Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max, Review: Delivering on Promise to Be the Best Fire TV Stick to Date

0
4415
amazon fire tv stick 4k max, review delivering on promise to be the best fire tv stick to date
amazon fire tv stick 4k max, review delivering on promise to be the best fire tv stick to date

If we search for “Fire TV” in Amazon we will find more than five models, all of them practically identical in appearance and with similar prices. During these weeks we have been testing the “best Fire TV Stick to date”, as Amazon itself defines it.

It is the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max and under this complex name we have a player to connect it to the television and to be able to have the main streaming applications. In this model we also have WiFi 6, a remote with voice commands, support for Ultra HD 4K videos and up to 40% extra power compared to the immediately inferior model. Here we tell you our experience.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max: Technical Specifications

The big change from this ‘Max’ generation is the incorporation of a MediaTek 8696 processor with four cores up to 1.8 GHz . Thanks to it, the device goes faster, navigation is more fluid and in general a better experience is obtained while using it. We will tell you more details about this in a moment, but first we are going to review the rest of its technical characteristics.

Accompanying the processor we have 2 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage. There are no major changes here, although being a device where mainly all applications are in the cloud, we will not miss more memory either. Still, the previous model had 1.5 GB instead of the 2 GB of the Max model.

With its new quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max takes a significant leap in performance.

Yes, there are news at the connectivity level and this is appreciated. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max comes with Wi-Fi 6 , to improve the playback of content on the home Wi-Fi network even if there are many devices connected.

Equivalent to the Fire TV Stick 4K , the Amazon player offers support for 4K, HDR, HDR10 +, Dolby Atmos, and Dolby Vision content .

Once connected to the television, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max will allow us to access the most popular streaming applications such as Prime Video, Netflix, Youtube or Disney +. Here we leave you with the complete specifications table.

AMAZON FIRE TV STICK 4K MAX
PROCESSOR Mediatek 8696
Quad Core 1.8 Ghz
GPU IMG GE8300
MEMORY 2 GB
STORAGE 8 GB
VIDEO Up to 4K (2160p)
60fps
Dolby Vision, HDR, HDR10 + and HLG
AUDIO Dolby Atmos, 7.1 surround sound, 2-channel stereo, and audio signal pass-through with HDMI
CONNECTIONS HDMI ARC and microUSB output
CONNECTIVITY WiFi 6 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac / ax, 2×2 MIMO,
Bluetooth 5.0 LE
Remote control with volume, voice and on / off (AAA batteries)
OS Fire OS, based on Android
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT 99 x 30 x 14 mm
48.4 g
PRICE 64.99 euros
Introducing the Fire TV Stick 4K Max with Wi-Fi 6 and Alexa voice control (includes controls for the TV)

Introducing the Fire TV Stick 4K Max with Wi-Fi 6 and Alexa voice control (includes controls for the TV)

The design is the same, but the control is much more complete
Design Fire Tv Stick 4k

Talking about the design of the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is not much of a mystery from a purely aesthetic point of view. We have a stick less than 10 centimeters long that connects to the television with an HDMI connector that it has on one of the sides. The Fire TV logo is in the center and the rest are finished in matte dark gray.

SEE ALSO  WhatsApp is used as judicial evidence to condemn a debtor to pay 5,000 euros

The position of the USB port is perhaps what can attract attention a priori. It is located on one of the edges and causes the power cord to hang in a strange position that can take away space for the placement of other cables on the TV. Personally, I would have found it more practical for that power port to be right on the opposite side of the HDMI, although we understand that it is done this way so that it is covered by the side of the TV.

Rear Fire Stick Design

Amazon has not taken advantage of this Max version to add USB C to the Fire TV Stick. However, it is not something that we miss either because it is a device that is constantly connected to the current. Here we do not need fast charging or particular connectivity to link with other devices. In addition to linking it with the house light, there is also the possibility of connecting it to a USB A of the television itself.

That said, what’s new for the Fire TV Stick 4K Max focuses on the remote control. And it is appreciated that little by little the control of the Fire TV Stick is getting closer to the controls of the televisions in terms of comfort and functions.

The control of the Fire TV Stick 4K Max does not have much to envy that of televisions, with its direct access buttons, buttons to access channels and the dedicated one for Alexa.

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max remote adds several buttons compared to previous models. We have a button dedicated to Alexa in the top center, buttons for volume up and mute, and a dedicated button for accessing TV channels . This incorporation is interesting, because despite the fact that Fire OS has its own applications, Amazon wants us to “integrate” this device with the traditional use of the television. And the truth is that it works. During the weeks that I have been using it, I have not missed the standard remote of my television (a Sony XE90 with Android TV).

