Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote (includes TV controls), HD streaming device
[{'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "This 3rd Generation FireTV Stick now comes with the 3rd Generation Alexa Voice Remote, allowing for more control over your applications and TV experience. This new Alexa Voice Remote 3rd Generation was recently released, and I have reviewed it already as I have been using it with my FireTV Cube.\n\nCurrently it appears as though this FireTV Stick 3rd Gen is the only device that ships with this new remote, as the FireTV Stick Lite, FireTV Stick 4K, and FireTV Cube all are currently shipping with older remotes.\n\nPROS:\n\nSPEED- This is the biggest upgrade if in my opinion if you are coming from a 2nd generation device. The specs mention that this 3rd generation is “50% more powerful,” and you can definitely tell the difference in navigating menus and loading applications. This is probably the biggest reason to upgrade from Gen 2.\nDOLBY ATMOS – This might not be a big deal for many people, but support for the Dolby Atmos specification is nice for audiophiles with home speaker systems that can make use of it.\nREMOTE – As I mentioned in my review of this new remote, the main additions are the “Channel Guide” button, that brings up the menu to watch live TV if you have that set up; and the four App Buttons- for quickly launching Prime Video, Netflix, Disney Plus, and Hulu. The remote also allows control of your TV through power and volume buttons that are not available in the FireTV Stick Lite.\n\nCONS:\n\nNO 4K- This version does not support 4K video streaming, and I wouldn't imagine that it will be supported in the future either, because there is a FireTV Stick 4K product that exists if you want that feature. That FireTV Stick 4K is still shipping with the older 2nd generation Alexa Voice Remote currently though, (the one with a TV power button but no app buttons or channel guide button), so that's kind of disappointing.\n\nAll in all, this to me is worth the upgrade from and older FireTV Stick, mainly because of the speed difference but also the newer remote is nice to have. If 4K matters to you, you might want to wait and grab the FireTV Stick 4K version when they eventually start shipping it with the new Gen 3 remote. The Lite version doesn't really seem like it would be worth it in most situations, because for only $10 less you lose Atmos support and all of the TV controls (power, volume, channel guide, app buttons, etc)"}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "***EDIT 05/31/2021 - READ WAY BELOW! AMAZON FIRESTICK 3RD GEN BEATS OUT NVIDIA SHIELD, CHROMECAST 3RD GEN AND ROKU****\n\nI REALLY LOVE THIS NEW DEVICE! IT IS FAST, I CAN STREAM MY OWN MOVIE APPS (CARTOON HD, TYPHOON, SYNCLAIR, FILM PLUS, NOVA, KODI, CINEMA HD) AMAZINGLY FAST!\n\nNetflix and prime is super fast also!!! I AM GOING TO ORDER 4 MORE!! AMAZON FIRESTICK BEATS OUT APPLE TV AND CHROMCAST GOOGLE TV!!!!\n\nEdit 05/03/2021: 4 days of heavy usage (horror movie marathon) and no rebooting, and the firestick has yet to lag or become slow. I switched from wireless to Ethernet and same thing: no issues at all. Absolutely a fantastic device!!!\n\nEdit 05/10/2021: posting a weekly update.\n\nThis device is even more amazing than I first noted. I have yet to experience any slowness or lag. I use it approximately 3 to 6 hours a day, sometimes over 6 hours. I use it for the Live tv option, and of course for YouTube, and audible, I am definitely not seeing any lag it is very speedy. With my 4k, at least once a week I had to unplug and plug it back in. NOT THIS 3RD GEN!! YOU WILL NOT REGRET THIS PURCHASE!\n\nA bit of advice on two things:\n\nFirst, the 4k firetick, while amazing as it is, is running Android 7.1, which can explain the lag between apps.\n\nThe 3rd gen runs Android 9.0, which explains the speed increase and better memory management, not to mention more secure (Firesticks are super secure, just my opinion on Android from a full time Android user). Hence, it is a better idea to get the 3rd gen.\n\nSecond, I change frequently from WiFi to Ethernet, to continue testing lagging and I have still experienced absolutely no lag. Ethernet connects at 150 Mbps, will not go higher, where as WiFi is 540 Mbps which tells me the Firesticks are made for WiFi, which makes sense however I love the Ethernet option because I have a cable available.\n\nAll I can say is, the Firestick outbeats every streaming device out there (except maybe the Nvidia shield) with reliability, speed, ease of use, connectivity. YOU ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT REGRET YOUR PURCHASE!!!!\n\nEDIT 05/19: I started experiencing lagging issues, and had to unplug and restart the Firestick, first time in 30 days! Was hoping to make it to 45 days but 30 days, with 5 to 7 hours a day of use is pretty amazing!!\n\nI made an error earlier on Ethernet speed with Amazon's Ethernet adapter. The Ethernet adapter from Amazon clocks at 150 Mbps, so I bought Cable Matters Micro USB to Ethernet Adapter and .. WOW! I connect at 349 down and almost 40 up!! I have absolutely no internet lag, on or off wifi but I always prefer Ethernet when I can use it.\n\nI managed to download and install a total of 12 applications via filelinked, and I still have 1.99 gb of space available. This firetick continues to amaze me!!!\n\nFirestick once again beats out Roku, Google Chromecast Android tv, apple tv, except the Nvidia shield. You will not regret this purchase!\n\nEdit 05/31/2021:\n\nI decided to purchase a Nvidia shield pro, so that I could compare and because I got a lot of messages stating it is the best on the market.\n\nIt was ana amazing setup, the device is powerful, and snappy. I compared it with the 3rd gen stick and the only three differences I noticed was the following:\n\nMore memory; shield has 3gb vs 3rd gen having 2gb\nSpace; shield has 12gb, can be expanded to 1tb. Firestick has 8, expandable to 512gb.\nScreen; 4k is absolutely amazing. 3rd gen has 1080.\n\nCompared with he 4k firestick, the screen is the same.\n\nSpeed is the same between shield and firesticks, and navigation is as silky smooth HOWEVER, I am noticing via Hulu, Netflix and Disney plus on shield, the voice was not matching up to the characters when watching movies and shows. No matter what I did: uninstall, reinstall all three apps, shut down and restarted numerous times. It is really annoying and does defeat the entirety of the device as a streaming device.