- Amazon unveils new Fire TV 4K Select streaming stick for $39.99
- It also refreshed its TV line-up, including a new ‘flagship’ Omni QLED
- Alexa+ coming to multiple devices, with smarter voice control
Amazon has just announced a suite of new Fire TV sets, plus a new cheaper 4K Fire TV stick, called the Fire TV 4K Select.
Let’s start with the Fire TV 4K Select, which Amazon says is “the fastest 4K stick under $40” – specifically, it costs $49.99. It looks a lot like the current Fire TV Sticks, but there’s something new inside: Vega OS.
This is Amazon’s own new operating system for its Fire TV Sticks and Echo devices, and Amazon says that’s it’s “highly responsive with a super-efficient footprint,” and was essential for creating a responsive and slick streaming stick at this low a price.
It will support Alexa+, and Amazon demoed how you can ask Alexa+ for the stats of a baseball game, and it’ll not only tell you them, it can take you straight to the relevant highlight.
Similarly, you can ask it for a particular scene in a movie and it can jump you straight there – Amazon says it has indexed tens of thousands of scenes across thousands of movies, and will work on TV shows next. You can also ask it for information about actors in a scene, or ask it for recommendations based on nuanced requests.
Amazon says it has the big streaming services on-board for the new Vega OS, and highlighted support from all of the following during the event or in its press release (though there are some notably omissions, such as Mubi or Shudder):
- YouTube
- Prime Video (duh)
- Peacock
- Fubo
- Sling TV
- DirecTV
- Hulu
- Tubi
- ESPN
- Paramount+
- Plex
- Disney+
- Starz
- HBO Max
- Pluto
- BBC
- Xbox
- Apple TV+ (not mentioned on-stage, but it’s in product images)
- Amazon Luna (not a surprise, but not mentioned on-stage)
Amazon also announced a refreshed range of TVs in three offerings: the cheapest Amazon Fire TV 2-Series TVs, the step-up Amazon Fire TV 4-Series TVs TVs, and the Amazon Omni QLED Series.
Amazon says that the Omni TV is its “new flagship”, which suggests that the impressive Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED is disappearing from the line-up.
All of these TVs will feature Amazon’s Omnisense tech, which enables the TV to turn on when you enter a room and turn off when you leave it, and a new Dialogue Boost mode to make it easier to understand what’s going on.
The 2-Series will come in 32-inch and 40-inch sizes, which start from $159. They’re HD models only (not 4K), and have a chipset that’s 30% faster than before, to make them more responsive.
The 4-Series will come in 43-inch, 50-inch and 55-inch sizes, and start from $329. These are all 4K models, and again have the 30% faster chipset.
The new Omni QLED TV comes in 50-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch and 75-inch sizes, starting from $479. It has a chip that’s 40% faster for smoother operation, and promises to be 60% brighter than the previous model, with nearly twice as many dimming zones, for better contrast.
It includes Dolby Vision and HDR10+ Adaptive support, with automatic picture adjustments based on the ambient light levels. There’s no mention on whether it’ll support 120Hz 4K gaming, like the Omni Mini-LED model does.
The new Omni QLED model is also “built for Alexa+”, but there’s no mention of Alexa+ support on the 2-Series and 4-Series. Amazon also added that Alexa+ is coming to some Fire TVs from Hisense and Panasonic, too.
You can pre-order the new models today, and they’ll ship “next month”.
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