stick 2nd gen with the Alexa remote for $10 cheaper! As I mentioned earlier, you'd be getting the same specs with the voice command remote control.Check out my YouTube video for links to the full reviews of the fire TV stick 2nd gen Google Chromecast and Roku. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions.
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Reviewed in Canada on January 30, 2018
Verified Purchase
Bought this and it was delivered thru amazon to the front door., The moment the driver drove off I got an email welcoming me to the Fire TV Stick along with basic instructions on unpacking and setting up.. Now how cool was that! obviously Amazon had me all set up for this but it got triggered once the driver set delivery as Done . Set up was easy.. but I did have a problem initially., I got all the APS.. everything.., except for one and that was the most important one Amazon Prime Video.. at first I thought it wasn't authorized for use in my country of Canada ,, but that couldn't be right as I have the ap for this on my smart phone and it works fine .. The whole reason for me buying the stick was to watch videos and movies on something bigger than my 5 inch screen .. got a hold of Tech support listed on the web site and was instructed to enter my number and Amazon would phone me back which they did in seconds ! after explaining for two minutes my problem and then waiting for another two minutes for the help desk to figure out my problem they informed me I had the USA help desk I need Canada help desk.. you can imagine my frustration at this. .They then transferred me over to a help desk personal from Costa Rica ? I had to adjust my train of thought to his accent. He himself could not for maybe 20 minutes figure out what was wrong., turns out we had to do a complete factory reset and then I had to reenter all my passwords and account info into get back to square one..Once that was done the device works perfect.. I'm very happy with all the additional aps and movie channels.! .. I'm this much closer to cord cutting as the news and weather and entertainment news is all here.. I also enjoy the screen saver after 5 minutes of sitting on the menu bar.. I'm not obver happy with the Little remote and my fat finger on the scrolling circle.. and also an area that is confusing for me is .- there is no 'Turn off' switch., you turn it off by changing from one HDMI input to another or just turn off your TV.. all in all.. very nice much fun and I'll be getting one for my daughter for her birthday coming up as she already has Prime but not this Firestick Basic Edition ..
Reviewed in Canada on January 28, 2018
Verified Purchase
I couldn't be more pleased with this product. It took Amazon a long time to bring the Fire TV to Canada but this was definitely worth the wait. This streaming stick plays Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube well which is pretty much what a streaming device is about. I have found the UI to be a lot smoother and less laggy than equivalently priced Roku devices. This device comes with an HDMI cord, an HDMI extender (for space conflict with other cords plugged into ports beside it, batteries for the remote (surprisingly) and a remote that feels quite comfortable in the hands with buttons that feel good to press. I was worried that YouTube was no longer going to work on the device but Amazon found a loophole to use the same YouTube interface off one of two web browsers that you can choose from. The user interface is very user friendly and quite easy to understand and the settings isn't cluttered up either. Amazon advertises TV shows and other things at the top of the first page but thankfully it's not that intrusive and not that big of a deal. I picked this device up at a steal price for $35 but I would highly recommend it at the full price of $50 for all that you get in the package. Great job Amazon on making a solid device at a great price point.
Update: The product doesn't come with an HDMI cable because the HDMI is built into the streaming stick itself.
Update: The product doesn't come with an HDMI cable because the HDMI is built into the streaming stick itself.
Reviewed in Canada on November 14, 2017
Verified Purchase
Update: 1 January 2018: YouTube application has been taken out from Fire Stick. Once you click on YouTube.com, it asks you to open YouTube through browser of your choice: Amazon Silk or Firefox. Though native application would have been better, I don’t see much effect on user experience accessing YouTube via browser.
Update: 22 December 2017: Amazon just added Amazon Silk Browser as well as Firefox browser to Amazon Fire TV Stick. Finally, Amazon resolved all issues mentioned in my original review. Amazon is listening..I am not sure what will happen to YouTube application but at least browser may provide some workaround. I also read news that Amazon may also launch their own YouTube like video-sharing platform which may be called AmazonTube or OpenTube. Having said that, it is very likely that feud with Google may end soon.
Update: 18 December 2017: There is a news that Google & Amazon are in productive talks and Fire TV owners might not be loosing YouTube after all. It’s not official yet but seems like feud may end soon.
Update: 12 December 2017 - Amazon has addressed some concerns in original review. I have now provided update in [brackets] besides relevant item in the review.
Update: 6 December 2017 - Very disappointed by news that Google has decided to block YouTube videos from Amazon Fire TV effective January 1st in retaliation for Amazon's refusal to sell some Google products such as Chrome-cast that compete with Amazon gadgets. I hope this issue is sorted out before this deadline, otherwise, this is going to affect many Fire TV owners who use YouTube videos a lot.
