The new Fire TV is capable of putting out video in 4K resolution – the equivalent of four 1080p HD screens arranged in a square – making it one of only a handful of streaming boxes that can do so. But Dave Limp, senior vice president of Amazon Devices, said the company doesn’t plan to offer a stylus, as Apple plans to on its new iPad Pro.
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Amazon is bullish in the face of Apple’s new box, claiming the new Fire TV is 75% faster, handles 4K content, and has a more efficient compression system for full HD content that will allow twice as many of its customers to stream 1080p video over poor broadband connections than the number who now can.
The Fire TV Stick adds voice-friendly features thanks to a newly bundled mic-equipped remote, while the controller has undergone some minor design updates to add its own inbuilt listening abilities.
“Today, we’re taking another step in our mission to deliver premium products at non-premium prices”, Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos said in unveiling the new tablet. All of Amazon’s original TV shows will be available in 4K, and Fire TV owners will be able to access Netflix’s 4K content as well, the company said on Wednesday.
Yesterday’s announcements stand in contrast to last month’s news that Amazon had fired “dozens” of engineers at its Lab126 research and development facility.
The streaming box also has instruction videos and Amazon’s built-in live-person tech support called MayDay, which can guide users through features and settings via the phone and with remote control. Whether it will be as popular as the previous Fire TV, given greater competition in the market from Apple and jack-of-all trades Roku, remains to be seen.
Analysts said there are few comparable tablets that cost as little as the new Fire.
The new Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote will cost $US49.99. Both tablets will begin shipping on September 30.
Amazon is also introducing four new Fire tablets. Both tablets deliver slightly higher resolution than the $50 Fire (1280×800 versus 1024×600). The new operating system, present on all the Fire products announced today, will eventually be released for older Fire products as well.
Called “Word Runner”, it shows a book’s text one word at a time. The downside is to make the tablets as low-cost as possible, Amazon decided to sell ad space on the sponsored screen savers. It’s easy to stop and scan a line if you missed something and a tap takes you back to the regular page view. An algorithm recognizes hard words, punctuation, and paragraph breaks and automatically slows down for them. Amazon’s digital assistant, which goes by the name Alexa, will respond with answers.
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There have been doubts over the performance of a tablet offered at such a low price.