 

For the first time, Amazon incorporates in its command several shortcuts to some of the most popular streaming services . We have a button for Prime Video, one for Netflix, one for Disney +, and one for Amazon Music. Two services from Amazon itself and two from the big payment services. Perhaps we miss a button for YouTube, but we understand that this decision is left to the company and it could well be bet on any other.

SEE ALSO  Dragon Ball Z Kai is coming to streaming soon and the latest from Akira Toriyama is now available

The most interesting thing about the presence of these buttons is not only that they are there, but also that the access to the applications is very fast . Here you can see the improvement with the new processor and the truth is that the experience is very good. This is precisely what we are talking about now.

Usage experience: Fire OS flies on the Fire TV 4K Max

software

The great advantage of the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is its new processor and the truth is that it is clearly noticeable from the first moment. Next to the considerably more expensive and larger Amazon Fire TV Cube , we can say that it is the best experience with Amazon’s Fire OS . A colorful, fast and agile system.

The Fire OS interface offers easy access to the most used applications and has recommendations for watching movies and series, mainly Prime Video. We have a ‘home’ tab with different recommendations sections, a ‘search’ section where we are offered various categories and a ‘live’ tab with the main television channels.
Search

After several years using this system, it must be said that it still seems somewhat chaotic to us . With each new update there is a restructuring of the menus and we did not find a sufficient harmony established. We think Amazon would do well to try to find a menu style that works for you and stick with it for a while.

Settings

As for services, from the Fire TV Stick 4K Max we can access the main ones, from Netflix to Disney +, obviously going through Prime Video or YouTube. Also Filmin, Apple TV + (with a well-integrated experience ), DAZN or RTVE on demand, although HBO is still not present . The great absence of the Amazon platform that is still not officially available years later.

Fire Tv Stick Channels In

In terms of video playback, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max stands out for its extensive list of supported formats . We can play videos in Ultra HD 4K, HDR, HDR10 +, Dolby Vision, H.265, VP9 and the new AV1 codec , although the latter we have tried to play it and we have not been able to get it to activate. This good level with the formats also occurs in sound, where we have Dolby Atmos sound as the most prominent format.

4k

Through the remote we can talk to Alexa. It is not like the Amazon Echo that does have always-on listening, but we will have to press the button to speak to the TV. Still it is comfortable and quite fast. We can access the contents of Amazon Prime Video quite successfully and also the rest of the content, although in this sense the reliability is not so successful .

Alexa

Amazon offers us a mobile application as a replacement for the remote and allows you to control other devices in the Alexa ecosystem by voice, through the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max. That allows us to be watching TV and through the Fire TV remote we can control the light of the bulbs connected to Alexa, turn up the volume of other devices or ask it to play a certain song on an Echo Dot that we have in another room.

SEE ALSO  Microsoft is working on a feature to let you write with your eyes

The addition of Wi-Fi 6 connectivity is one of the main novelties and we have to say that the operation is excellent. I have not been able to measure it in detail, but the connection has been stable and without interruptions despite having the router in a relatively distant room.

Advertising

As a note that clouds the good result at the software level is Amazon’s decision to add advertising to the main menu . We understand that it is a strategy to be able to offer the most economical device, but although it changes, finding a whole strip dedicated to advertisements reduces the “cleanliness” of the interface. An addition that you get used to quickly but that subtracts points from the final result.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max, the opinion of Xataka

Fire Tv Max Stick

Amazon has been improving its Fire TV Stick so much that it is already difficult to ask it to improve at the hardware level. With the Fire TV Stick 4K Max we have a control that has almost nothing to envy to the television itself, a more than enough performance and an experience at the level of playback and enviable stability . If what we are looking for is a TV player, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max meets most of the things we can ask for.

On a jarring note is the Amazon ecosystem itself. There is little to do there. The presence of advertising is striking and we are likely to continue to see changes in the interface. Still, most users will know how to take advantage of it.

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is Amazon’s best option to buy today if we are looking for a media player. The great rival of the Chromecast and a tremendously interesting device to which we find it lowered.

Its direct rival is the Chromecast with Google TV, which offers similar performance, Android TV and a controller with fewer options. In return, he adds the HBO application, which strangely still does not make an appearance on Fire TV OS. Like Google’s device, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max comes with a fairly high starting price .

For 64.99 euros it seems difficult to recommend a product with these characteristics, since in the end we are facing a complement for the television. However, it is known that Amazon usually reduces its price considerably through various offers and this is where we believe that it is worth paying a little more to get this Fire TV Stick 4K Max.