Goinh head to head against the 4th generation Apple Tv,Amazon looks pretty confident with their new Fire TV. After all, Amazon released their media streamer a mere month before Apple is set to release theirs, something that tech fans are seeing as a deliberate move by Amazon to overtake the other gadget in sparking interest among the same target market.
Was Amazon successful in impressing their audience? Is the Fire TV a worthy opponent for the Apple TV?
The Pros
Let’s start with what the Fire TV can do first.
It Boasts of 4K Ultra HD playback , something that the Apple TV definitely cannot do. And though the Nvidia SHIELD has already gone ahead of the pack as the first streamer to offer this capanility, the Fire TV is ni doubt a lot more affordable.
The design is also very understated, so if you’re a little iffy about maintaining a specific design mold and you think that the little balck box clashes with everything else, that’s okay. It’s small enough to be kept in dark corners behind or beneath your TV, and the Wi-Fi powered remote makes it possible for you to make it work from a distance.
It definitely is fast , especially when you´re moving within an individual app like Netflix and onto the main Fire TC system. It also allows you to play Android games smoothy , especially with the optional Fire Game Controller.
The storage capacity is decent with 8GB of capacityy , plus a microSD slot at the back that gives you up to 128GB more space.
The Cons
So we did mention that the Fire TV is fast, but that comes with a condition. Although moving within individual apps is seamless, having to move from one app to another could give you some lag time. The same thing is true when the system is trying to switch output resolutions. This is one effect of having the ability to support 4K videos but using an interface of 1080p.
You may also think that doing searches using the Alexa voice assistant is a huge plus, and it is, really. The only problem is is that you can´t even make the most out of such a useful function because all content revolves inly around the Amazon framework. This means that no matter how clearly you ask Alexa to search for a certain piece of content for you , its search and the results it yields would be very, very limited.
The Veredict
Knowing that this cool gadget only costs $100 , it’s definitely not a bad deal at all given its flaws. After all, what’s a few seconds lag if you compare it with the Nvidia SHIELD which costs more than twice the Fire TV? and it definitely has one point over the Apple TV knowing that it’s a tight competition, stores that sell electronics could go either way on this debate. It would all boil down to your needs and preferences -would you give up a $100 deal now to see what Apple TV will be bringing to table in terms performance?
