Share

Amazon launches Fire TV

by

Seattle – Amazon unveiled its newest innovation, Fire TV, on April 2. The small video streaming device plugs into HDTVs for easy and instant access to content from Amazon’s library, as well as other video-on-demand services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, Showtime and more, though HBO Go is currently not on the list. Fire TV also brings photos, music, and games to the living room.

“Tiny box, huge specs, tons of content, incredible price — people are going to love Fire TV,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “Voice search that actually works means no more typing on an alphabet grid. Our exclusive new ASAP feature predicts the shows you’ll want to watch and gets them ready to stream instantly. And our open approach gives you not just Amazon Instant Video and Prime Instant Video, but also Netflix, Hulu Plus, and more. On Fire TV you can watch Alpha House *and* House of Cards.”

Amazon Fire TV home screen

Amazon Fire TV features include:

  • Voice search — simply speak the name of a movie, TV show, actor, director, genre, app, or game into the remote, and the results will appear instantly.
  • All the content — instant access to Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, YouTube, and more, plus the largest selection of videos for rent and purchase — over 200,000 movies and TV episodes from Amazon Instant Video. Plus, listen to music with Amazon MP3, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and more.
  • Powerful performance in a tiny form factor — quad-core processor with over 3x the processing power of Apple TV, Chromecast, or Roku 3, a dedicated GPU, plus 4x the memory of Apple TV, Chromecast, or Roku 3 for exceptional speed and fluidity. Delivers 1080p HD video and immersive Dolby Digital Plus surround sound. All of this comes in an incredibly small package — Fire TV is 0.7” thin and comes with a simple and sleek remote control with a built-in microphone.
  • Simple and easy to use — arrives pre-registered so consumers can start watching immediately out of the box.
  • An exclusive new feature called ASAP (Advanced Streaming and Prediction) predicts which movies and TV episodes you’ll want to watch and buffers them for playback before you even hit play. The smart feature is personalised based on consumer’s viewing habits and adapts as those habits change. The caching predictions get better over time, so ASAP will continuously improve usage of Fire TV.
  • High-quality, low-cost gaming — Amazon worked with game developers like EA, Disney, Gameloft, Ubisoft, Telltale, Mojang, 2K, and Sega to bring their games to Fire TV. The average price of paid games on Fire TV is $1.85. Consumers play using the Fire TV remote, the Fire TV app for smartphones and tablets, or the optional Fire game controller.
  • Amazon FreeTime — Parents can choose what their kids see and set time limits for types of content and times of day. Customers who subscribe to FreeTime Unlimited — Amazon’s content subscription designed for kids ages 3 to 8 — will get unlimited access to thousands of movies and TV shows.
  • X-Ray for movies, TV shows, and music — see information about cast and crew, trivia, goofs, and synchronised lyrics. X-Ray is exclusive to Amazon and is powered by IMDb.
  • Photos and personal videos come alive on big-screen TV — seamless integration with Amazon’s Cloud Drive.