Amazon Fire TV Stick (2020), a classic that still works

Amazon has a range of Fire devices with which it tries to meet the needs of a good handful of users by offering connectivity features and an adjusted value for money. For his part, Amazon Fire TV Stick It takes a long time for us to make our television more "smart".

Amazon has decided to renew the Fire TV Stick range with a new product that receives some news in this year 2020. We are going to take a look at the cheapest alternative to provide our TV with smart capabilities with its own operating system, take a look at the Amazon Fire TV Stick with us.

Materials and design

In this section, the North American company has not been innovating at all for a few years. The Amazon Fire TV Stick stands out for its compact size and few "frills." The idea is that it remains completely hidden behind the television or monitor to which we want to connect it, and it does this very well.

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It is made of totally black plastic, the only color that we can purchase the unit from, and lacks any LEDs or informational details. Simplicity has always been the identifying flag of this type of Amazon Fire products, and this was not going to be the exception.

• Size: 86 x 30 x 13 mm
• Weight: 32 grams

Very far, for example, from what Google proposes with its new brightly colored Chromecast and rounded designs, precisely the one that will now position itself as the main rival of Amazon's Fire TV Stick in terms of functionalities and even at the price level if we compare it with its older brother, the Fire TV Stick 4K.

We have included in the box the power adapter, microUSB cable (in case you thought they were extinct) and an extender for HDMI that will help us in certain situations, identical content to what we had to date.

Technical characteristics

Amazon's Fire TV Stick It has meant a slight improvement in the technical section with respect to its predecessor, and although it is difficult to differentiate them, in this case we are clearly talking about the edition that arrived at the beginning of September 2020 and that we have analyzed since then.

To move the operating system and the rest of technical capabilities Amazon has opted for a processor Quad-Core 1,7 GHz (It has grown 0,4 GHz) of which no manufacturer is mentioned, however, for other products of the brand we could presume that they have returned to bet on MediaTek. You can buy it from 39,99 euros on Amazon (link).

As for internal storage, this Fire TV Stick has 8GB in total, designed mainly for applications, since the connection through the microUSB to a PC can be problematic without the necessary knowledge. For its part, we have the IMG GE8300 GPU in charge of offering us content in Full HD 1080p, the maximum resolution supported by it. We have 1GB of RAM.

We have Dual Antenna WiFi (MIMO) supports 2,4 GHz and 5 GHz networks, something that has evolved over time, such as Bluetooth 5.0 for content sharing and BLE for accessories.

We have very diverse video content formats, HDR 10, HDR10 +, HLG, H.265, H.264 and Vp9 as long as our TV is fully compatible, of course. Although there is no mention of Dolby Vision, we imagine that due to royalty issues. However, in the sound we do find the brand's signature, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital + surround sound and audio pass-through through HDMI for Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital + and Dolby Atmos.

Regarding the image, we will have a maximum of 60 FPS for content in both Full HD and lower qualities, something to keep in mind. We are therefore facing the third generation Fire TV Stick.

The command does not change but it is enough

In this case, the command allows us to manage Alexa, the virtual assistant of Jeff Bezos' company, through voice control. This remote measures 38 x 142 x 16mm and without batteries it weighs around 43 grams.

To use it we will need two AAA batteries that are easily inserted through the lower system. In addition, these batteries are included in the package, something to keep in mind, since not all brands provide this simple detail.

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This remote will work both through Bluetooth and infrared, And the fact is that one of its advantages is that we will be able to control the television directly with the remote control if we wish, with an exclusive shutdown button for the television, something that we will appreciate in its most daily use.

As for the voice guidelines, it is more than enough with its microphone located in the upper central part. In this section, the Fire TV Stick control has advanced over time, but it still has buttons that are perhaps excessively hard or of clearly inferior quality when compared to mid-range and higher-end televisions, something that tarnishes the user experience. However, In a Samsung TV we see that we can make it work directly with the official remote.

An accompanying user experience

As always, this Fire TV Stick from Amazon It has a customization layer on top of Android. The system flows and does it well, offering a very good user experience, superior to what we could expect from the controller. But this is something that veterans of the Fire TV Stick range already knew.

It is extremely easy to configure, as always, with a few simple taps and linking our Amazon account, we will be offered the download of the main applications such as Movistar +, Spotify or Netflix, in addition to the pre-installed ones like Amazon Prime Video. I highly recommend going for an alternative browser like Firefox.

Once inside, you just have to enjoy, we can install a multitude of applications and the experience continues to be above the rivals, especially if we take into account the price. In fact, performance is superior to that offered by most mid-range televisions from Samsung and LG, for example, making it an ideal battle companion.