We had been hearing for a while now that Amazon is going to unveil a new set-top box in the very near future and that’s precisely what it has done today. It has unveiled the second-generation Amazon Fire TV which is a big step up from the predecessor. Two things stand out of the rest: the fact that it has support for 4K and that there’s Alexa integration, Alexa is Amazon’s virtual private assistant.
Amazon claims that the new Fire TV has 75% more processing power than its predecessor thanks to its MediaTek 63-bit quadcore processor, a dedicated GPU and “4x the memory of the latest generation Chromecast and Roku.”
Aside from 8GB of onboard storage the new set-top box also features a microSD card slot with support for up to 128GB of additional storage, there’s latest Wi-Fi technology onboard as well, 802.11ac MIMO brings longer range for improved performance and faster throughput.
The new Amazon Fire TV has built-in support for Alexa, all users need to do is simply speak into the voice remote and ask Alexa for information about the weather, traffic, scores, they can even make it play music, search for content and starting next year users will be able to tell Alexa to discover and play TV shows and movies, launch apps, navigate the Amazon Fire TV and do much more. Amazon is going to roll out Alexa integration for existing Fire TV and Fire TV Stick through a free over-the-air update.
4K Ultra HD streaming is just one of the main features that sets it apart from the new Apple TV, users will be able to stream UHD content from services like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix provided they have an internet connection that can handle it and a TV that’s 4K-enabled.
The new Amazon Fire TV is available for pre-order starting today for $99, it will start shipping October 5th.
Filed in . Read more about Amazon, Fire Tv and Set Top Box. Source: businesswire