Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Hands on: Amazon’s Fire TV stick is slick, speedy and super-affordable

hands amazons fire tv stick slick speedy super affordable amazon on
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Amazon’s Fire TV stick starts shipping on November 19, and we got our hands on one for an early look at what promises to be one of the hottest gift items this holiday season. At just $40, the Fire TV Stick undercuts the Roku Streaming Stick in price, but puts it to shame when it comes to hardware specs. Frankly, when the Fire TV Stick was first announced, we thought it sounded a little too good to be true, but we’re happy to report now that we were wrong about that. Check out the video below to see it in action.

Unlike the Roku Streaming Stick, which is a bit sluggish compared to its full-sized streaming set-top box brethren, the Amazon Fire TV stick is quick to respond to commands, and any differences in app/content loading times are so minute, we’ll need a stopwatch to chart them. Its interface is identical to the Fire TV Box, and its functionality is very similar, too. At this point, it seems the only real advantage to using an Amazon Fire TV box would be its Ethernet connection for faster HD video throughput, and its faster processor for smoother gaming.

We’ll be pitting the Fire TV Stick against the Fire TV box and, separately, the Roku Streaming Stick and Chromecast soon. We’ll also have our full review of the Fire TV Stick shortly, so visit back tomorrow for a more in-depth look at Amazon’s latest effort to garner your affection for its special brand of streaming movies, TV shows, games, and music.

You can order an Amazon Fire TV Stick now, but it is not expected to ship until January 15 2015.

Editors' Recommendations

Caleb Denison
Digital Trends Editor at Large Caleb Denison is a sought-after writer, speaker, and television correspondent with unmatched…
Roku and Amazon are so close to making subtitles easy to toggle
The Roku Voice Remote Pro, and the Amazon Alexa Voice Remote Pro.

The idea that remote controls should include a dedicated button for captions is not, in and of itself, a bad one. In fact, it makes a whole lot of sense, whether the remote belongs to a television or a peripheral like Roku or Amazon Fire TV. We acknowledge the fact that it would add complexity and, possibly, cost to a device. (And that it's relatively easy to just flip 'em on and off inside apps as it is.) But we believe it would be worth it.

We didn’t pick Roku and Amazon Fire TV out of thin air in that previous paragraph. They are the two biggest streaming platforms in the world. And as it turns out, they both have remote controls with user-programmable buttons. While that’s not quite the same thing as what we're imploring the likes of Roku, Amazon, Google, Apple, and others to employ, it’s something that’s available now. (Though the remotes in question aren’t shipped by default with every device — you’ll have to spend more to get them.)

Read more
The Roku Channel is now available as a Google TV app
The Roku Channel app on Google TV.

The Roku Channel — one of the major services in the FAST category — is now available as an app on Google TV and Android TV. That's a good thing because The Roku Channel says it already reaches an estimated 100 million people in U.S. households with its wealth of free movies and series.

But it's also still a step removed from competing services like the Paramount-owned Pluto TV, which has direct integration with the Google TV live listings and doesn't require a separate download. Still, it's more free content on a low-cost piece of hardware, and who doesn't like that? The Roku Channel sports more than 350 free live linear channels (as in everyone is watching the same thing at the same time), as well as movies and series, live news, and more.

Read more
How we test streaming video devices
The box for the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max.

One of the benefits of being Digital Trends is that we get to test a lot of things that simply aren’t easily available or replaceable should they not work out for the average person. That’s why we put so much work into testing TVs, for one example. Or full soundbar setups, for another.

Other times it’s because we’re able to take products for a test drive before they go on sale. Like video games, or computers and phones. That’s good because it helps you make a relatively expensive and important purchase decision.

Read more