Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K review

Overall, we're impressed with the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. The interface is super responsive, quick to load, and it’s set out in an intuitive way. Navigating through the different apps, shows, and movies is simple, with recently accessed content displayed on the home screen, however, you may find search results overly skewed towards Amazon’s own content if you’re used to using different streaming platforms. 

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For such a low price, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K has all the apps you need, supports all current HDR formats and throws in Dolby Atmos. That’s an astonishingly good deal, particularly when you factor in the all-round quality of the performance and excellent user-friendliness.

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The value of Amazon's 4K device can’t be questioned compared to its rivals, making this a great access point to streaming services beyond just Amazon's own Prime portal, including Netflix and BBC iPlayer. Many shows are now in 4K HDR, too, so a compatible TV set will bring that content to life with greater resolution and pop than ever before.

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Cooler than a Roku and much cheaper than an Apple TV, the new $50 streaming dongle offers 4K HDR video in every conceivable format while outperforming Amazon’s more expensive Fire TV Cube ($120) and third-generation Fire TV ($70, now discontinued). It also corrects the stupidest mistake of previous Fire TV models by including TV volume and power controls on its remote control. Factor in powerful Alexa voice commands and you have a compelling 4K HDR streamer at any price, let alone the lowest price on the market.

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The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is a nearly flawless media streamer. It supports 4K with HDR10 and Dolby Vision, it features Alexa for voice control with support for a wide selection of smart home devices, its new remote can control your TV's volume and power, and it can access a massive selection of streaming media both from Amazon's own libraries and most major third parties, all for just $50.

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In terms of content, you have access to apps such as Prime Video, Netflix, Crave and more. And you can watch 4K Ultra HD video from Netflix and Prime Video on the Fire TV Stick 4K. One thing to note is that because of ongoing tensions between Google and Amazon, there is no official YouTube app for the Fire TV Stick 4K, there are third-party ones available for the device. Since the Fire TV Stick 4K has Alexa, you can control your smart home devices such as Philips Hue, Ring, SmartThings and more. You can also ask Alexa questions and to search for content to watch. Essentially, you can use the Fire TV Stick 4K as an Echo Show.

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The Fire TV Stick 4K is a great device, especially if you’re already in the Amazon system with Amazon Echos in your home.

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What you do get is an easy-to-use interface with lots of well-designed apps, a good remote, decent performance, and the hardware capabilities to give you access to 4K and HDR video content.

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If all you need is to add Smart TV functionality to a regular TV (or make a dumb Smart TV  smarter), we would recommend that you go with the Fire TV Stick 4K. The second generation stick with HD streaming support is a value for money option too, but the Fire TV Stick 4k is a better option and much more future proof, even if all you need to do is stream HD or Full HD content.

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Put simply, the Fire TV Stick 4K is a bargain. For very little money you can stream 4K HDR content to your TV no matter which standard it supports. Alexa and the new remote are the icing on the cake.

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