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I am Amazon Prime Member for many years and I never had chance to explore free Amazon Prime Video available FREE to Amazon Prime Members. The main reason being my HDTV is 6 years old and is not a smart TV. I bought Android TV box but it’s too complicated for me to use it. Finding content from large number of Kodi add-ons etc. is not my cup of tea. When Amazon launched Amazon Fire TV stick recently in Canada along with almost 100 other countries, I thought to give it a try. Apart from connecting to Amazon Prime Video, Fire TV Stick lets stream contents from other services such as Netflix, Spotify and YouTube and also gives you access to various apps, music, and games essentially converting a normal TV into a Smart TV.
I ordered The Fire TV Stick yesterday night and it was delivered today-thanks to free 1-day shipping with my Prime Membership. Stick connects to your TV’s HDMI port. Set up was very easy - Just connect stick to power port and HDMI port of TV, enter WI-Fi password and Amazon Fire TV stick is ready for use in minutes. The most surprising thing was it came pre-registered to my name and Amazon Account. I didn’t need to do any account set up. I just chose my Amazon account and everything was ready in few minutes. One of the user pointed our very good point here in comments section and I thought it will be useful for people buying this as a gift. Since device comes pre-registerd with you Amazon account, it may need set-up for people receiving the gift otherwise they may be using your prime account! [Update: I see that Amazon have now included checkbox "This is Gift (deliver unregistered)" or order page of iOS application. For desktop, you have to mark as Gift and then under Register this device, select option to send device unregistered]. Also included in the box is HDMI extender cable in case you need it for better remote or Wi-Fi performance.
There are lots of applications pre-configured and you can browse and download thousands of applications and games. The Basic Edition has 8GB of storage, a quad-core processor, and 1GB of memory. It can stream movies and TV shows at 720p and 1080p HD, and up to 60 fps. The Fire TV is Android powered and Default languages include Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Italian, German, or English. The compact size makes it useful for traveling as well. Once you connect to TV, you find that everything is laid out nicely and browsing through the content is quite user-friendly. Another interesting thing is though Included remote works very well, you can also download Amazon Fire TV application and you can now control everything from your phone.
There is not monthly charge associated with Amazon Fire TV stick, but you may have to pay for streaming services like Netflix to stream their content. Another thing worth noting is the content is country specific. E.g. Amazon Prime Video content will be different in Canada than US.
Limitations:
Amazon used the term “Basic” edition for this stick which also means it does not have Amazon Alexa functionality or compatibility with 4K content. Those who have used Android TV will be disappointed that there is No Web Browser. Though I see Similar issues with competitor products as well. For me not having web browser is big constraint as not all the content has application developed. For example, if I would like to see my website, I can't do it without browser. However I should mention that there is work around to install a web browser on Amazon Fire TV which I haven't tried yet. Just google "How to Install web browser on Amazon Fire TV" and you will find some information. It should be noted that you pay for most of the applications for streaming the content e.g. Netflix. Good news is if you are Amazon Prime Member, Amazon Prime Video has lots of content, but disappointment for me is they seems to have removed Bollywood content which was available earlier. [Update: Bollywood content now returns again on Prime Videos. Thanks Amazon!]
Who Should Buy It?
If your TV is tragically not smart enough—or otherwise lacks a way to play Amazon Prime Video, this is great device to make TV little smarter. If you are Prime Member, this is best way to watch lots and lots of free content via Amazon Prime Video. If you use streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video and does not need web browser, this will be a great low cost option.
Who Shouldn't Buy It?
Those who have used Android TV and are techy enough to play around it, will find Amazon Fire TV disappointing as you have to pay for pretty much everything which you were getting on Android TV via Kodi for free. There is no Web Browser so if that is must have, this is not for you. If you are not Prime Member, and need Amazon Prime Video, you need to pay $79 / year for Prime Membership which will off course be very useful if you do lots of shopping from Amazon. It should be noted though that I see some work around on internet and people seems to find way to install kodi on this, but again those things are not for me.
Update: 22 December 2017: Amazon just added Amazon Silk Browser as well as Firefox browser to Amazon Fire TV Stick. Finally, Amazon resolved all issues mentioned in my original review. Amazon is listening..I am not sure what will happen to YouTube application but at least browser may provide some workaround. I also read news that Amazon may also launch their own YouTube like video-sharing platform which may be called AmazonTube or OpenTube. Having said that, it is very likely that feud with Google may end soon.
