2nd-gen streamer gets plethora of upgrades
Amongst the barrage of new devices that Amazon unveiled at its big Devices & Services event was the company’s latest assault on the streaming stick market; the 2nd-gen Fire TV Stick 4K Max and the 2nd-gen Fire TV Stick 4K.
The new devices, which ramp up the tech from the 1st-gen duo that were launched back in 2021, were launched alongside an all-new Fire TV Soundbar.
Read this: The best streaming sticks
The 2nd-gen Fire TV Stick 4K Max claims the title of being the industry’s first streaming stick to support Wi-Fi 6E, ensuring blazing-fast connectivity.
It doesn’t skimp on audio and video quality either, supporting 4K Ultra HD and a gamut of formats, including Dolby Vision, HDR, HDR10+, and offering immersive Dolby Atmos audio.
Performance gets a significant boost from a more robust 2.0GHz quad-core chip. Navigating your content is now easier with the inclusion of an ‘Enhanced’ remote control featuring a dedicated Recents button.
Doubling the storage capacity to 16GB, you can store more content directly on the device.
Apart from the tweaked hardware, what sets the apart is its inclusion of the innovative Fire TV Ambient Experience, previously seen on Amazon’s Omni QLED TVs.
This feature transforms your TV into an Alexa-powered smart display, akin to the Echo Show, when you’re not actively streaming video content.
It lets you display art, photos, weather updates, calendar entries, and other smart home widgets. Additionally, it boasts an energy-saving capability that detects ambient light and occupancy, automatically transitioning to Standby mode after two minutes.
Explainer: Amazon Fire TV in-depth guide
The Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd Gen) is available for pre-order today for $59.99 / £69.99.
The non Max variant is only $10 / £10 cheaper and misses out on the Wi-Fi 6E and Ambient Experience action, but still boasts a 1.7GHz quad-core processor, delivering a 30% increase in power from the previous-gen.
It doesn’t compromise on visual quality either; offering 4K Ultra HD with HDR support from formats like Dolby Vision, HDR, HLG, and HDR10+, and is also Dolby Atmos equipped too.
The Fire TV Stick 4K (2nd Gen) is also available for pre-order.
Coming soon Fire TV
Sticking with Fire TV and Amazon had some pretty nifty demos about what’s coming soon to the platform.
We’ve seen this at the Omni TV demos before, but you’ll soon be able to create AI-generated artwork on your Fire TV device with just your voice and imagination.
Say something like, “Alexa, create me a portrait of Cristiano Ronaldo, Picasso-style” or “Alexa, I want an image of the New York sky-line, but like it’s from The Simpsons” and you’ll get almost-instant AI artwork on your Fire TV screens.
We were also shown AI effects being merged with actual family photos.. all pretty cool stuff.
As was the new enhanced voice search options for Fire TV, which help you to find content with Alexa in a more natural and conversational way.
All of this is coming later this year, we’re told.
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