Amazon Fire TV Stick, sharp picture quality, fast streaming, free & live TV, Alexa Voice Remote with TV controls

I'm a long time FireTV user. I started with the box years ago and now have the HD stick. It is a great design! It amazes me that this little device performs better than the box ever did. The streaming quality is great!The other improvement is the Bluetooth connectivity to external speakers and headphones. It was easy to setup and the connection is persistent.I bought mine on sale. It is a great performer at a reasonable price!

This is so easy to setup and use, I wish I got this years ago. I'll be honest, and I feel a bit foolish admitting this, but: Despite hearing about the Fire TV stick's existence for years, I never considered it because I thought there was a monthly fee! I didn't want to pay for anything beyond my subscriptions, so I never even read the details. I put my television in a box in the attic when I 'cut the cord' with my cable company in 2012 and it's been there ever since. I've been watching 'TV' on my desktop PC or on my Kindle.This worked well enough for years, but during the pandemic I began spending a lot more time streaming shows and despite replacing my desk chair with a more comfortable chair, it just wasn't ergonomic and became more and more uncomfortable, so I needed to reconsider my TV setup. Enter the Fire Stick! This time I read the details - and then re-read them, and then Youtubed videos about it, because I couldn't believe it really didn't cost anything per month! You just buy the stick and plug it in and that's it?! Yep!So here's a few noteworthy points: First, it does not use USB; I saw this pop up in the questions for this product quite a bit. Technically the wall adapter plugs into the included USB cord - just like your kindle charger, etc. But there's no USB needed for the actual television end, it uses an HDMI port and that's it. Interestingly, I almost didn't get it because I was sure the TV I bought back in 2009 wouldn't have an HDMI port, but I finally went up to the attic to check and sure enough, it has one! So be sure your TV has an HDMI port, that's required.Setup was ridiculously easy. Just attach the items in the box together and plug it into the HDMI port on the back of your TV and then plug the other end into a wall outlet. That's it! Then turn the TV on and the setup will walk you through the rest, signing you into your Amazon account, calibrating the included remote control, updating (several times), choosing streaming apps to start with, etc. It's all very simple.If you want to watch paid streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, etc you must have a paid subscription to them. But there's other services/apps such as Pluto TV and others that are totally free and have a decent variety of ad-supported content, both shows and movies as well as news. And Amazon's apps are of course there, like Amazon Music and Prime Video (if you subscribe to Prime Video). I only have Hulu and Prime Video currently as paid subscriptions, but there's plenty of free content to supplement. In fact, I even have my local news which surprised me (they must stream on a live app and I never realized it).So basically, it aggregates various paid and free streaming apps to one place and this little stick presents them all in one nice looking interface, letting you use your remote to choose programming, just like TV. To be clear, the Fire TV stick runs off your wifi signal, so be sure you have wifi at home. On one hand it doesn't give you anything you can't get without it, but on the other hand, the convenience of having it all accessible in one place is fantastic and makes it feel like I'm getting all kinds of new content. Some of the apps I've never even heard of, so there is new-to-me content in that regard.The interface is excellent and fairly intuitive, and the remote works great. I am super glad I opted for the Fire TV stick option that comes with the remote that also has TV controls like volume and mute, so I can do it all with the remote that came with it. Now I can sit in my living room like a normal person and watch TV (streaming services) comfortably from my couch; I should have got this years ago.Just be sure you have:1. A TV with an HDMI port2. Wifi at home3. OPTIONAL: Paid services if you want to watch Hulu, Netflix, etc. Otherwise you can still use this to access free content.

Easy to setup and use. Excellent voice recognition. Video quality is excellent as well as dual band WiFi. Actually use this over my Roku Ultra.

It works just fine But last week it stopped working I don't know if it's batteries needed or it konk out

The Amazon Fire TV Stick is amazing, VERY functional, and something that I'll use forever.Key Takeaways (PROS):1. It turns your non-smart TV into a smart TVa. I have plenty of TVs that aren't smart TVs that were old giveaways. They mostly had good resolution (720p, 1080p) and some of them were HUGE (I was given a 62ish? inch TV1080p), they just weren't smart TVs. Having a Fire Stick solves this problem.b. You'll see the same size smart TV in a store with the same resolution quality, but it's way more expensive than the non smart TV --> all you need is a Fire Stick!2. The picture/resolution is amazing as it uses your HDMI porta. This means the picture will be as nice as your TV can handlei. I’ve used this on a 720p TV and it looked amazing.3. User Interfacea. The User Interface is just as good as any other smart tv or even gaming console.i. They have the sponsored stuff from Amazon at the top, but just like anything else --> you cancustomize the apps on the page.b. It's not confusing at all, it's pretty user friendly.c. They have a "Continue watching" list on the front interface from any app that you were watching on.4. Smoothness of running programs.a. The smoothness of the programs and selecting things is fast.5. Ease of usea. The remote has a mic, so you can just speak into the mic and say whatever you want to watch (Amazon Alexa), or if you want to go to the app store, just say "App Store". This mic feature is super useful.6. Remotea. Not many buttons, which is good because they don't have any other junk buttons like on a traditional TV remote. Simple and user friendly.b. Play, pause, skip forward/back, settings, home buttons and more. Maybe adding a CC button? Everyone uses subtitles but it's not always straight forward on some apps.Key Takeaways (CONS):1. Some apps stay open even if you turn off the TV with the Fire Stick remote.a. One time I was watching Youtube videos before bed and I turned off the TV with the Fire Stick remote and the next day it was still playing videos when I turned the TV on with the FS remote.b. Other apps close when you turn off the TV in the middle of watching something.c. Now I close all apps before turning off the TV.2. The Internet browser cursor could be smoother, but I don't think any cursor from anything other than a mouse is smooth.3. The app store doesn't have everything, but it does have most things.4. There's no app to screen mirror on the Firestick.a. For instance, since the Firestick is used on non-smart TVs, I would like to have the option to screen mirror from my cellphone to the TV.In conclusion this is one of the best technologies and you can save a few bucks from buying a smart TV and just getting a Fire Stick instead.