\n\nPrice; Nvidia shield is $199, 2019 model with Android 9, April security...Chromecast Android tv is Android 10 with may security patch..at $49.99, 2020 model.... 3rd gen is $39.99 and prime day you can probably get it for $24.99..for a 2021 model. I will not rate Roku because you cannot sideload apps, and it is limited like apple streaming.\n\nWinner?\n\nAMAZON!!! AMAZON IS THE ABSOLUTE WINNER!\n\nFor price, security patches, navigation, side installing apps, ease of use... COME ON FOLKS! I DEBUNKED THE NVIDIA SHIELD MYTH!! I also am returning the shield because I cannot keep something that cannot handle streaming.\n\nNote: Nvidia shield is amazing for gaming, and absolutely beats out all streaming devices. This is just streaming applications that I have reviewed and an issue with!"}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'All I needed was the remote. My offspring killed my old fire stick remote to the point where no battery could revive it. So I checked online and Best Buy and could not find just a plain ol remote. I wasn’t waiting for Billybob on eBay to send me one from Kansas. So I went back to Best Buy to buy this whole contraption. Figured I’d just use the remote. BUT NO. Jeff Bezos didn’t let me. It was not compatible with the old fire stick. For someone who is trying to save the earth somehow by going to space, he sure loves for us to throw out his useless fire sticks. Maybe that’s why his wife left him. He probably had a useless fire stick too. So I had to go through the painstaking process of setting up a new fire stick, finding all my Netflix, hulu and Disney passwords that haven’t been entered in ages. All in all it’s a solid device.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'I gave up cable for the obvious reasons. Skyrocket high cost for commercial TV, infomercials, and reality shows. All the good programming is now available on streaming. Once I finally cut the cable cord, my TV just sat there unused while I watched everything on my computer which is not always comfortable. So, I got this for when I’m in bed and glad I did. This is my first experience and only had it for a week now and happy with it. The only gripe so far is that Peacock doesn’t have an app and absolutely can’t be seen by this device, despite the claims on the web. I’ve seen the other reviews where they post complaints and all that I can say is it works for me.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-4 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Tried repeatedly to get to work, spent several hours on phone trying to chat with over burdened “customer support” to no avail. Would work for a short time and then screen would go blank and when it was working, no sound. Customer Support was one of the most frustrating chat support services I have ever encountered.\n\nUpdate...immediately after posting this review was contacted by James with Amazon customer service in Seattle. Made arrangements to speak with me when I got home and asked me to do a couple basic configurations with the fire stick which none worked. Sent a new stick which arrived in a few days. Was able to set it up and configure within minutes and works great. James also followed up after receiving notification that I had received it to make sure it worked properly.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-2 review-rating', 'review_body': "After the update I hate the interface for the following reasons;\n1) It mixes content from a 100 different subscriptions services. So I see content that is on Hulu or HBO even if I am not subscribed to them. It's actually hard to find things that are just available on Prime for free now.\n2) The IMDB video is annoying. I don't want to watch ads but Amazon wants me to watch ads. So IMDB video is filling up my feed when I'm not interested in it.\n3) Amazon moved quite a few things out of Prime Video which was free and stuck it into IMDB so I have to watch ads. This made the Amazon Prime subscription less valuable.\n4) Amazon recently start rejecting non-fiction content from independent content creators. Hell I can't count how many bigfoot, UFO, fitness videos and independent documentaries I watched on Prime. Now they took a good deal of this and moved it out of free for Prime and they aren't letting people submit any new non-fiction content now.\n5) I got Roku yesterday and the picture quality is actually better.\n6) The Prime Video app on Roku is actually more navigable and easier to find Free for Prime content that the FireTV ecosystem."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-4 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Just received my firestick and installed with ease, its a lot faster with loading apps and super convenient with the newly added home buttons for Prime, Netflix, Disney, and Hulu which is a big plus in my book. Definitely an upgrade to my previous firestick(1st Gen). Also the Alexa feature works so well just like an echo or an echo show.\nThe ONLY reason I didn’t give it five stars is because the delivery was poorly executed. It arrived a day late and as you can see from the picture it looks like it was ran over and forgotten(must be why it was a day late). Other than that I recommend to anyone who’s looking for an upgrade or to buy their first Firestick'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'So frustrated. The set up was super easy but it worked for like five minutes before the screen froze. Now it keeps going black. I should have stuck to the old version. Having to immediately return something that I waited so long to ship is beyond annoying. So better quality control Amazon'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'The new fire stick worked for about a day and then all the sudden we have no sound! We unplugged. We revised audio settings. Nothing we do can get this thing to play sound anymore!! Returning this garbage!'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2021', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "Love this! It's nice to only have one remote again! Works perfectly with the TV, and it has my favorite apps as short-cut buttons. Set-up was quick, easy, and straightforward."}]