Update: 18 December 2017: There is a news that Google & Amazon are in productive talks and Fire TV owners might not be loosing YouTube after all. It’s not official yet but seems like feud may end soon.
Update: 12 December 2017 - Amazon has addressed some concerns in original review. I have now provided update in [brackets] besides relevant item in the review.
Update: 6 December 2017 - Very disappointed by news that Google has decided to block YouTube videos from Amazon Fire TV effective January 1st in retaliation for Amazon's refusal to sell some Google products such as Chrome-cast that compete with Amazon gadgets. I hope this issue is sorted out before this deadline, otherwise, this is going to affect many Fire TV owners who use YouTube videos a lot.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am Amazon Prime Member for many years and I never had chance to explore free Amazon Prime Video available FREE to Amazon Prime Members. The main reason being my HDTV is 6 years old and is not a smart TV. I bought Android TV box but it’s too complicated for me to use it. Finding content from large number of Kodi add-ons etc. is not my cup of tea. When Amazon launched Amazon Fire TV stick recently in Canada along with almost 100 other countries, I thought to give it a try. Apart from connecting to Amazon Prime Video, Fire TV Stick lets stream contents from other services such as Netflix, Spotify and YouTube and also gives you access to various apps, music, and games essentially converting a normal TV into a Smart TV.
I ordered The Fire TV Stick yesterday night and it was delivered today-thanks to free 1-day shipping with my Prime Membership. Stick connects to your TV’s HDMI port. Set up was very easy - Just connect stick to power port and HDMI port of TV, enter WI-Fi password and Amazon Fire TV stick is ready for use in minutes. The most surprising thing was it came pre-registered to my name and Amazon Account. I didn’t need to do any account set up. I just chose my Amazon account and everything was ready in few minutes. One of the user pointed our very good point here in comments section and I thought it will be useful for people buying this as a gift. Since device comes pre-registerd with you Amazon account, it may need set-up for people receiving the gift otherwise they may be using your prime account! [Update: I see that Amazon have now included checkbox "This is Gift (deliver unregistered)" or order page of iOS application. For desktop, you have to mark as Gift and then under Register this device, select option to send device unregistered]. Also included in the box is HDMI extender cable in case you need it for better remote or Wi-Fi performance.
There are lots of applications pre-configured and you can browse and download thousands of applications and games. The Basic Edition has 8GB of storage, a quad-core processor, and 1GB of memory. It can stream movies and TV shows at 720p and 1080p HD, and up to 60 fps. The Fire TV is Android powered and Default languages include Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Italian, German, or English. The compact size makes it useful for traveling as well. Once you connect to TV, you find that everything is laid out nicely and browsing through the content is quite user-friendly. Another interesting thing is though Included remote works very well, you can also download Amazon Fire TV application and you can now control everything from your phone.
There is not monthly charge associated with Amazon Fire TV stick, but you may have to pay for streaming services like Netflix to stream their content. Another thing worth noting is the content is country specific. E.g. Amazon Prime Video content will be different in Canada than US.
Limitations:
Amazon used the term “Basic” edition for this stick which also means it does not have Amazon Alexa functionality or compatibility with 4K content. Those who have used Android TV will be disappointed that there is No Web Browser. Though I see Similar issues with competitor products as well. For me not having web browser is big constraint as not all the content has application developed. For example, if I would like to see my website, I can't do it without browser. However I should mention that there is work around to install a web browser on Amazon Fire TV which I haven't tried yet. Just google "How to Install web browser on Amazon Fire TV" and you will find some information. It should be noted that you pay for most of the applications for streaming the content e.g. Netflix. Good news is if you are Amazon Prime Member, Amazon Prime Video has lots of content, but disappointment for me is they seems to have removed Bollywood content which was available earlier. [Update: Bollywood content now returns again on Prime Videos. Thanks Amazon!]
Who Should Buy It?
If your TV is tragically not smart enough—or otherwise lacks a way to play Amazon Prime Video, this is great device to make TV little smarter. If you are Prime Member, this is best way to watch lots and lots of free content via Amazon Prime Video. If you use streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video and does not need web browser, this will be a great low cost option.
Who Shouldn't Buy It?
Those who have used Android TV and are techy enough to play around it, will find Amazon Fire TV disappointing as you have to pay for pretty much everything which you were getting on Android TV via Kodi for free. There is no Web Browser so if that is must have, this is not for you. If you are not Prime Member, and need Amazon Prime Video, you need to pay $79 / year for Prime Membership which will off course be very useful if you do lots of shopping from Amazon. It should be noted though that I see some work around on internet and people seems to find way to install kodi on this, but again those things are not for me.