▷Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K review: the instant smart TV 🥇

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K it is not a universally new product. In fact, the device was officially launched in October in the United States but only now has it also arrived in our country, ready to turn older TVs into real smart TVs. But how does it work? What does it offer? How do i use it? How much does it cost? We answer all these questions in ours review.

Amazon Fire TV Stick: within everyone's reach

The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K box has everything you need to get started: find the dongle of the same name, a small HDMI extension, a USB / microUSB cable with the appropriate power supply, the remote control and a couple of batteries.

The beating heart of the kit is obviously the aforementioned Fire TV Stick 4K, a small device that hides inside a MediaTek MT8695 processor, the PowerVR GE8300 GPU, 1,5GB of RAM and well 8 GB of internal memory. There is no shortage then Wi-Fi ac and Bluetooth 5.0.

To ensure correct reproduction of all content we then have support for the most varied codecs and standards including HDR10 and 10+, HLG and Dolby Vision. All this allows you to get to streaming content in 4K @60 fps.

Of course, you don't have to worry about any of this. All you have to do is insert the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K into the HDMI port of the TV (with or without extension), connect it to the power supply and then follow the on-screen instructions to pair the remote control and set everything up.

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Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K review

A necessary premise before going into the review: I don't have a smart TV. My TV, a small 32 inch, is now 5 years old, is not connected to any antenna or decoder and lives on two things: consoles and my dear old Chromecast. All this to tell you that in my home the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K was used to pursue its original intent: bring the modernity of streaming services to a device that does not have a WiFi connection.

But now let's stop the chatter and let's see what my first week was like with the Fire TV Stick 4K.

The remote control with Alexa

At first glance, you wouldn't give him a clean penny. The remote control that we find in the package is compact, very light and extremely minimal. But appearances are deceiving. The small device is in fact equipped both Bluetooth and infrared connection, a combination that allows it to control not only your Fire TV Stick 4K, but also your TV, at least in its basic functions.

The big plus however is represented by the integrated microphone that allows you to use Alexa. The Amazon voice assistant thus helps you to open applications, to search on Prime Video e Netflix and to filter the contents. A few examples? You can ask her "show me the thrillers" and "find movies with Tom Cruise", but also "search on YouTube" or "open RaiPlay".

One small negative: Alexa on Fire TV Stick 4K does… well, Alexa. Sometimes, in fact, he will misunderstand what has been asked or will not answer, while sometimes the search results will be incomplete. Nothing, however, that cannot be solved with a software update.

A lot of content

If you've used Prime Video before, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K interface will look like it extremely familiar: we have a menu at the top of the screen to switch from Home to My Videos, Movies, TV Series, Applications and Settings, while the lower part hosts a series of thumbnails showing installed or installable apps and recommended contents.

The result, considering the natural propensity towards the streaming service of the American giant, is a little less varied than expected and slightly chaotic. In short, you will have a lot of movies and TV series taken from Prime Video that mix with applications and games making navigation a little less fluid and intuitive than expected. However, you can reach a good compromise by using the “Move” function which allows you to orrearrange the My Games and Applications row so you can have the apps you use frequently just a click away.

But what services do we actually find on the Fire TV Stick 4K? A lot: in addition to Prime Video and Netflix we have YouTube, Infinity, TIM Vision, DAZN, Plex, Mubi and many others. Then there are games - for which the purchase of a Bluetooth controller is required - and music platforms such as Spotify, Tidal e Deezer. Finally we have all other apps like browser, VPN and tools to enable screen mirroring.

A nice change

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K has made my Chromecast almost obsolete: the Seattle giant's device doesn't just offer excellent image quality, but it is simple, immediate and complete. It does not need a smartphone or a browser to send content, it has its own interface and allows you to really see anything.

All without excessively consuming the bandwidth and without forcing you to change TV to switch to a more recent device.

In short, to enjoy it, you just need to sink into the sofa and use the small remote control supplied. That's really all you need.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K review: buy it or not?

With 59,99 € take you home the best dongle on the market, a perfect tool for those who, like me, do not have a latest generation television. Then you also have Alexa voice commands and - I forgot - the ability to connect it to an external Echo device that also acts as a speaker.

Sure, all of this it only makes sense if you have at least a Prime Video subscription. Better still if, like me, you have 3/4 to access an even wider spectrum of content.